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Thursday, May 21st, is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). GAAD aims to get you talking, thinking, and learning about digital access/inclusion and people with different abilities and talents.

Accessibility is about everyone. It is extremely important for students with disabilities to have access to accessible course content. This includes having access to accessible email.

In a series of accessibility related blog posts, I provide suggestions on how you can make small changes to make your materials accessible. This is the eighth tip in my series of accessibility related blog posts and it focuses on email.

Accessible emails ensure that everyone, including people using assistive technologies like screen readers or visual aids, can read and interact with your messages. Many of the same accessibility principles for content creation also apply to email.

Key Accessibility Best Practices

To make sure your emails are fully inclusive, follow these design and formatting rules:

• Formatting: Break content into short paragraphs and use built-in heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2) to help users scan your email.
• Font and Size: Use legible, sans-serif fonts (like Arial, Calibri, or Helvetica) at 12pt or larger. Avoid using italics or complex decorative fonts.
• Use Color Mindfully: Ensure there is high contrast between your text color and background. Never rely solely on color to convey information.
• Hyperlinks: Write descriptive link text (e.g., use "Read the Accessible Email Guide" instead of "Click Here").
• Avoid Tables for Layout: Tables should be avoided when you want to simply format other content (i.e., just to line things up neatly.)
• Alt Text for Images: Always add descriptive alternative text for any images so screen readers can describe the visuals. Avoid sending "image-only" attachments, as they are unreadable to assistive software.

Send Email Within Brightspace

Email sent within Brightspace is sent using the Email tool. Within the Brightspace Email tool, you will use the Brightspace Editor to compose the body of your email. The Brightspace Editor has a built-in accessibility checker that makes it easy to check for issues or offer suggestions to fix identified accessibility issues.

You will remove significant barriers for users of assistive technology if you take these suggestions into consideration when creating email. An added bonus is that if you create your emails with accessibility in mind you will be ahead of the game in the event you do have a student who requires the use of assistive technology.

Want More Information

Email the Entire Class or Individual Students in Brightspace
Creating Accessible Emails
Brightspace Tip #582: Accessibility Checker
Email FAQs

Image credit: "celebrate GAAD" by jflorent is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 and is adaption of "disability symbols" by National Park Service in the public domain

Brightspace, our Learning Management System (LMS), is designed with accessibility in mind. However, it is the responsibility of the instructor and/or course designer to ensure their course content is formatted using best practices for accessibility; including the use of good heading structure, text formatting, contrast and color, descriptive links, alternative text, tables, lists, etc.

I am writing a series of accessibility related blog posts that will provide suggestions on how you can make small changes when creating course content to make it accessible. This is the seventh tip in my series of accessibility related blog posts and it focuses on tables.

A table is a means of arranging information into rows and columns. Tables are very useful for displaying data in an organized manner. Your course schedule and office hours are examples where formatting this information in a table could make it more accessible.

Tables should be avoided when you want to simply format other content (i.e., just to line things up neatly.) Using tables just for layout purposes is not the best practice for accessibility and may make it nearly impossible for people who use assistive technologies to access the information. If you do choose to use a table to layout text on the page, make sure you lay it out so it will make sense when read from left to right. Text-to-speech software by default will read the information in a table left to right, cell by cell, and row by row.

This video shows how a screen reader reads information in tables. There is an example of a good and a bad table layout. The video demonstrates how reading order AND the information in the columns are important considerations when creating accessible tables.

In the bad example in the video, the use of the dash and abbreviations for the months can be confusing when read by a screen reader. The abbreviated months would have been less confusing if the year had been included. The use of 1,2,3 in the "Week" column in the bad example can be confusing as well. A better option is to use Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 in the respective column.

When creating tables, read your table left to right, top to bottom (never repeating a cell). Does it make sense? Keep in mind that a screen reader will read tables in this way. If it doesn't make sense, you should reorganize the table so that it makes sense when read left to right, top to bottom without repeating a cell.

Consider these examples of accessible tables:

The tables, in the examples above, make sense when read left to right, top to bottom, without repeating a cell.

Follow these tips when creating tables to make them accessible:

• Do not use tabs or spaces to create tables. It may look like a table; however it will not be recognized as a table and can be confusing when read by assistive technologies.
• Add Row and Column Headers to tables to distinguish the heading text from the data area of the table. Screen readers read simple tables efficiently when the column or row headers are clearly defined.
• Repeat Row Headers if the table spans more than one page. Tables that are contained on multiple pages should have the header row repeated on each page.
• When you use tables for the presentation of data, summarize the table to aid reader comprehension. This helps all students to know the high points of a table.
• Break up complex tables (nested tables and merged or split cells inside of tables) into a series of simple tables. Simple tables are more usable for everyone.
• The information in each cell should make sense if read without the column heading. For example, instead of entering 1, 2, 3, in a "Chapter" column you should enter Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, in the cells to make it clearer when read by a screen reader.

