Office of Accessibility Services
This guide is to help instructional faculty at UVM get a full picture of what it takes to create online courses that are accessible to the largest number of learners. The guide covers accessibility at the full course level, as well as what to think about for webpages, documents, and multimedia.

Accessibility Standards for Different Course Materials

Full Course Accessibility Standards

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When you create your course space online, make sure you’ve included the following items:

  • Accessibility Statement: The homepage or syllabus for the course should include the UVM Accessibility Statement.
  • Accommodations Statement: The recommended Student Accessibility Services accommodation statement should be posted either on the homepage or in the syllabus, or both.
  • Accessibility & Accommodations Contacts: Contact information for who to get in touch with about disability accommodations or accessibility concerns should be posted on the homepage or included in the syllabus.

Additionally, doublecheck that your course includes the following accessibility features, drawn from the criteria that comprise the WCAG 2.1 AA-level standards for accessibility.

A list of accessibility standards that apply to online courses, along with their WCAG Guidelines, and notes and examples for each one.
FULL COURSE ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD (with WCAG Guideline)NOTES & EXAMPLES
Choose compatible tools and platforms.  Tools used in the course must be operable by assistive technology as well as by keyboard and mouse. (WCAG 2.1, Principle 2)
  • The Brightspace LMS framework at UVM has been verified to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards. The Qualtrics tool is recommended for creating accessible online forms. 
  • Contact OAS and ETS to verify that additional required software tools, platforms, and packages are also accessibility compliant.
Label user input. (3.3.2 Labels or Instructions)When asking a user to input information, label all form fields.
Offer multiple methods of navigation whenever possible. (2.4.5 Multiple Ways)Course navigation should be simple, intuitive, and feature multiple ways to arrive at the same destination.

Basic Digital Accessibility Standards

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The following accessibility guidelines apply to all types of digital course materials, including websites, blogs, electronic documents, lecture recordings, presentations, and publications. As you work through the other sections of this rubric, bear in mind that the Basic Digital Accessibility Considerations apply as well as the type-specific considerations.

  • For example, if you are building a website for your course, you will need to make sure the webpage comply with all of the Basic Digital Accessibility Considerations and the Website Accessibility Considerations. 
  • When you are writing your syllabus, you will need to make sure the document complies with all of the Basic Digital Accessibility Considerations and the Document Accessibility Considerations.
A list of basic digital accessibility standards, along with their WCAG Guidelines, and notes and examples for each one.
BASIC DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD (with WCAG Guideline)NOTES & EXAMPLES
Always use nested headings. (1.3.1 Info and Relationships)
  • Use the heading tools in Brightspace, Drupal, WordPress, Microsoft Office or the Adobe suite of software to create headings on the page. Don’t just make text bold and big to indicate a heading.
  • Each page should have only one H1. 
  • Under the H1 come H2s. Under H2s come H3s. And so on. 
Avoid using images of text without a selectable text equivalent. (1.4.5 Images of Text)Images of text are inaccessible to all forms of assistive technology. When text is in an image on a page, it is effectively hidden from many of your users, unless it has an alt-text, or a written text equivalent.
Make sure information isn’t conveyed by size, shape, or color alone. (1.3 Adaptable)Not everyone can see, and not everyone can see color. Semantic differences need to be spelled out in ways that everyone can understand. 
All meaningful images should concise, active alt-text. (1.1 Text Alternatives)Alt-text presents the main concept of a visual image in text that assistive technology can access. Alt text should be 2-3 short, vivid, active sentences.
Make sure that text and images have an adequate color contrast with their background (1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum), 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast)
  • Regular text needs a color contrast ratio of 7.5:1 with its background. Regular text is anything that’s 13.9 points or smaller AND not bold, or 17.9 points or smaller AND bold.
  • Large text needs a color contrast ratio of 3:1 with its background. Large text is anything that’s either 14 points or larger AND bold, or 18 points or larger AND NOT bold. 
  • Graphics need a color contrast ratio of 3:1 with their background.
Make sure color is not the only way information is conveyed. (1.4.1 Use of Color)
  • Not everyone can see, and not everyone can see color. Don’t depend on color alone to indicate semantic differences. 
  • For example, don’t say: “The list in green are chemicals that mix safely with hydrogen peroxide, and the list in red are the chemicals that cause dangerous reactions.” Instead, use headings for each list, or italicize the text, or both.
Create lists of items using a list tool (1.3.1Info and Relationships)Always use a software platform’s list creation tool instead of marking like items with an asterisk, a double-dash, or similar. This includes bibliographies and references.
Offer media content in text format as well. (1.2 Time-Based Media)
  • Video and audio files should have transcripts whenever possible.
  • Additionally, videos with dialogue must have closed captions. Open captions are not accessible.
  • Videos without dialogue should have an audio-described version. OAS will make you audio-described version of videos – yours and other people’s.
Create descriptive links. (2.4.4 Link Purpose in Context)
  • Don’t use “click here” as assistive technology users won’t know where they’ll wind up. Instead use the title of the webpage or document that is the destination as the text of the link. 
  • Don’t include full URLs as link text, as assistive technology users don’t want to have to sit through long, punctuation-laden artificial language. 
  • Alert users when a link triggers a download or goes to a media file by including the file format in parentheses after the link.

