Accessibility Checklist for Website Content

Penned by “Nicky”

Categorized as “Resource”

Simplified Version

Introduction and background

This website had a goal of meeting as many WCAG AAA criteria as possible. That means we have to check all content before we post. We made a checklist to help us know what to check each time.

We want to share our process for making blog post content accessible. As accessible as we know how to, anyway.

Intention

This checklist should not be used by itself as an accessibility plan. It can be used to build your own web accessibility plan.

Another reason this checklist is published, is to be clear. We want to explain how we approach one part of web accessibility.

Feedback

If you want to share feedback, please email me at hello@nicky.dev.

Checklist

The original article’s checklist has been written to be as simple as possible. Some really specific words must be used and cannot be changed.

Read the checklist.

Introduction and background

Working on this website with a goal of meeting as many WCAG AAA criteria as possible meant we had to be diligent with checking content before we post it. We formed a checklist out of this goal, and want to share our process for making “blog post” style web content as accessible as we know how to.

Intention

This list is not intended to be a stand-alone accessibility plan. It can be used as a starting point to build your own web accessibility plan and meet the goals you set. Our list is also published to incorporate transparency of how we approach web accessibility.

The checklist

The list is structured in what we think is the most logical order to complete.

Media

  • No embedded content, including: iFrames, audio-only, video-only, or time-based media.
  • No flashing content.
  • No images of text other than logos and required branding.
  • Provide text alternatives for any non-text content.

Design & Structure

  • Do not use colour alone as information.
  • New colours must pass contrast ratio thresholds.
  • Headings need to be placed often where they makes sense. They should be brief, and describe the topic or purpose.
  • Do not open links in a new tab or window, which introduces a change of context.
  • Describe the link destination in the link text.
  • Links that go to the same destination should be consistently named across pages.

Language

  • Language changes need to be marked up with the correct BCP 47 language tag.
  • Abbreviations and acronyms must be spelled out on their first use.
  • Ambiguous words should be marked up to provide their pronunciation, or, there should be context for the meaning to be distinguished.

Reading Level

Anything more complex than “Grade 9” reading level must have a simple version, or alternative content. Please remove any proper names and titles when testing.

Some decisions require careful consideration of context and nuances, including:

  • Determining how reading level is calculated.
  • Choosing how to remediate:
    • Simplified version,
    • Supplementing the original content,
    • Providing a summary.

Code/Markup

  • Use correct and semantic HTML tags.
  • Correctly order headings.

Feedback

If you want to share feedback, please email me at hello@nicky.dev.