Accessibility Best Practices For Excel Documents

Do...

• Use plain language (TermiumPlus - Plain Language);
• Know your audience (A way with words); and
• Choose straightforward vocabulary and simple structures.

Don't...

• Do not confuse with oversimplified or condescending style; and
• Do not write sentences of more than 20 words.

Do...

Unilingual document.

Don't...

• Avoid using Excel for playbook, user guide or for large volume of text; and
• Avoid using more than one language in the same document.

Do...

• Spell out the first time in usage; and
• Write them in uppercase.

Don't...

Do not add a period or an apostrophe to acronyms.

Do...

• Format your text using built-in styles;
• Use proper style order (1-2-3); and
• Modify the style appearance to better fit your needs;

Don't...

• Avoid large amount of italic text, bold, underline and uppercase letters of text;
• Avoid identical headings.

Do...

• Use 12 points font size minimal for text;
• Use sufficient contrast between text and background (ratio 5:1);
• Choose Sans serif fonts, such as Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, or Century Gothic.;

Don't...

• Avoid using ‘Justify’ for the alignment;
• Avoid hyphenated text;
• Avoid runs of blank spaces, Tabs, or returns for formatting;
• Avoid large amounts of text in bold, italics, underlined or all caps; and
• Avoid animated text.

Do...

• Use simple layout structure;
• Specify clear and concise table headers;
• Define header row; and
• Define name for range of cells.

Don't...

• Avoid merging and splitting cells; and
• Avoid blank cell/row/column for formatting.

Do...

• Use sufficient contrast between text and background. Choose a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 for large text (18 point font); and
• Use pattern with colour for charts: distinguish between lines with shape, texture and line types.

Don't...

Do not use colours to distinguish cells.

Do...

• Add Alternative (Alt) text to define content and function;
• Label images with a figure number and refer to them by their number;
• Add a title and axis labels to charts; and
• Add data table for complex objects such as charts.

Don't...

• Avoid repeating information from the document in the image Alt-Text;
• Avoid Alt-Text longer than 2 sentences;
• Do not rely solely on charts to convey information;
• Avoid referring to images by their appearances;
• Avoid using “image of”, “graphic of” in the Alt-Text; and
• Avoid using images of text.

Do...

• Add closed captioning;
• Add AMI - Video Description; and
• Add text transcription.

Don't...

Avoid long video to prevent pause/stop due to buffering.

Do...

• Provide a descriptive text to hyperlinks (to where it leads); and
• Hyperlink text has to be clear “out of context”.

Don't...

Avoid hyperlink text such as “click here” and “link to”.

Do...

• Give all sheet tabs descriptive and unique names; and
• Remove blank sheets.