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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 third tip in my series of accessibility related blog posts and it focuses on descriptive links.

Links are like sign posts. They should tell you what you will find when you follow them. When using a computer, people are generally skimming pages for links. They tend to skim pages to quickly find what they are looking for.

Text links on a page are easily identifiable to persons who are not visually impaired because they are normally colored and underlined, and therefore stand out from the other information on the page.

Persons with a visual impairment using screen reader software are presented with a “links list” with all the available links found on the page. Screen reader users and persons using text-to-speech browsers often navigate websites going from link to link using the tab key, so providing descriptive links is extremely important.

Link text stands out in the same way that bold text does. If all your links have non-descriptive link text like "click here" or "more information" users are forced to read the text around the link to understand the context of the link and where it will take them. Therefore "click here" and “more information” are more of a hindrance than a help.

For effective skimming, both visual and non-visual users benefit from link text that can stand on its own without the surrounding context of the page. Good link text provides a clear description of the page that will load when following a link. With good descriptive link text, users can skim links and make quick informed decisions about the path to take to accomplish their task. With non-descriptive link text, users cannot ascertain where the link will take them from the link text alone. Therefore, you should avoid non-descriptive link text such as:

• Click here
• Here
• More information
• Read more
• Continue

These types of non-descriptive link text offer no explanation and require users to expand their focus to the surrounding context or follow the link to discover its destination.

When choosing descriptive links the link text needs to be long enough to convey the purpose of the link and no longer. Make link text clear and self-explanatory to support quick and effective navigation.

When scanning links, the first words in the link text are the ones most likely to grab the user’s attention. Link text that begins with keywords is easier to scan efficiently and works better with software features like "link lists" that visually impaired individuals use to get an alphabetized list of links on a page.

Links beginning with non-descriptive words are not very helpful. Consider these two examples "All about ocean acidification" and "Learn more about global warming." Scanning these links will be slower and the alphabetized links list is not going to be very useful. A better approach is to use only the keywords for link text. For example those two links could be improved if they were formatted as "All about ocean acidification" and "Learn more about global warming."

Some users make links out of entire sentences or entire paragraphs. These long links are probably unnecessary and are not user-friendly for screen reader users. Remember that screen reader users cannot visually scan through lengthy links. They have to listen to the entire text. Some screen reader users get frustrated with long link text and move on to the next link if they cannot understand the purpose of the link after the first few words.

URLs are not always human-readable or screen reader friendly and therefore using URLs as link text should usually be avoided. Exceptions are when the document is intended to be printed or if the URL is relevant content.

In most cases, it is better to use human-readable text instead of the URL. The human-readable link Design for All Learners: Create Accessible and Inclusive Learning Experiences is more user-friendly than the link to purchase the book by the same title on Amazon.com, which consists of this 115-character link full of letters, numbers, slashes, and text that is not very human-readable (https://www.amazon.com/Design-All-Learners-Accessible-Experiences/dp/1957157895/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8.)

Additionally, links don't always lead to web pages. It is equally important to make this clear in your link text. Users appreciate knowing in advance, for example, that if they click on a link on their mobile device they will download a 20Mb PDF. In this case, the link text should indicate that it is a link to a file, including type and size of the file. Here's an example: Assignments Tool Quick Reference Guide (pdf 587KB).

Hyperlinks that are good for both accessibility and usabilty use descriptive text and retain the standard underline style.

Example: Descriptive Links

Ugly (and unclickable): https://webaim.org/techniques/hypertext/link_text
Bad: Click here to learn more.
Good: Accessible link text and appearance by WebAIM

Image credit: image by geralt from Pixabay

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.

You can make small changes when creating course content to make it accessible.

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 second tip in my series of accessibility related blog posts and it focuses on text formatting.

Text formatting is an important consideration for accessibility. Readable content directly supports accessibility by:

• Supporting Users with Visual Impairments: Clear typography and proper contrast help users with low vision, color blindness, or other visual disabilities read content more easily.
• Assisting Cognitive Accessibility: Simple, well-structured content helps users with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or other cognitive differences process information more effectively.
• Improving Screen Reader Experience: Properly formatted content with clear headings, lists, and link text helps screen reader users navigate and understand content efficiently.
• Reducing Eye Strain: Good typography and color choices benefit everyone, including users who experience fatigue or have temporary vision issues.
• Enhancing Mobile Accessibility: Readable content is especially important on smaller screens, where text clarity becomes even more critical.

