Notices by Accessibility Awareness (a11yawareness@disabled.social)

When using Microsoft Word or Google Docs, don't just make text bigger and bolder to make it a heading. That will work for sighted users, but screen reader users will miss that and just hear it as normal paragraph text. Use actual heading styles, like level 1 through 6.

When creating PDFs, avoid using "Print to PDF." A screen reader user may still be able to access the text of PDFs created this way, but heading structure, alternative text, and any other tag structure will be lost. Using "Save As" or "Export" can preserve these tags.

When you make the pitch for accessibility, be prepared for pushback. There are several myths and misconceptions, so it's good to be aware of what they are and how to dispel them.

https://a11ymyths.com/

People who want to make the web accessible need to understand the many different ways that people with disabilities use the web. This W3C resource offers a good introduction to how disabled people navigate the web, and barriers they commonly encounter.

https://www.w3.org/WAI/people-use-web/

When writing alt text, focus on what's truly important. In an image with text about a canceled event, the borders of the image are not nearly as vital as conveying that this event is now canceled. A decorative border can be mentioned, but it's not the most important element; the cancellation is.

Looking for information on accessibility laws? Lainey Feingold has a resource on digital accessibility laws and policies that she's updated over the years. Though not exhaustive, it has great insight, histories, explanations, and links.
https://www.lflegal.com/global-law-and-policy/

Do not cram alt text with keywords just to improve search engine optimization. This will hinder alt text’s true purpose: improving accessibility. Focus on describing the photo's content. Search engine optimization should not be the goal for writing good alt text.

You don't necessarily need to say "image of" in your alt text for users to know it's an image. Screen readers will announce that it's an image. But it can help readers to specify if it's a hand-drawn image, Polaroid, infographic, screenshot, chart, map, diagram, or so on.

If you have an election results chart, the alt text needs to communicate the results. "Election results" is not enough. The same rules apply for alt text for images of weather charts. "Weather chart" doesn't cut it and doesn't convey what the chart is actually saying to users.

People often ask what accessibility considerations to keep in mind when creating data visualizations. For guidance and advice, check out Sarah L. Fossheim's list of 10 things to do (or not do) when designing accessible data visualizations.

https://fossheim.io/writing/posts/accessible-dataviz-design/

Many live with the limitations of not understanding numbers and the impact that has on everyday life. Laura Parker's Accessible Numbers project offers guidance on how to design services and write content for people who need help with numbers.

https://accessiblenumbers.com/

"Can I Play That?" is a website focusing on the intersection of web accessibility and video games. The site is a resource of reviews, features, and news coverage of accessibility within video games. The site is aimed at both players and developers.

https://caniplaythat.com/

Hyperlink text should make sense when read out of context. Screen reader users can navigate from link to link, and can listen to links in a list. When navigating this way, only the link is read. So "click here" or "read more" won't make sense.

Your site's users need enough time to interact with content and fill out forms. People with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, dexterity impairments, and cognitive disabilities might need more time for things such as forms. Allow users to turn off or extend time limits.

If possible, use "direct labeling" in your data visualizations and charts. This means positioning the labels directly beside or adjacent to the data points. This is better than color coding your charts, as your information would likely be lost to someone who can’t see color.

Everyone who works on a website has a role to ensure the site and its content are accessible. This resource from Vox Media breaks down some accessibility tasks by job role, including content creators, designers, developers, project managers, and testers.

https://accessibility.voxmedia.com/

Automated captions and transcripts can save time so that you don't have to manually transcribe on your own. But automated captions and transcripts aren't 100% accurate, so they need manual editing before you publish them.

https://www.w3.org/WAI/media/av/captions/#positioning-and-styling-captions

Many struggle with writing alt text for charts and other other data visualizations. Amy Cesal's "Writing Alt Text for Data Visualization" hammers home the importance of explaining the chart type, the type of data, and the reason for the chart.

https://medium.com/nightingale/writing-alt-text-for-data-visualization-2a218ef43f81

Some people have disabilities that are directly based on the way they understand and interpret numbers. In this post, Ricky Onsman explains some of these disabilities, who is affects and how, and what web creators can do about it.

https://www.tpgi.com/making-numbers-in-web-content-accessible/

Don't use headings to arbitrarily style text. If you apply “Heading 4” style, you add a <h4> heading tag to the item. When screen reader users navigate from heading to heading, the item will be treated as a heading. This will be confusing. Only treat actual headings as headings.