Website Accessibility Standards

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Webpages and websites, including blogs, signup forms, and Brightspace webpages, have some special accessibility requirements. 

All webpages created by UVM faculty, either to share course materials, to publicly showcase UVM work, or which are otherwise hosted on UVM servers must meet these WCAG 2.1 AA-level accessibility standards.

A list of website accessibility standards, along with their WCAG Guidelines, and notes and examples for each one.
WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD (with WCAG Guideline)NOTES & EXAMPLES
Each webpage on a site needs a unique title. (2.4.2 Page Titled)Even if you have to number the pages, that’s better than having the same title on multiple pages.
Images should be responsive, meaning that they can be resized. (1.4.10 Reflow and Layout)Users view webpages at a number of different sizes and resolutions, as well as on different platforms. When images are “responsive”, they’re suitable for mobile devices, as well as multiple layout sizes.
Visitors should be able to stop, pause, or hide any animations – including gifs. (2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide)Animations can cause web page visitors to experience migraines, headaches, nausea, dizziness, and even epileptic seizures. Visitors need to be able to turn them off – even if the page or element is set to abide by visitors’ motion preference settings.
Videos and audio should not automatically launch when a page loads. (1.4.2 Audio Control, 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide)

Unexpected video and audio launches can be an issue for web page visitors with anxiety or different types of cognitive and developmental disabilities. For example: Basic Digital Accessibility at the University of Vermont (video). 

Embed multimedia using conventional multimedia players that allow visitors to control when an item plays (this includes the standard YouTube and Vimeo embed codes).

Data Visualization Accessibility Standards (including tables, charts, graphs, equations, and maps)

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Digital data visualization and other content related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) frequently presents additional challenges in terms of accessibility. A lot of these challenges come from determining how best to provide accessible versions of what are known as “complex images”: maps, charts, graphs, and other information-dense images. Additional accessibility challenges are presented by data tables, which can present issues for assistive technology unless designed with accessibility from the start.

Accessible Tables

A list of accessibility standards for data tables, along with their WCAG Guidelines, and notes and examples for each one.
TABLE ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD (with WCAG Guideline)NOTES & EXAMPLES
All tables should have a marked header row, and a heading(1.3.1 Info and Relationships)In order to make tables accessible to assistive technology, they need a marked header row, a heading as their title, and a caption or summary (depending on the tool). Brightspace, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and the Drupal and WordPress web publishing systems all provide content creators with table creation tools that allow you to add these items easily.
All tables should have a caption or summary. (1.3.1 Info and Relationships)

If you are adding a table to a webpage, make sure to add a <caption> directly after the table tag. Provide a short summary of the table in the <caption></caption> tags.

If you are adding a table to a document, make sure to add either a summary by using the table tool in Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, or Adobe InDesign, or a description of the table in the surrounding text.

Tables need alt-text (1.1 Text Alternatives)Add alt-text to tables so that assistive technology users can better understand a document. You can add alt-text to tables using the table tool in Brightspace, Microsoft Office, and the Drupal and WordPress web publishing systems.

Tables that cross page boundaries need extra attention (2. Operable)

 

Page boundaries in a document contain specific instructions to assistive technology. Tables also contain specific instructions to assistive technology that are different from the page boundary instructions. Tables that extend over multiple pages in a document are likely to be difficult for assistive technology users to navigate.

