Content Contributors

The heading structure of your content is used both for navigation and also to understand the relationships within your content; i.e. whether things have equal importance, or if items are subordinate to other items. When you are creating headings in your content, click on the "Normal" drop-down item in the rich text editor. Then choose the appropriate heading level for your text.

Remember that your heading structure should be similar to an essay outline. Headings should descend numerically when following the natural numbering order, i.e. a heading level 2 follows a heading level 1. You shouldn't skip numerical order, from a level 1 to a level 3, however you can jump back up to a higher level.

A recent Ohio University Compass magazine article provide more detail on structuring your content with headings.

Tables should only be used for presenting data like spreadsheet rows/columns, not to position elements on a page. Data tables must be marked up with appropriate headers. When you create a data table, you the tools in a rich text editor or the Table ribbon of Microsoft Word (for example) to add descriptive row headers, column headers or both row and column headers. If your table is more complex (for example, a table with merged cells or multiple levels of headers) either break the table down to several simple tables or contact University Communications and Marketing to help you make your complex table accessible.

You can learn more about accessible tables on the WebAim website.

Describing images in alternative text can be an art form. While it is nearly impossible to state what a perfect alternative text looks like, there are some guidelines that can help you create better alt text. Imagination is the key.

Understand that:

• Screen readers announce the image information to people who cannot see the content on your webpage.
• Screen readers will announce the word "image" so you don't have to in your description.
• Using a screen reader is tedious.
  • Keep your descriptions meaningful.
  • Try to keep descriptions under 140 characters (think about the length of a tweet.)

For more information about accessible images, visit our Universal Techniques page.

A 2019 report from The Next Web shows that people spend around more than 6 hours a day online - a great deal of that time is spent reading. Far from the myth that using plain language techniques "dumbs down" content, it requires that we write and design our content with simplicity and clarity. The Federal Plain Language Guidelines state that members of your audience can quickly and easily:

• Find what they need.
• Understand what they find.
• Use what they find to meet their needs.

Given the high number of distractions in our digital world, plain language is a welcome relief for the vast majority of our audiences regardless of their abilities.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Focus on your readers.
2. Structure the whole page for scanning.
3. Write simply using words common to your audiences' vocabulary.
4. Get to the point - put the most important information first.
5. Use images that add meaning to illustrate your point.
6. Write in the active voice.
7. Use shorter sentences.
8. Uses headings and bullets to break up large blocks of text.
9. Limit column lengths to 65-75 characters.

Page titles, headings and now descriptive links are all ways that people using assistive technologies can scan a web page to better understand whether your page will help them or not. A screen reader user can set their device to just read headings or just read links on the page.

If a screen reader is just announcing links on a page - and every link on your page says "Read More" or "Click here" - that can present a real problem for that person. But if those links are descriptive of their destination, the user will have a better idea of the content on the page. This practice will also enhance your search engine optimization.