Digital Accessibility Best Practices

For most content creation at USC, the following best practices can help you start creating more accessible digital content; however, this is not an exhaustive list of best practices across every different platform.

1. Use plain language and avoid jargon. 
2. Include meaningful alternative text for all images.
3. Add audio descriptions to videos.
4. Provide accurate captions and transcripts for videos, as well as transcripts for audio content.
5. Use sufficient color contrast between text and its background.
6. Do not rely on color usage alone to convey information.
7. Label form fields appropriately.
8. Order your headings in a nested hierarchy, and do not skip heading levels or leave empty headings.
9. Write link text that describes the purpose of the link and makes sense when read out of page context.
10. Make sure tables have headers and are used to present data rather than to establish a visual layout.