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Document Accessibility Guide

Accessible documents ensure that all users — including people with disabilities — can access, understand, and engage with content. At Goodwin University, document accessibility supports our commitment to equity, inclusion, and effective communication for students, faculty, and staff.

By taking the time to ensure your documents are accessible, you will:

  • Create more flexible, usable content across platforms.
  • Help meet institutional and legal accessibility standards.
  • Improve readability and comprehension for all users.
  • Reduce barriers to learning and engagement.
  • Support individuals who use assistive technologies.

Whether documents are read using screen readers, magnification tools, mobile devices, or printed formats, accessible design benefits everyone.

Contents

Clear, consistent file names help users quickly understand a document’s purpose — especially for screen reader users and those managing multiple files.

Best practices:
  • Use descriptive, specific names
  • Avoid vague labels like “final,” “new,” or “updated”
  • Separate words with hyphens or underscores
Examples:
  • YES: Fall-2026-ENG101-Syllabus.pdf
  • NO: syllabus-final-v3.pdf

Left-aligned text improves readability, especially for users with dyslexia, low vision, or cognitive disabilities. Fully justified text can create uneven spacing that disrupts reading flow.

Screen readers rely on heading structure to navigate documents. Proper heading order helps users scan and understand content efficiently.

Best practices:
  • Use headings in order (H1 → H2 → H3)
  • Avoid skipping heading levels
  • Use built-in heading styles rather than manual formatting
Example:
  • H1: Document Accessibility Guide
    • H2: Images and media
      • H3: Alt text best practices

PDFs are often inaccessible for screen readers.

If you choose to convert an accessible document into a PDF, the new PDF may be inaccessible if your document was not exported correctly.

Learn more about accessibility and PDFs

Font accessibility refers to choosing fonts that are easy to read across devices, formats, and assistive technologies.

Overly decorative, script, or novelty fonts should be avoided in body text. Complex fonts reduce readability and increase cognitive load — making the content of the document more difficult to access.

Sans-serif fonts are the most accessible choice for text due to their simplicity and readability. Examples of accessible fonts include:

  • Arial
  • Calibri
  • Tahoma
  • Times New Roman
  • Verdana

Learn more about accessibility and fonts.

Thoughtful choices about font size and spacing make documents easier to read, scan, and navigate — especially for users with low vision, cognitive disabilities, or reading fatigue.

Clear visual hierarchy and adequate white space help reduce strain and ensure content remains accessible across devices and formats.

Recommended font sizes:
  • Body text: 12-14 pt minimum
  • Headings: Larger than body text and clearly differentiated

Avoid using very small text or shrinking content to fit more on a page.

Spacing recommendations:
  • Line spacing: 1.15-1.5
  • Paragraph spacing: Add space after paragraphs rather than indenting

Avoid large blocks of dense text when possible.

Color can enhance clarity and visual interest, but it must be used carefully to remain accessible.

Ensuring strong contrast and avoiding color-only cues helps make information understandable for users who are colorblind, use assistive technologies, or view documents under different lighting or display conditions.

Color best practices:
  • Ensure sufficient contrast between text and background
  • Use dark text on light backgrounds or vice versa
  • Check contrast ratios with accessibility tools
Color combinations to avoid:
  • Red and green
  • Blue and purple
  • Light gray on white

Don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning.

Users who are colorblind or using screen readers may miss important information.

If you are using color to convey meaning, consider additional methods you can incorporate to make the text as accessible as possible, such as using color and bold print to emphasize important details.

Use the WebAim contrast checker to make sure the colors you're using are accessible.

Screen readers may read acronyms letter by letter, and unfamiliar abbreviations can confuse readers.

Best practices:
  • Spell out acronyms the first time they appear
  • Follow with the acronym in parentheses
  • Include a glossary or index for documents with many technical terms and jargon
Example:
  • YES: Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MET)
  • NO: MET (Manufacturing Engineering Technology)

Text embedded in images cannot be read by screen readers, resized effectively, or translated.

Use real text whenever possible. If text must appear in an image, ensure the information is also available in the surrounding content or alt text.

Tables should only be used to present data — not image alignments or layouts. Use headers to ensure your table is accessible to screen readers.

Learn more about making tables accessible.

Alt text provides a text-based description of an image’s purpose or meaning for users who cannot see it. It is read by screen readers and is not always visible.

In contrast, captions are visible to all users and are often used to provide detailed information about images, charts, and videos.

Best practices for alt text:
  • Be concise and specific
  • Focus on the image’s function, not just appearance
  • Avoid phrases like “image of” or “picture of”
Best practices for captions:
  • Provide context or explanation
  • Support understanding of complex visuals
  • Complement (not repeat) alt text

Not all images serve the same purpose.

Understanding whether an image is decorative or informational helps determine how (or if) it should be described for screen reader users, ensuring that assistive technologies convey only meaningful content without unnecessary distraction.

Best practices:

  • Decorative images: Do not directly contribute to the meaning of the document and should be marked as decorative.
  • Informational images: Contribute directly to the meaning of the document and require alt text.

Best practices for decorative images by software platform:

  • Acrobat: Go to “All Tools,” select “Prepare for Accessibility,” click “Add Alternate Text,” and select the “Decorative figure” checkbox
  • InDesign: Under “Object Export Options” in the “Alt Text” tab, select “Decorative Image” from “Alt Text Source.” In the “Tagged PDF” tab set “Apply Tag” to “Artifact”
  • Microsoft Word and PowerPoint: Right click on the image, select “View Alt Text” and toggle on “Mark as decorative”

Best practices for non-decorative images by software platform:

  • Acrobat: Go to “All Tools,” select “Prepare for Accessibility,” click “Add Alternate Text” to review and label images
  • InDesign: Under “Object Export Options” in the “Alt Text” tab, select “Custom” from “Alt Text Source” and add description in the field below. In the “Tagged PDF” tab set “Apply Tag” to “From Structure,” set “Actual Text Source” to “Custom” and add description in the field below
  • Microsoft Word and PowerPoint: Right click on the image, select “View Alt Text” and enter a description in the field

Images that convey detailed or layered information — such as charts, graphs, or timelines — require additional accessibility considerations.

Providing text-based alternatives ensures that all users can access the full meaning of the content, regardless of how they interact with the document.

Best practices for complex images:
  • Provide a text-based explanation alongside the image
  • Ensure all key information appears in text form
Example:

A timeline should be visually displayed and written out in chronological order within the document.

Accessibility checkers are valuable tools for identifying common issues and improving document accessibility efficiently.

When used alongside thoughtful human review, they help ensure documents are not only technically accessible but also clear, usable, and meaningful for all audiences.

Best practices:
  • Run accessibility checks early and often
  • Address flagged issues, but also review manually
Free accessibility tools:

Remember, accessibility checkers are a strong starting point — but human review is essential for clarity, usability, and meaning.

Document accessibility is an ongoing practice — not a one-time checklist.

By making thoughtful choices about structure, formatting, color, images, and language, we create materials that are more usable, inclusive, and effective for everyone. When accessibility is built into documents from the start, it supports learning, communication, and engagement across the Goodwin University community and beyond.

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