Accessibility Checklist: Microsoft Word

Text 

• Font should be sans serif, like Calibri, Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Roboto

• Font size should be at least 12 point, rather than 11

• Choose contrasting text and background colors: black/white, Davidson-Davie blue/white

• Bold the text to call attention to important information. 

• Avoid underlining text unless the text is a clickable hyperlink.  

• Avoid italics unless necessary (book titles, scientific names)

Heading Styles

• Open the Navigation Pane to view your headings in the form of an outline

• Change heading styles to your preferred font and size by choosing “Update Heading to Match”

• Heading 1 is used for the title of a document

• Heading 2 is used for main topics

• Heading 3, 4, etc. are subsections used in chronological order

• Normal is for paragraphs and shouldn’t appear in the Navigation Pane

List of Items 

• Use the Bulleted List or Numbered List feature in the editing toolbar.  

Hyperlinks

• All links should be descriptive links that tell the user where the link will take them.

Images 

• Provide alt text for the image (differs depending on the version of Word)

• When images contain text, write out the text within the document

Tables

• Use tables to display data

• Avoid using tables for design or layout - Format the page into columns instead

• Choose contrasting text and cell colors

• Avoid blank cells

• Avoid merging cells

• Tag the table column and/or row headers by going to the Design tab>Table Styles Option>Header Row

Accessibility Check

• Run the Accessibility Checker and correct any issues (The Check Accessibility button is located in different places depending on the version of Word)

Accessibility Checklist: Microsoft Word (Google Docs Version)