Accessibility

For a textbook to be genuinely accessible, people of all abilities need to be able to access the content. This means designing a textbook that accommodates people with diverse learning styles and ensuring the content can be accessed by all, regardless of disability. It also means creating materials that include diverse viewpoints and voices. As you plan your textbook, contemplate how to design it, so it is accessible, diverse, and inclusive.

Making your text accessible

As an open textbook author and publisher, it’s important to consider the social-justice side of open education. Listed below are some of the barriers students face during their education, as well as some solutions and examples.

Accessibility checklist

OERU will run an accessibility test on your content before publishing. However, the more accessible you create your text from the beginning, the faster the build and review process will be. Here is an accessibility “checklist” for you to keep in mind as you create your manuscript. OERU also provides an accessibility checklist that aligns with WCAG standards.

Content

• Chapter organization and headers are marked clearly.
• Content is organized under headings and subheadings.
• The web page has a descriptive and informative page title.
• Words that may be ambiguous, unfamiliar, or used in a very specific way are defined through adjacent text, a definition list, a glossary, or another suitable method.
• Heading levels are in sequential order to represent the structure of the document (e.g. Heading 1, Heading 2)

Headings

• Use chapters, headings, subheadings, and consistent pedagogical elements to organize content. Consistent headings signal the hierarchy of information. This allows students to see how the main concepts are related clearly. In addition, headings are one of the main ways students using a screen reader navigate through a chapter.
• Headings help to identify the hierarchical structure of a document (e.g., sections, sub-sections). Headings provide a visual cue that helps sighted readers quickly navigate through sections of a document, skimming through content until they find a section they are looking for. Similarly, headings create logical divisions in the content and allow a non-sighted user to navigate a page or document easily using a screen reader.
• Headings need to be implemented using the appropriate tool your preferred publishing platform or system provides. Here’s an example if you were using Pressbooks to publish:

Lists

• Lists are clearly shown as numbered or unnumbered. Do not use * or – to denote lists. Use only bullets or numbering.

Images

• All Images have alternative text. Images that convey information include alternative text (alt-text) descriptions of the image’s content or function.
• Graphs, Charts, and Maps also include contextual or supporting details in the text surrounding the image.
• Images do not rely on color to convey information.
• Decorative images are marked with a null alternative text.

Graphs and charts

• Complex graphics (graphs, charts, etc.) are accompanied by equivalent text, either through a description in the body of the page, a link to a description on a separate page, and/or a long description in the alt-text.

Tables

• Do not use tables to format your text.
• Tables should not contain split or merged cells.
• All tables have captions or titles.
• If you make your table in Excel, an editor can upload that raw file (.XLS or .XLSX) into TablePress quickly and accurately!

Hyperlinks

• The web link is meaningful in context, and does not use generic text such as “click here” or “read more.”
• Links embedded in the text describe the link’s destination

Multimedia

• Closed captions are provided for any video content.
• A transcript has been made available for a multimedia resource that includes audio narration or instruction.

Formulas and mathematical equations

• Formulas and equations are created with an editor compatible with screen readers such as LaTex or MathML.
• Formulas that are images have alternative text descriptions

Color Contrast

• All information presented in color is also be conveyed in text or other images.
• Sufficient color contrast is used in images

Interactive Elements

• Instructions do not rely upon the shape, size, or visual location (e.g., “Click the square icon to continue” or “Instructions are in the right-hand column”).

Attribution