S:\Technical Operations\Web Development\ADA-Accessibility\Procedures\Word-ADA-Instructions.docx Page 4
Revised 5/22/19 DE
Style and Appearance
Color to Convey Meaning
If color is used to convey information, it MUST be accompanied by a text alternative.
The text alternative for information conveyed by color MUST accurately convey the same information
without color.
If color is used to convey information, it MUST be accompanied by a visible alternative (text, image,
graph, etc.) that does not depend on color for meaning.
Highlighting
Under normal circumstances, screen readers do not convey any information about highlighting to
blind users.
Here are a couple of ideas of ways to draw attention to text in Word for blind users:
• Write the word "important" (or similar): The most reliable way in Word to "highlight" text for
blind users is to write some text in the document that draws attention to the content. You could
put the word "Important" (or "Warning" or "Attention," etc.) before the important content, for
example.
• Hidden text: If you don't want to add any visual words to the document, you could add some
hidden text just for screen reader users. In HTML, and there are multiple techniques (add the
text via aria-label, hide the text with the CSS clipping technique, hide the text offscreen, etc.).
Though there are not as many techniques in Word, it is possible to hide content. To add
hidden text in Word, you can set the color of the text to the same color of the background, then
shrink the text size very small. The big danger of this technique is that the text might get
accidentally deleted, moved, or altered, especially if the final format of the document is MS
Word format. If the final format is PDF or EPUB or some other read-only format, the risk is
lower.
Despite the weakness of highlighting for blind users, highlighting can be effective for visual users,
because it draws their attention to important parts of the document. This can actually be an
accessibility benefit for sighted users, especially users with reading disorders or cognitive disabilities.
Use highlighting where appropriate. Just be sure to supplement it with text that conveys the same
meaning, for the benefit of blind users.
Color Contrast
Small text and images of small text (under 18 point regular font or 14 point bold font) MUST have a
contrast ratio of at least 4.5 to 1 with the background.
Large text and images of large text (at or over 18 point or 14 point bold) MUST have a contrast ratio
of at least 3 to 1 with the background.
Applying a heading via Cell Styles does not work like applying a header row in a table. It is more for
visual effect and not for semantics or structure. A screen reader can identify the font formatting (such
as bold, size, etc.) if the user has turned on the appropriate settings to do so, but the cell would not
be recognized as part of a table header. Additionally, when you export to pdf, it is not tagged as a
table header.