If you have a multi-page table in a Word document, you need to specify that the header must repeat at the top of each page, and don’t allow rows to split across pages. You can also remediate a table in Adobe Acrobat Pro with the Table Editor.

Whenever possible, tables should have alternate row striping (Useability)While tables of all one colored background aren’t strictly inaccessible, giving every other row of your table a lightly shaded background does make it easier for users to look at and visually scan your table.
Whenever possible, tables should not have empty cells.  (Useability)While leaving empty cells in your table (web or document) may not cause assistive technology to malfunction, empty cells can be confusing for assistive technology users. Instead of leaving cells empty, we recommend filling empty cells with “N/A”.

Accessible Charts, Graphs, and Maps

A list of accessibility standards for charts, graphs, and maps, along with their WCAG Guidelines, and notes and examples for each one.
COMPLEX IMAGE ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD (with WCAG Guideline)NOTES & EXAMPLES
Make sure your chart, graph or map has good color contrast, and that you’re not using color alone to distinguish meaning (1.4.11 Non-text Contrast, 1.4.1 Use of Color)
  • The actual data included in charts, graphs, and maps needs to meet a 3:1 color contrast ratio, and the text included needs to meet either a 3:1 ratio or a 7.5:1 ratio, depending on size.
  • OAS strongly recommends using either the free installable TPGi Colour Contrast Analyser, or the browser-based WebAIM WAVE Color Contrast tool to automate these measurements.
Images of charts and graphs have alt-text and a long description (1.1 Text Alternatives)
  • Any text or data that appears in an image of a chart or graph needs to also be available as selectable text. Selectable text is any text you can highlight, or select, with a mouse or keyboard. Alt-text is an example of selectable text. The alt-text for images of charts and graphs should summarize what the data represents. Begin the alt-text with a description of the type of chart or graph in the image: pie chart, line graph, bar graph, etc.
  • Include more information about the data set in the image as text in a long description. A long description can be a caption for the chart or graph, or it can be a natural-language inclusion in the surrounding text. 
  • If the image appears on a webpage, it’s also possible to use <figcaption> as part of the image HTML.
  • For complicated or detailed charts or graphs, include the data in a data table as well as an image.
Images of maps have alt-text and a long description as necessary (1.1. Text Alternatives)
  • Any text or data that appears in an image of a map needs to also be available as selectable text. The alt-text for images of maps should summarize what the map describes. Begin the alt-text with a description of the type of map in the image: topographic map, heat map, climate map, political map, etc.
  • It can make more sense to include more description in surrounding text, or in a caption to the map. 
  • If the image of the map appears on a webpage, it’s also possible to use <figcaption> as part of the image HTML.

Most people have their laptops, tablets, phones, and web browsers customized with their own preferred settings, many of which help remove barriers to accessibility. When possible, embed interactive charts, graphs, and maps in documents and webpages rather than using flat images. Make sure your embed meets all the guidelines for Basic Digital Accessibility.

Here are some tools that can help you create interactive items: 

  • Charts & Graphs: Datawrapper.de, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets
  • Maps: Google Maps, GIS
Accessibility standards that apply to equations, along with their WCAG Guidelines, and notes and examples for each one.
EQUATION ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD (with WCAG Guideline)NOTES & EXAMPLES

Images of equations are also available as selectable text (1.1 Text Alternatives)

 

Any text or data that appears in an image of an equation needs to also be available as selectable text. Selectable text is any text you can highlight, or select, with a mouse or keyboard.

 

Equations can be created (or recreated) in selectable text in several ways, via Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, and depending on the web publishing system, Drupal or WordPress.

Document Accessibility Standards

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Because building in accessibility from the start will save so much time in the overall process, OAS encourages you to consider the best type of document for the task you’re trying to accomplish. As a general rule of thumb, use:

  • Microsoft Word for text documents, and text-based .pdfs
  • Microsoft Excel for spreadsheets
  • Microsoft PowerPoint for presentation slides, and .pdfs of presentation slides
  • Qualtrics for online forms (not Microsoft Word)
  • Adobe Acrobat for email-based forms

The Microsoft Accessibility Assistant

The Microsoft Office suite in particular includes a powerful accessibility checker, known as the Microsoft Accessibility Assistant. You can find the Microsoft Accessibility Assistant under the Review ribbon, listed as “Check Accessibility”. The process of correcting accessibility errors is known as remediation. The Microsoft Accessibility Assistant will give you instructions for making your document accessible. It also includes extensive support documents around document remediation using the tool. 

