Systemwide Human Resources
Recommended Accessibility Resources — Creating Accessible Documents Systemwide Training Program
External Resources
This is the color contrast checker we’ll explore in the program. It's web-based software that can be accessed anywhere you have an internet connection and browser. There are many similar tools available, and most have the same general functionality.
Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA)
Another color contrast tool I use quite frequently. This tool is a desktop application.
A fantastic online repository of accessibility information.
A favorite alt text resource: easy to use and understand. It steers toward using alt text that conveys meaning/purpose rather than a literal description (there is some debate about this within the accessibility community).
Alternative Text on WebAIM.org
A more in-depth alt text resource that explores different approaches to alt text and advanced consideration for images and alt text in web development.
UK Home Office Accessibility Posters (pdf)
Another favorite resource, particularly suited for introducing folks to accessibility. This posters series offers simple “Do”/”Do Not” guidance for designing for users who have different disabilities. Great for printing out and hanging around the office.
This LinkedIn Learning course, taught by Chad Chelius, is highly recommended. It covers much of the same material as this training program but explores a few areas further, like Adobe InDesign.
There’s also a follow-up course taught by Chad: Advanced Accessible PDFs.
Office of Civil Rights (OCR) videos
This video series, offered by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, covers a variety of topics related to digital accessibility in education.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
The WCAG standards currently adopted by UC’s Information Technology Accessibility policy (pdf). The policy should be updated to WCAG 2.1 within the next year or two and eventually WCAG 2.2, so you may want to explore those as well.
HHS Section 508 Guide Tagging PDF's in Adobe Acrobat Pro (pdf) & HHS Required Fixes for PDF Files
Two excellent resources offered by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services that can help answer further questions about PDF accessibility and PDF tagging.
PDF Association (PDF/UA) Tagging Syntax Guide (pdf)
PDF/UA is one of the most prominent and authoritative sets of PDF accessibility standards in the world. This guide can help you learn their recommended tag structures for different types of PDF content.
CDC infographic capturing statistics on the number of adult Americans who have certain disabilities/impairments.
Invisible Content Just for Screen Reader Users on WebAIM.org
Shares techniques and copyable HTML/CSS for making certain HTML elements invisible visually and only available to screen reader users.
Creating Accessible Tables on WebAIM.org
Page 1 of a two-part WebAIM.org article on optimizing table accessibility; this page discusses layout considerations.
Make sure to also check out Page 2, Data Tables, which shares guidance for marking up data tables so they’re even more accessible and easy for assistive technology users to parse.
Keyboard Accessibility on WebAIM.org and Keyboard Navigation on Gnome Help
These two resources provide an overview of keyboard navigation commands, while the WebAIM page also provides guidance for keyboard-only testing.
UC-based Resources
UC's Information Technology Accessibility policy (pdf)
UC’s official policy related to accessibility.
Website of the UC Systemwide Electronic Accessibility Committee (EAC).
Word-to-PDF and PDF Accessibility Guide (pdf)
A guide for manually checking and implementing accessibility in Word and PDF documents. The guide was written to MS Word 2016 and has not yet been updated to MS Word 365 but most of its information remains accurate and relevant.
Updated eCourse Accessibility Checklist (pdf)
A checklist/guide capturing UC’s preferred standards for eCourse accessibility. These standards reflect WCAG 2.0 requirements, translated to an eCourse context, plus UC-recommended best practices. This guide also offers detailed information specific to accessibility in Articulate Storyline 360 and instructions on how to achieve certain UC standards in Storyline.
UC’s 2022 Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) webinar. The Rich Text Editors: Maintaining Accessibility portion in particular is relevant to this program. It’s about 16 minutes long and offers guidance applicable to most text/content editing platforms, not just rich text editors (RTE); it’s a condensed version of much of the same guidance taught in this program and is great for sharing with colleagues who want an introduction to developing more accessible content. The accompanying RTE PowerPoint (pptx) shares all of the talking points in text form and even includes practice exercises, complete with video demonstrations and answer keys.
UC’s 2021 Global Accessibility Awareness Day webinar. The Simple Steps for Improving Accessibility portion offers guidance relevant for content producers (all of which is covered in this program), while the Demystifying Captions in Less than 10 Minutes portion offers guidance relevant to video accessibility.