Our Document Excellence Day panellists – Rachel Baiden and Gill Garrod (Squire Patton Boggs), and Chloe Parfitt and Sally Short (Burges Salmon) outlined the approaches their organisations have taken to adopt changes to improve accessibility. They also shared some helpful resources, which we’re delighted to be able to pass on for your benefit.
Creating Documents and Web Content
- Accessibility Made Easy: Accessibility Made Easy has guides and videos on how to make your content more accessible.
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative: Strategies, standards, resources to make the Web accessible to people with disabilities.
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2: Current standards (revised 5th October 2023)
- Make Things Accessible: useful guidance on creating accessibility statements, guidelines on WCAG 2.1 and changes with WCAG 2.2 and much more
- Accessibility Insights for Web: helps developers find and fix accessibility issues in web apps and sites, useful for an LMS
- Evaluating Web Accessibility: W3C WAI Resources Overview: YouTube video
- Accessibility Audits and Testing | AbilityNet: Audits, conformant statements, and accreditation.
- Microsoft Accessibility: Products and tools available based on requirements.
- Disability Answer Desk Support | Microsoft Accessibility: accessibility tips
- How to make a PDF accessible: – YouTube video
- Grammarly: Grammarly is a content writing and grammar checker.
- Hemmingway App: The Hemingway App is a free online tool that highlights issues with your content.
- WebAIM Contrast Checker: Use the WebAIM colour contrast checker to make sure your colours provide good contrast and are clear.
- Color Safe: Color Safe helps you create accessible colour palettes for your brand, based on WCAG Guidelines of text and background contrast ratios.
- Microsoft Word has a reading ease checker under ‘document stats’ in the spellcheck. The higher the score, the easier it is to understand the document. You want the score to be between 60 and 70.
- PowerPoint and Word accessibility checkers are available under Review > Check accessibility
NB: Do check any tools that review your content are permitted by your organisation – there may be security restrictions to consider.
Accessibility and Training
- How to apply WCAG accessibility standards in eLearning – Learn Studios: Article.
- Accessibility Insights for Web: helps developers find and fix accessibility issues in web apps and sites, useful for an LMS.
- How to Design Accessible Learning Content with Susi Miller: YouTube video. They are plenty more Susi Miller videos available on YouTube.
- Diane Elkins Design Accessible Systems Training: Video.
