Update

High Priority – Public and Critical Paths

The highest priority content is content that is most critical to the daily interactions and safety information for your department. These resources often require users to submit information (forms) or find essential information quickly. This might include:

• Forms (Web and Document): Prioritize these first. An inaccessible form (admissions, contact, registration) is a “hard block” that prevents users from interacting with you entirely.
• Homepages & Navigation: Ensure your main departmental landing pages and menus are keyboard-navigable.
• Emergency/Contact Info: Critical information must be accessible to everyone instantly.
• Job applications and notices: This information is often time sensitive and must be accessible as soon as possible.

Once these high priorities are complete, proceed to the next group of content.

Medium Priority – Active Instructional & Internal

The medium priority focuses on active content. This is information that is most widely used and accessed by users on a regular basis. This might include:

• Core Documents and Resources: Focus on documents that are frequently downloaded or required for compliance or completing tasks (e.g., handbooks, benefit guides, syllabi, job aids).
• Top-Viewed Videos: Add captions and transcripts to your most-watched videos first.
• LMS Content: Consider focusing on courses with the highest enrollment first.

Once these medium priorities are complete, proceed to the next group of content.

Lower Priority – Archive & Reference

The lower priority category is content that is still referenced or used, but not at as high a rate as the medium priority. This might include the following:

• Legacy Documents: Older reports or newsletters that are rarely accessed. (These are also great candidates for the Archive step!).
• Internal Dept. Folders: Content seen only by a small, specific group of people.

Review with Accessibility Checkers

Depending on the type of content you are reviewing, there are likely built-in accessibility checkers available to help you review the accessibility issues.

Course Content

• Ally
• TidyUp and UDOIT

Documents and Forms

• Google Suite: Grackle Docs, Grackle Sheets, and Grackle Slides
• Microsoft Office: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint
• PDFs: Adobe Acrobatc

Web Content

• Editoria11y for WordPress
• ANDI Accessibility Testing Tool
• Lighthouse
• WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

Video and Media

• Panopto Accessibility
• YouTube Editor or Remove Captions
• Zoom Accessibility

Questions

Have questions about content not listed here? Reach out for support!

Remediate the Quick Fixes

Most accessibility errors fall into one of these three categories, they are also some of the easiest to update! If you’re new to accessibility or updating a lot of content, these three areas are a good place to start.

1. Headings

Check that your content has true headings, and not just text that ‘looks’ like a heading. Use the Styles tools in a document editor or digital platform to add true headings, and nest them in order. Adding headings to your content makes it easier to navigate, scan, and read. How you add headings to your content will depend on the specific platform.

2. Images

If your content has images, check to see if there is an accurate alt text description present. To learn more about what makes alt text accurate, review the Alt Text Decision Tree, or the Images and Alt Text – Guided Webinar resources. Adding alt text to your images instantly improves your content’s accessibility.

3. Links

Hyperlinks are essential to help users navigate to new resources quickly. Scan your content for any generic ‘click here,’ ‘learn more,’ or ‘here’ type links. Replace them with a clear description like Learn more about [webpage or resource name], or Visit [webpage or resource name] for more details.

Going Further

While not ‘quick fixes’ these additional elements are crucial for accessibility and may require some additional editing.

Color

If your content has color, take a moment to review if it has sufficient color contrast. You can either review your content in grayscale or use a color contrast analyzer tool.

Documents and Forms

All documents and forms should be checked for accessibility. You can use a built-in accessibility checker for Google or Microsoft Office files, or use the Adobe Acrobat accessibility tool for PDFs. Forms fields have clear labels and directions for users.

Tables

Tables can be a major barrier for many users. If your content has tables, ensure you don’t have any merged or empty cells, and that you have tagged a header row or column using your platforms table options tools.

Media Alternatives

Media like audio or video files require text alternatives. A good thing to remember for media alternatives is this: If you see it, say it. If you show it, share it.

• Audio files: must include a text transcript of the audio with speaker identification and relevant sounds.
• Video files: must include 1) captions that include relevant sounds and speaker identification 2) audio descriptions of the relevant visuals and 3) descriptive text transcript.
• Live streams: must include real-time captions

Standardize and Polish

After you’ve addressed the immediate fixes, focus on making accessibility “automatic” for all future content. This ensures consistency and saves time through use of templates and checklists.

Accessible Templates

Don’t start from scratch every time. Templates ensure that the foundational accessibility—like margins, font sizes, and heading colors—is already done for you.

• Boise State Brand Templates: Use the university’s built-in templates. You can find pre-designed, accessible Google Doc and Slides templates in the Template Gallery (under the Boise State tab) or on the Brand Standards Resources web page.
• Create ‘Master’ Templates: Develop standardized Google Docs, Word, and PowerPoint templates for your department that already include pre-set Styles (H1, H2, H3) and high-contrast color palettes.
• The ‘Styles’ Rule: Never use the font size or bold buttons to create a title. Use the Styles Pane. This ensures that even if you change the look of your document later, the underlying “map” for screen readers stays intact.
• Presentation Layouts: Always use the built-in “Slide Layouts.” This ensures the Reading Order is correct for assistive technology—something that happens automatically when you use a template but breaks when you add custom text boxes.

Job Aids and Checklists

Do you have job aids or checklists for common processes and procedures? Update them to highlight key accessibility requirements or flag areas where accessibility needs some additional attention. Example, anytime an image is uploaded to a project it must be given an accurate alt text description.

Accessibility Sign-Offs

Check it early, check it often, and check it a final time. Add accountability into your processes by including a step to review accessibility at several stages of a project.