RESOURCES: Digital accessibility

• WebAIM: Alternative Text: A full explanation of what alt text is and how to use it effectively for images that are functional, decorative, or advanced.
• DIAGRAM: Poet Image Description: “an image description training site” where you can practice writing alt text.
• Digital Services Georgia: 2 Adding Alt Text to Images & Tables: You can add alt text to tables too. Also includes a great list of what makes good alt text.

Describing race in alt text

• Léonie Watson: Thoughts on skin tone and text descriptions: Considerations for including skin tone in alt text. By Léonie Watson.
• Shopify UX: The case for describing race in alternative text attributes: It’s important to describe race in alt text so the default isn’t “white.” By Tolu Adegbite.

• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative: Making Audio and Video Media Accessible: Detailed instructions on how to make audio and video media accessible.

• UX Collective: Emojis and accessibility: how to use them properly: How to make emoji use more accessible. By Ryan Tan.

• DAISY Consortium: “Tools, standards, advice and best practices for publishing and reading to ensure accessibility for people with print disabilities.” Also see its Inclusive Publishing initiative to help you navigate the resources.
• BISG Guide to Accessible Publishing & Cheat Sheets: Comprehensive toolkit explaining the whys and hows of accessible publishing. Includes cheat sheets you can use to convince others to get on board.
• Rachel Comerford: Use EPUBs, Please (PDF): Handout from an AHEAD webinar, “Understanding the Accessibility Differences in EPUB and PDF Reading Experiences.” (Go to the bottom of the page to download the handout.)

Preparing accessible PDFs

• City and County of San Francisco: Developing Accessible PDFs: A concise overview of how to create accessible PDFs. Good to start with this one and then search for more detailed help.
• Accessible PDF: Overview of the PDF tags: Comprehensive list of PDF tags.

• Microsoft: Inclusive Design: Microsoft explains why inclusive design matters and offers resources (videos, guides) to explore and learn from.
• Microsoft: Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities: Microsoft help article on how to make Word documents accessible.
• Microsoft: Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities: Step-by-step guide on making PowerPoint slides accessible
• Microsoft: Everything you need to know to write effective alt text: How to write and use effective alt text in Microsoft products.

• UniversalUsability: Use tables for layout only when necessary: Tables are for presenting structured information. We shouldn’t use tables to lay out content on a page.

• EdX: Introduction to Web Accessibility: Free WC3 course, hosted on EdX.
• DAISY Learning: A few free accessibility learning resources hosted by the DAISY Consortium (check out the Accessible Word Documents course). DAISY also has great free 1-hour webinars that you can watch on demand. (You may need to explore within their event archives.)
• Accessible Social: “A hub for digital marketers, comms professionals, others who want to begin learning how to make their social media accessible.”

• Accessibility Handbook: Giving a Damn about Accessibility: “A candid and practical handbook for designers.”” By Sheri Byrne-Haber, CPACC.
• Babylon DNA Accessibility Guidelines: A great example of designing user interfaces with accessibility in mind, by an online health services company.
• Shopify: Designing for Cognitive Disabilities: By Tolu Adegbite. An insightful look into designing the user interface for cognitive disabilities.
• Venngage: A Total Guide to Accessible Colors [Including Palettes & Templates]: It’s exactly as the title says. It’s pretty amazing. By Jessie Strongitharm.

• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative: Writing for Web Accessibility: “introduces some basic considerations to help you get started writing web content that is more accessible to people with disabilities.”