Creating Accessible LibGuides

Keeping it simple is more than just minimalist design. It's about designing with intention and a clear purpose. Each time you add a new item to a page, it adds complexity which can potentially decrease usability and accessibility.

See more tips for keeping things simple.

• Sans-serif fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Tahoma should be used, and font sizes should be no smaller than 9pt
• Avoid excessive uppercase text
  • Some screen readers may interpret all caps text as an acronym and will read each letter individually.
• Avoid bolding or italicizing entire paragraphs.
  • Bolded text should be used to provide strong emphasis on a word or phrase. 
  • Italics should be used to highlight proper names (i.e. book and article titles), foreign words, quotes. 
• Avoid using underlined text for emphasis. 
  • Underlined text can be confused with links. Consider using bold for emphasis. 
• Remove unnecessary numbers and remove decimal places when possible. 
  • For example, 10 a.m. is the same as 10:00 a.m. and $20 and $20.00 is the same amount.

Tables should be used to present tabular data, and not used to create document layouts for visual aesthetics. Tables should have a simple structure with properly formatted column headers to help convey their relationships. Poorly formatted and inconsistent table layouts are difficult to navigate with screen readers.

• Tables should be used to display data only and should not be used for content layout.
• Use the simplest table configuration possible.
  • If your data is complex, consider using multiple smaller tables.
• Provide logical column headings to:
  • Ensure the relationship between columns and rows is accessible using screen readers.
  • Allow screen readers to navigate through the data tables more effectively.
• Provide table captions that describes what kind of information the table contains.
• It is important to remember that screen readers read tables linearly.