An accessible font means using a typeface designed for easy reading by a diverse audience, including individuals with visual impairments such as low vision or reading disability such as dyslexia. Accessible typography ensures that textual information is accessible to all users, irrespective of their abilities or disabilities.

Here are a few suggestions for making text legible for persons with a visual impairment and that work for nearly everyone.

Contrast – Use the highest possible contrast for text
Point Size – The relationship between readability and point size differs somewhat among typefaces.
Leading – Spacing between lines of text, should be at least 25 to 30 percent of the point size.
Font Family – Avoid complicated, decorative or cursive fonts. When they must be used, reserve them for emphasis only.
Sans-serif or standard serif fonts with familiar, easily recognizable characters are best.
Font Style – Roman typeface, using upper and lower cases, is more readable than italics, oblique or condensed.

Some additional points to consider:

• Color should not be the only method used to convey information
• Avoid red or green text or text decoration, such as Word Art, Shadows, 3D, etc.
• Use bold or italic to display emphasis
• Do not underline text (screen readers interpret underlines as links)
• Avoid writing whole sentences in capital letters
• Avoid moving or blinking text
• Keep the number of fonts used to a minimum
• The reading order should be the same as the visual order

You can find more information about accessible typefaces and fonts at Web AIM.

You will remove significant barriers for the visually impaired if you take these suggestions into consideration when creating course content. An added bonus is that there will be students without disabilities, as well as those who have chosen not to disclose their disability to you, who will find your use of these tips helpful as well.

This is the first in a series of blog posts that is a follow-up to my recent Why Accessibility is Important post where I wrote,

Making accessible content doesn’t have to be complicated... Even small efforts make a big difference. Not only will your materials support students with disabilities, but you’ll also improve the learning experience for everyone. Plus, if you reuse your course content each semester, accessibility updates you make now will continue to pay off in the future.

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.

This first post focuses on headings. A good heading structure is an important accessibility consideration. Headings should be used to indicate main points and sub-points on a page. Like an outline, heading levels should appear in logical and consistent order.

Headings allow screen reader users to easily navigate through the page and can make the page more usable for everyone.

When creating documents, many people do not use true "heading styles." For example, when creating a heading, they simply change the font type, enlarge the font size, change the color, make it bold, etc. When this is done, the document has no real structure that can be detected by a screen reader program. While visual learners can scan the page for text that stands out from the rest, users who rely on a screen reader are not able to "see" these elements.

IMPORTANT: When creating heading styles always use the proper heading level. Create uniform headings so that a screen reader can navigate the content and can understand how it is structured. Watch this short video for an explanation of heading structures and reading order.

The correct way to provide structure for accessibility purposes is to use heading styles. Listed below are instructions for applying heading styles in MS Word, PowerPoint, Google Docs, Google Slides, and the Brightspace Editor.

Add heading styles in MS Word document:

1. Click on the Home tab.
2. Highlight the text.
3. Click on the appropriate heading selector in the styles panel (e.g. Heading 1 for top-level heading; Heading 2 for a subheading of the top-level heading, etc.).

Add heading styles in PowerPoint:

Using slide layouts will ensure that files have correctly structured headings and lists, and proper reading order. To assign a Slide Layout:

1. Click on the Home tab.
2. Click on New Slide.
3. Choose the desired layout from the slide options menu.

Add heading styles in Google Docs:

1. Highlight the text.
2. Click on the appropriate heading selector in the styles panel (e.g. Heading 1 for top-level heading; Heading 2 for a subheading of the top-level heading, etc.).

Add heading styles in Google Slides:

Use predefined layouts instead of manually created text boxes, because the layouts are specially coded to work well with adaptive technologies like screen readers. To assign a Slide Layout:

1. Click on Slide --> Apply layout button.
2. Choose the desired layout from the slide options menu.

Add heading styles in the Brightspace Editor:

1. Highlight the text.
2. Select the proper heading level from the Format dropdown menu (e.g. Heading 1 for top-level heading; Heading 2 for a subheading of the top-level heading, etc.).

Heading structures are essential for organizing documents into logical, hierarchical outlines, which improve readability for all users and ensure accessibility for those using screen readers.

Image credit: "Digital Literacy for visually impaired" by IAPB/VISION 2020 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0