When applying structure to documents and web content, you should use the appropriate built-in formatting structure tools to do so. Doing so will make content accessible to everyone, including users of assistive technology.

Creating tables in MS Word:

1. On the Insert tab choose Insert Table and select the appropriate number of rows and columns for your table.
2. Select the header row in the table and press the right mouse button. A Table Properties window will open.
3. Select the Row tab and check the box next to Repeat as header row at the top of each page. Press Enter key or Ok button. This header row will be repeated at top of each page.

Creating tables in PowerPoint:

1. Use the Insert Table function in the Slide layout, select the appropriate number of rows and columns for your table.

Alternatively you can insert a table:

1. From the Insert tab, click the Table command.
2. A drop-down menu containing a grid of squares will appear. Hover the mouse over the grid to select the number of columns and rows in the table.

Working with tables in the Brightspace Editor:

To create a table in the Brightspace Editor:

1. Place your cursor in the text area where you would like to insert the table.
2. Click the insert/edit table function and select the appropriate number of rows and columns for your table to begin adding a table in the text area.

To create column headers:

1. Highlight the entire row that you want to mark up as a table header. Alternatively you can put your cursor in one of the cells you want to mark up as a table header.
2. Then click on the drop-down menu next to the Table icon in the toolbar.
3. Choose Cell and then Cell Properties. The Cell properties window will pop-up.
4. In the Cell type field, click on the drop-down list and select Header cell.
5. Click Save. You will know you have successfully changed the row to table headers because the look of the table cells will change.
6. Repeat for each cell that is a column header.

You will remove significant barriers for users of assistive technology if you take these suggestions into consideration when creating course content. An added bonus is that if you include properly structured tables when creating your course content you will be ahead of the game in the event you do have a student who requires the use of assistive technology. Remember a properly structured table is good design and can benefit everyone.

Brightspace, our Learning Management System (LMS), is designed with accessibility in mind. However, it is the responsibility of the instructor and/or course designer to ensure their course content is formatted using best practices for accessibility; including the use of good heading structure, text formatting, contrast and color, descriptive links, alternative text, tables, lists, etc.

I am writing a series of accessibility related blog posts that will provide suggestions on how you can make small changes when creating course content to make it accessible. This is the sixth tip in my series of accessibility related blog posts and it focuses on lists.

A list is a set of items that share a purpose and/or have common characteristics. Lists are great from an accessibility standpoint because they provide structured order to content in a linear fashion.

Properly structured lists help to identify order and hierarchy in documents and web content. Lists that are properly formatted allow all users, especially those using assistive technology, to identify and navigate through a related group of items. List items that are not properly formed or grouped may not be translated properly by assistive technology.

Bulleted (unordered) lists should be used when there is no order of sequence or importance. Numbered (ordered) lists suggest a progression or sequence.

Compound lists contain multiple levels of classification. For example, a compound home improvement list would have items organized by category (e.g. electrical, hardware, flooring, plumbing.) With compound lists, relationships are shown visually using indents and different item markers (i.e., bullets, numbers, letters, etc.).

Compound lists may be difficult for visual users to decipher if the visual cues are insufficient. Also, compound lists may be disorienting for nonvisual users. Use a simple list structure whenever possible.

As with headings, lists should be used correctly and for the right purposes. Lists should never be used for merely indenting or other layout purposes.

When lists are formatted using asterisks, hyphens or images to create the look of bullets in a document, users of assistive technology are not able to detect the hierarchical structure and relationship of the list items. You should never rely on indentation to provide a visual list, use the proper structure instead.

Lists should be created using the built-in tools for ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists. Without using these tools, a list is not really a list, which makes the content more difficult for assistive technology users to fully understand.

Creating lists in MS Word and PowerPoint:

1. Select the text that you want to add bullets or numbering to.
2. On the Home tab, under Paragraph, select the appropriate bullet from the list.

Creating lists in Google Docs and Slides:

1. On your computer, open a document or presentation in Google Docs or Slides
2. Click a page or slide where you want to add a list
3. In the toolbar, choose a list type. If you don't see the option, click More ...
4. Start typing your text for the list

Creating lists in the Brightspace Editor:

1. In the Brightspace Editor, select the text that you want to add bullets or numbering to
2. Select the Bulleted List or Numbered List button

You will remove significant barriers for users of assistive technology if you take these suggestions into consideration when creating course content. An added bonus is that if you include properly structured lists when creating your course content you will be ahead of the game in the event you do have a student who requires the use of assistive technology.