The following guidelines provide tips for addressing advanced web accessibility issues and reflect good development standards. See Tips for getting started to address more basic web accessibility issues.

Quick reference for Web Developers PDF

Guidelines for web developers

Use cascading style sheets (CSS) to present page content

Separate content from presentation

Mark up data tables correctly

Help screenreader users navigate through tables

Ensure source code order matches visual page flow

Make the website keyboard accessible

Use color judiciously

Don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning

Use the longdesc attribute for images with complex meaning

Provide full descriptions of complex images

Use relative font sizes

Enable readers to increase text size themselves

Test in multiple browsers/operating systems

Make the page accessible in common browsers

Label elements in forms for use by assistive technology

Clearly associate items in forms with the input element

Make sure people can use the keyboard to select form choices

Don’t rely on mouse clicks

Avoid using CAPTCHAs in forms

Consider nonvisual tests for authenticity

Provide alt attributes in image maps

Create only client-side image maps