OAS estimates that you can fix 90% of your accessibility concerns with a Microsoft document – including one you are going to save as a .pdf – by following all the instructions given by the Microsoft Accessibility Assistant. The other 10% of document remediation comes down to:

  • Giving your file a natural language title in the Document Properties field
  • Setting the Language of the document (under the Tools menu), and
  • Doublechecking your color contrast (see Basic Digital Accessibility).

.PDF Accessibility

.Pdf documents are the hardest document type to make fully accessible. 

The file format was invented 30 years ago to make printing documents easier, and while assistive technology and other online formats have improved by leaps and bounds, .pdfs remain relatively the same as when Adobe first invented them.

If you create a .pdf from a Microsoft Office document and you:

  • Use the Microsoft Accessibility Assistant
  • Give the document a title
  • Set the Language of the document and 
  • Use “Save As…” a .pdf instead of Export, 

Then you are overwhelmingly likely to create an accessible .pdf.

.Pdfs that consist of many graphic design elements, such as sidebars, overlays, drop capitals, and other fancy layouts should be created in Adobe InDesign.

.Pdfs that are created specifically in the Canva tool are not accessible, and will need to be remediated in Adobe Acrobat Pro. 

Adobe Acrobat Pro has an automated accessibility checker for remediating documents. It is more difficult to use than the Microsoft Accessibility Assistant. 

OAS offers training in remediating .pdfs, as well as offering free .pdf remediation services for faculty and their instructional materials.

A list of document accessibility standards that apply to online courses, along with their WCAG Guidelines, and notes and examples for each one.
DOCUMENT ACCESSIBILITY STANDARD (with WCAG Guideline)NOTES & EXAMPLES
Documents of 7 pages or longer have navigation aids. (2.4.1 Bypass Blocks, 2.4.5 Multiple Ways)
  • For Word documents or .pdfs, this can mean a Table of Contents, or bookmarks.
  • For Excel documents, this means an Index sheet.
  • Navigation aids are automatically created for PowerPoint documents.
The Title field of “Document Properties” has been filled out with natural language (2.4.2 Page Titled)
  • For all Microsoft Office documents, and .pdfs: find the Title field in “Document Properties…” under the File menu. There should be a tab labeled “Summary” where you enter a natural language title of the document in the Title field.
The Language of the document has been explicitly set. (3.1.1 Language of Page, 3.1.2 Language of Parts)

The Language of the document must be explicitly set so that assistive technology knows which set of language-based rules to employ. 

  • For Microsoft Office documents, you can find Language under the Tools menu. 
  • For .pdfs, you can set the Language by running the Accessibility Checker, and then correcting the Language error under Document.
All meaningful images have alt-text, all decorative images are marked “decorative”.

A meaningful image is any image in a document (or on a webpage) that contributes to the meaning of the text or the overall document. 

  • For Microsoft Office documents, right-click on an image and choose “Alt-Text”. 
  • For .pdfs, run the Accessibility checker, right-click on Alt-Text errors, and choose “Fix”.
  • Both sets of documents will allow you to mark decorative elements as explicitly “decorative”. Assistive technology will not try to interact with decorative images.
Check the reading order of your document (1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence, 2.4.3 Focus Order)
  • In general, Microsoft Word and Excel documents will automatically set the correct reading order.
  • You will need to check (and correct) the reading order of individual slides in a Microsoft PowerPoint document.
  • You will need to manually drag-and-drop to correct the reading order of a .pdf.
Create nested headings using the Styles Pane (2.4.6 Headings and Labels)

Headings in a document provide wayfinding points for assistive technology.

  • Every document has one and only one H1: this is the title of the document. Do not use the Title style instead.
  • H2s come directly under the H1 level.
  • H3s come directly under H2s. H4s come directly under H3s.
Do not password-protect your document (3.3.2 Labels and Instructions)

If you password-protect your document, assistive technology will not be able to access any of the content. 

  • If you absolutely need to password-protect a document, make sure to create a version of that document that has an accessible login, such as duo-authentication set up with UVM standards.
Audio and video embedded in documents must have transcripts (1.2 Time-Based Media)

Per the Basic Digital Accessibility standards, audio and video embedded in documents must have text-based equivalents.

