Recommendations for new content
Website content (text, links, images, attachments, videos etc.) must be fully accessible.
Below are simplified rules to help users when providing us with new content; please refer to the WCAG 2.1 guidelines for complete rules.
Images
- Images must have a meaningful text alternative (description)
- Images that include text as part of the image must have a suitable text alternative, with the exception of logos
- Infographics and charts must have a link to a full description of the content
Links
- Links must use some text that is meaningful out of contex: users of screen readers must be able to understand the link without reading the surrounding text. Avoid 'click here' and 'read more'.
- Links must not typed out in full (starting with http or www), but instead be embedded within text.
- All links must open in the same browser window
Documents
Text documents
Word documents and PDFs must be fully accessible
- Documents must have a title and hierarchical headings
- Heading styles must not be used to highlight information
- Bold text should be used a little as possible, and should not be used as a substitute for headings
- Do not use colour as the sole way to convey important information
- Images must follow the rules stated above
- Links must use text that is meaningful out of context (see above), and not typed out in full
In addition to those recommendations, please follow our guidelines Writing for the web
More information is available on the UK Government page on Guidance how to publish acccessible documents
Tables
Tables must follow the recommendations for text documents
Additional recommendation for tables:
- Tables should include a header row.
- Empty cells within a table should be marked as such with a minus sign, a zero or N/A
- Avoid merging data or header cells; merged cells cause navigation problems
Presentations
Presentations must follow the recommendations for text documents and tablesAdditional recommendation for presentations (either powerpoint or PDF)
- Use unique slide titles, to allow screen readers to skim slides to navigate
- Make hyperlinks, images and tables accessible: see recommendations above
- Set reading order of slide content, this is particularly important if there are more than one text box. Screen readers read the elements of a slide in the order they were added in, which might be different from the intended order.
Video and audio
- Videos and audio must have transcript and captions
- Video or animation must not have content that flashes more than three times a second
Web pages
Web pages must follow all rules stated above
Structure
- Web pages must have a title and hierarchical headings
- Heading styles must not be used to highlight information
- Bold text should be used a little as possible, and should not be used as a substitute for headings
Images
- Images must have a meaningful text alternative (description)
- Images that incude text as part of the image must have a suitable text alternative, with the exception of logos
- Infographics and charts must have a link to a full description of the content
Tables
- Tables must include a header row if users need it to understand the content of each cell, in relation between the cell and the header row.
Links
- Links must use text that is meaningful out of context (see above)
- Links must not typed out in ful, but instead be embedded within text
- All links must open in the same browser window
More information
You can find more information on the pages for Accessibility training and support on the MSD website