Text Accessibility – Headings, Color, Tables, and Styles

Using Headings

Proper document structure ensures screenreaders & assistive technology can properly access page content. Headings should be sequential.

In Pressbooks, the first heading (coded as Heading 1) is always the chapter title. When creating content within the HTML editor, all subsequent headings should begin with Heading 2, and subsections should be marked as Heading 3, Heading 4, etc.

There may also be instances when inserting a Heading 1 within a chapter may be appropriate ( i.e. if the chapter is long and contains separate information that would require a new heading and set of subsections different from the chapter title). However, we generally do not do this in the ODS for most books we create since we have a standard structure for a book’s organization. Refer to Book Structure and Headings in our Faculty Development Guide.

Note: a chapter section that contains more than one “Heading 1” will produce a clickable + link in the table of contents for that chapter visible in the web version of the book.

Colour

Generally, colour use in Pressbooks relates to the ODS’ use of graphics, images, textbox and theme considerations. Default text and backgrounds will already be set for accessibility within Pressbooks when you are working on a project.  Nevertheless, where applicable, colour should be used sparingly and not as the sole means of indicating meaning, and the text and background should have sufficient colour contrast. These two rules are essential for readability. Other considerations for readability include avoiding decorative fonts and images of text. See the Colour Use page for more information about colour and accessibility.

Tables

Tables are for data, not for formatting. Do not use tables to organize content on the page; use formatting features (such as columns or CSS). Tables need a caption and row/column headings. These settings can be found under “table properties” on most platforms. Tables Tutorial from W3C (refer to the first two options on this page) explain how to make tables more accessible.

Styles

Styles and structures built into the content editor should be used to create page formatting. Sighted people can scan a page for bold text, and screen readers can scan based on headings and styles. The underline should be reserved only for links in HTML pages, as users can be confused by underlined text that isn’t a link. Read more about best practices for using underlines and links in HTML: Links and Hypertext – WebAIM.

Lists

Lists should be created using the feature built into the content editor rather than typing the numbers manually. Use numbered lists for sequential lists and bulleted lists for non-sequential lists.

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks must be meaningful. Don’t use “click here” or the full URL of the link. If you wish to include a URL, place it in parentheses and do not make it an active link. Review the “Links” chapter of the BC Campus’s Accessibility Toolkit – 2nd Edition for more information.

Academic Senate For California Community Colleges. (2020, October 1). Accessibility overview (H1). ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative. https://asccc-oeri.org/accessibility-h1/ is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0, except where otherwise noted.