  • Videos with spoken dialogue need captions and a transcript.
  • Videos without spoken dialogue need audio description.
  • Audio needs a transcript.
Doublecheck your color contrast (1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum), 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast)

As of the time of this writing, the Microsoft Accessibility Assistant has a known bug related to color contrast. You will need to independently verify the color contrast of your document’s contents. OAS recommends using either the TPGi Colour Contrast Analyser, or the browser-based WebAIM WAVE Color Contrast tool.

  • Regular text must meet a 7.5:1 contrast ratio.
  • Large text must meet a 3:1 contrast ratio.
  • Graphics and icons must meet a 3:1 contrast ratio.

Third Party Content Accessibility Considerations

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We want to recognize that a large part of creating accurate, informative, and information-rich online learning experiences means including materials that are made by other people and institutions outside of the University of Vermont. UVM refers to these materials as “third-party content”. And UVM strongly encourages instructors to make as much use of third-party content as makes sense for their course and instruction style.

Instructors are responsible for evaluating the accessibility of all third-party content used in courses. Instructors are encouraged to use the accessibility guidelines in this rubric to evaluate third-party content with the same rigor applied to instructor-produced content.

If inaccessible third-party content is needed for inclusion in a course, instructors can either make student engagement with the content optional, or provide students with equally effective alternatives that accomplish the same learning objective. This action can be provided in advance or on student request, at the discretion of the instructional staff.

Accessibility Standards Checklist

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Full Course Accessibility

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Accommodations Statement
  • Accommodations Contact Information
  • Tools & Platforms checked for accessibility
  • Labeled forms
  • Multiple methods of navigation

Basic Digital Accessibility

  • Nested headings
  • No images of text
  • Information not conveyed by sensory characteristics
  • Meaningful images have alt-text
  • Color contrast for text and graphics against background
  • Color not the only way information is conveyed
  • Lists made using list tool
  • Multimedia has a text format as well (captions, audio description, transcripts)
  • Links are descriptive

Website Accessibility

  • Each webpage has a unique title
  • Images are responsive
  • Animations can be stopped
  • No video or audio automatically launches

Accessible Tables

  • All tables have a marked header row and heading
  • All tables have a caption or summary
  • All tables have alt-text
  • Tables that cross page-boundaries are set to do so
  • Alternate row striping on tables
  • No empty cells

Accessible Charts, Graphs, and Maps

  • Complex image has good color contrast
  • Images have alt-text and a long description
  • Interactive versions available if possible

Accessible Equations

  • Images of equations are also available as selectable text

Accessible Documents

  • Document 7 pages or longer has a navigation aid
  • Document has a filled natural language title
  • Document language is set
  • All meaningful images have alt-text
  • All decorative images marked “decorative”
  • Reading order of document checked
  • If .pdf is Canva, .pdf has been remediated
  • Nested headings created using Styles pane
  • One and only one H1: The Title. Title style not used.
  • Document not password-protected
  • Multimedia made accessible
  • Color contrast double-checked

About these standards

As of 2022, the U.S. Center for Disease Control estimates that one in four Vermonters have at least one disability that limits their day-to-day activities. And as of 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice passed a law amending Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to require that public entities (like UVM) ensure all their digital materials – websites, documents, multimedia, social media, email newsletters, and digital signage – meet or exceed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 AA-level standards.

In short: digital accessibility is a civil rights issue. And now it’s a legal requirement.

As a general rule: the earlier you build accessibility into the process of creating any digital material, the less total time you’ll need to spend on accessibility. Use your shortcuts: start with accessible templates, accessible color combinations, and use accessibility checkers before publishing. Plan ahead when you’re assembling your course materials: 

  • Which materials are already accessible? Which will need remediation?
  • Are you going to remediate materials, or are you going to ask OAS to remediate them for you?
  • Do you have access to any automated remediation tools through your department or College?
  • If you’re planning on creating multimedia, are you building in enough time to get captions, audio description, or transcripts made?

Use this rubric and the accompanying checklist to make iterative progress as you tackle digital accessibility. 

Report an Accessibility Barrier

Use our online form to report physical accessibility issues on the UVM campus.

Report a Barrier Contact the Office of Accessibility Services