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Creating Accessible LibGuides

Creating Accessible LibGuides

Style

Colour

There are a number of important accessibility issues to be aware of when using colour. Colour choices can affect the accessibility of your Guide. Individuals who have low vision and those who are colour blind are most effected by low colour contrast.

  • Provide colour choices that have enough contrast between the font and the background.
    • The higher the contrast between text and background, the easier the website can be read
    • A good example of high colour contrast is black and white.
    • An example of poor colour contrast is light yellow and white.
  • Do not use colour alone to convey important information or to prompt a response. 
  • When formatting for emphasis, use bold. 
    • Colour will not be recognized by a screen reader. 

Fonts

  • It is preferable to allow the LibGuide CSS to format the font type, size, and colour.
  • Only change text appearance when there is a real need for something different.
  • Use sans-serif fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Tahoma.
  • Avoid font sizes smaller than 9pt as they are difficult to read.
  • Avoid italics and underlining to highlight text, 
    • Users associate text with underline as links

Resources