Further accessibility resources
There are a few sources that are considered to be the gold standard in accessibility.
Below are a couple of organisations that we continually refer to for guidance:
- WebAIM – The Web Accessibility in Mind Project provides articles, tutorials, forums and simulations which are useful for testing websites.
- The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) the global authority on accessible design standards responsible for developing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and 2.1. Overview of web accessibility guidelines.
- Government Digital Service (GDS) UK government digital design service responsible for building platforms, standards and digital services across departments.
- GOV.UK style guide
We will continue to update this list with relevant resources to help developers, designers and content creators learn more about accessibility.
If you have any suggestions for articles or resources that you think should be on the list, please email us or add your comments below.
Assistive technology
- Designing for Screen Reader Compatibility (WebAIM)
- Testing with assistive technologies (GOV.UK)
- Free assistive technology tools for website testing (GOV.UK)
Understanding different users
- Finding participants for user research (GOV.UK)
- Running research sessions with disabled people (GOV.UK)
- User profiles of people with access needs (GOV.UK)
- Stories of web users (W3C)
- Web accessibility perspective videos (W3C)
- User profiles and barriers faced online (GOV.UK)
- Low vision user needs (W3C)
- Practices that hurt dyslexic users (UX Movement)
- Accessibility tips for people with dyslexia (Simply Accessible)
Writing accessible content
- Plain English Campaign
- Plain English guides (including A to Z of alternative words)
- Accessibility writing tips (W3C)
- Content design blog at Scope
- Reading age and web content (Content Design London)
- Hemingway App free writing tool that highlights areas where you can improve your writing with simpler, clearer language and avoid the passive voice.
- Creating content for screenreaders (GOV.UK)
- Content design: planning, writing and managing content (GDS)
- Ampersands, date arranges and contractions: style guidance (GDS)
- Designing tables (Co-op Design System)
- Gunning Fog Index free writing tool which estimates the years of formal education a person needs to understand the text on the first reading.
Publishing accessible content
- Five golden rules for compliant alt text (AbilityNet)
- Writing alt text (GOV.UK)
- Publishing accessible documents (GDS)
- Creating accessible tables (WebAIM)
Developer tools
- Making your frontend accessible (GOV.UK)
- WAVE Web accessibility evaluation tool
- Page structure (W3C)
- How to create accessible forms (W3C)
- Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) (Moz)
- Web accessibility evaluation tools list (W3C)
- Navigation menu structure (W3C)
Colour
- WebAIM contrast checker
- WCAG colour contrast checker chrome extension
- Colour text contrast checker
- Coblis colour blindness simulator
- Colour Oracle colour blindness app
- How users change colour on a website (GDS)
Images
- Alt-text decision tree (W3C)
- Image concepts and purpose (W3C)
- Types of images (W3C)
- Image decision tree (W3C)
- Complex images (W3C)
- How to make accessible animated images (BBC)
Video media accessibility
- Making Audio and Video Media Accessible (W3C)
- Video captions (W3C)
- Captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions (WebAIM)
- Accessible GIFs WordPress plugin
PDF accessibility
If need to provide a pdf, follow accessibility best practices and always create an alternative accessible version to go with it.
These are some resources to help make your pdfs as accessible as possible:
- Adobe pdf accessibility
- Create accessible pdfs (Microsoft)
- Tab and reading order in PDF documents (W3)
- Creating bookmarks in PDF documents (W3)
You could also try tools like Microsoft Sway instead of using PDFs.
Services
General guidance and support
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