Word accessibility

On this page you can find information on:

Styles

Styles should be used to give screen readers information about where they are in the document.

Capitalisation

You should avoid over capitalisation of words. You should only capitalise acronyms. 

Fonts

You should use as few fonts as possible in your document. This is because using a variety of fonts can make a document difficult to read for people who are partially sighted or with cognitive disabilities. 

Font size

A font size should be a minimum of 14 points to be considered accessible. 

Bold and italics

You should avoid bold on more than a few words within a document. Italics should be removed completely. 

Underline

You should remove any underlining from a document because it can be confused with a URL hyperlink. 

Headings

You should use headings to structure your content. Headings should:

  • follow a logical order. For example, heading 1, heading 2, heading 2
  • not skip headings. For example, heading 1, heading 3, heading 2.

For longer documents, you should create a table of contents based on the headings you use.

Formatting

When you're formatting a document you should:

  • always use left alignment to ensure even spacing between words
  • use double or 1.5 spacing between lines
  • leave at least one line between paragraphs.

Lists

Lists can help break up content and make it easier to understand important points. You should:

  • use numbered lists for a step-by-step process
  • use bulleted lists for important points. 

Language

Screen readers support multiple languages, so it's important to define the language of your document. When someone is using a screen reader it will:

  • identify the language
  • pronounce the content correctly.

Document contrast

Regardless of the format of your document, your document colour contrast should be strong. To do this you should:

  • use a dark text colour on a pale background. This is what works best for users, but some users may prefer a pale font on a dark background
  • use a blank background to make it easier for the user to read a document.

Colours and shapes

When you're putting your document together you should not use colours and shapes alone to share a message. 

Tables

You should:

  • keep them simple
  • not use merged cells
  • have a header row
  • avoid using tables to structure your content
  • provide a clear explanation for what a table is going to show.

Tables need to have alternative text. To do this:

  1. right click the table
  2. click on 'table properties'
  3. click 'alt text'
  4. write your table alternative text.

Images

When using images in documents it's important to think about where you're going to place your image. If you place images at random, it can interrupt the flow of text and make it harder to read. 

Images of text

Users should be able to change features of the text including:

  • size
  • colour.

If text is an image, it means that a user cannot adjust it to their needs. 

Alternative text

All images need alternative text.

However, it can be difficult to add alternative text to complex images. This includes:

  • infographics
  • illustrations
  • charts
  • graphs. 

For images that are complex, you should:

  • add a short description in the alt text
  • add a longer description in the text of the document afterwards. 

The longer description should:

  • give a description in greater detail 
  • explain what the image is showing, so if the image were removed it would describe what it would show.

An image can also be marked as 'decorative'. You should only do this if it's not giving any information that someone using assistive technology would need to know.

Hyperlinks

You should use descriptive words for hyperlinks.

Never use non-descriptive words, such as 'click here'.

A good example is: Pay your Medway Council Tax online

A bad example is: www.medway.gov.uk/info/200131/council-tax/13/pay-your-council-tax

Another bad example is: Click here for more.

Naming files

When creating a file name:

  • use hyphens to separate the words
  • avoid spaces as these will be automatically replaced with characters
  • do not include the name of the person who created the file
  • do not include the date the file was created.

For example:

Use: the-big-splash-timetable

Avoid: the big splash timetable JRichards 25 nov’ (the’ #big’ ’splash’ ’timetable’ ’jrichards’ ’25’ ’nov).