Accessibility

📖 Design for Readability

Designing for readability is key to writing good digital content, including emails.

Best Practices:

• Choose accessible fonts like Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Calibri, Open Sans, and Sans serif.

• Use a minimum of 12px for body text and 18px for headlines, and ensure readable line spacing and font size to accommodate all screen sizes.

• Left-aligned text is easier to read, especially for users with dyslexia, as it maintains consistent word spacing.

• Break up text into short paragraphs.

• Keep the email copy short and easy to read. Break down long sentences (less than 80 characters) for better readability. This will help users with cognitive disabilities understand your message.

📄 Attachments

Documents can be challenging to access and remediate. Before attaching a document, consider if:

• this is the best way to share information.

• the content be added directly to the body of the email.

If an attachment is necessary, follow best practices:

• Use headings for document structure.

• Include alternative text for images.

• Be mindful of color contrast to ensure readability.

• Confirm the documents or other attachments in your email are accessible and that the files have descriptive names. Verify all document properties and content for accessibility before attaching them to your email.

▶️ Video and Audio

When you embed a video or audio player in an email, add accurate

• Add accurate captions for all videos.

• Provide transcripts for audio content.

• Ensure media controls (e.g., play, pause, stop) are keyboard accessible.

📅 Event Flyers

If you add an event flyer to an email, ensure that any text in the image is repeated in the email body text or the alt text.

Best practices:

• Repeat all text within the image in the email body, such as event details (e.g., date, time, location).

• Include alt text for the image.

📹 Animation

Avoid auto-playing animations and videos and distracting animations.

🖊️ Signatures

When adding signatures, use actual text for name and contact information to ensure greater accessibility.

Best practices:

• Use actual text for names and contact information in email signatures.

• Including a logo (e.g., college or organization shield) is fine, but add alt text to describe the image for accessibility.

🔗 Hyperlinks

Ensure the visible link text describes the link's purpose and/or destination.

Best practices:

• Use clickable elements such as buttons with descriptive CTAs such as “Read our Guide" instead of "Click here."

• If a link leads to a non-web page document such as a PDF or Word document), include the format in the link text.

Emojis

Emojis can enhance communication, but avoid overusing or relying on them to convey meaning.

Best practices:

• Add emojis at the end of a message, not between words.

• Avoid replacing words with emojis.

🗨️ Layout

Keep the layout simple, using a single-column layout to enhance readability, reduce sensory overload, and ensure device compatibility.

Best practices:

• Use color combinations that are easily readable to low-vision users and users with difficulty differentiating color.

• Avoid using background effects with images or patterns that lower the text-to-background contrast.

Text and Background Colors:

Avoid medium-to-light greys on white backgrounds or mid-toned, highly saturated colors, and foreground and background colors similar in luminance. 

Best Practices:

• Use lighter colors on light backgrounds or darker colors on dark backgrounds only for headings, where larger font sizes compensate for lower contrast.

• Ensure sufficient contrast between text and background to improve readability.

Button Colors

Use accessible contrast ratios for all button states: hover, focus, and active. To simplify testing, limit button color variations across states.

Best Practices:

• Increasing the button size or font size.

• Avoid relying solely on color or opacity changes.

Link Colors

Ensure link colors in both their default and hover/focus states meet contrast guidelines:

• Against the background.

• Compared to the surrounding text for a clear distinction.

Beyond Colors

To emphasize content:

• Use underlines, highlights, bolding, or italics for links.

• Add icons (e.g., arrows, checkmarks, or stars) to buttons.

• Include meaningful graphical indicators or emojis to supplement text where appropriate.

Graphics and Imagery

• Keep visuals clean and uncluttered using a limited, WCAG-compliant color palette.

• Avoid placing text over busy images.

• Always provide alt text for images, as many email clients may not initially render them.

Dark Mode Emails

Dark mode is growing in popularity on desktop and mobile. Some email clients automatically invert colors, which can create readability issues.

Best Practices:

• Test emails in dark mode across multiple email clients to identify display issues.

• Pay attention to:

  • Text and background contrasts.

  • Button contrasts in both light and dark modes.