Do not require users to perceive font, color, or other styling changes in order to understand meaning. For instance, do not say, " the highlighted word in the previous paragraph is the most important" or "Items marked in red are errors and need to be corrected," unless the word or items are indicated in some additional way such as using code to define the style such as </strong></a strong>.
One trick is to look at your page in black and white. Can you still make sense of what it means?
Look at this black and white image from a WIC Calendar (originally, this is color coded only, with green, red, blue and gold)
Until Penn Libraries fixed it, this calendar was not readable by a color-blind person, or any of us. There had been no other visual cues other than color. The Penn Libraries fix was to add checks and x's to indicate the status of the rooms.
Linked items which include the code target = "blank" directs the link to open in a new window or tab. Exclude this text in your links. It creates a very frustrating experience for readers with limited vision.
Opening a new tab confuses people who can not see.The new tab makes it easy for sighted readers to return to the old page. However, it is of no help to people with limited vision. They do not know they have landed on a new page and, therefore, using the back key will not bring them to the original screen. Sighted readers can see the new tab and realize the back key won't work. All they need to do is click on the original tab to get back to the referring screen page. This is very convenient for sighted readers, but quite challenging for others. A sighted reader can always open a new tab by holding down the control key when they click on a link. Bottom line: do not use this code: target="blank".
Screen readers are fluent in many languages, but they can not identify the language automatically. When you are writing a LibGuide in one language, such as English, and then add a title or phrase in another language, such as Catalan, you need to indicate that change in language to the screen reader. It will mispronounce the word or phrase without some help. Wrap the non-English words in a tag with a language label.
<span lang="ca"> Tirant lo Blanc (Tirant lo blanch en l'original) és l'obra més important de l'escriptor i cavaller valencià Joanot Martorell.</span>
Provide a transcript, captions and/or sign language translation for all audio and video with speech.
