Creating accessible content

Implementing accessibility is going to be a vital part of creating your book. If you implement these features now, you’ll spend less time remediating your book in the future and allow more users access to the materials from day one.

Access features

• Headings
• Descriptive links
• Lists
• Color contrast and usage
• Tables
• Alt text for Images
• Captions and transcripts
• Math
• H5P activities

Accessibility vs. universal design for learning

“I’m familiar with the universal design guidelines — don’t they provide access?”

Yes and no. While writing and designing your OER book with universal design for learning (UDL) guidelines in mind can address accessibility issues, they only act as a set of principles.

When implementing UDL guidelines, you are designing to allow for multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression. UDL includes employing accessibility as part of its recommendations but it is not a replacement for actual accessibility implementation.

We encourage you to learn more about Universal Design for Learning and apply these principles in all aspects of your course design.

Pressbooks vs. Word

A quick note about accessibility within Word versus Pressbooks.

The accessibility features included in this guide apply across all types of documents and websites. Most of the accessibility features implemented in Word follow over to Pressbooks. However, it is not a one—to—one translation. There are some differences in how the two programs work, so formatting a Word document to import into Pressbooks looks a bit different from its typical setup. The instructions that follow are specific to this scenario.

Resources

Universal Design, Accessibility, and Usability for OER — The OER Starter Kit for Program Managers

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) — Disability Resource Center