Scholarly Publishing

Making your document accessible means adding formatting and making stylistic choices that enable anyone to read your work.

This is an important human rights issue as well as a legal requirement. All items uploaded to the Scholarly Commons must be fully compliant with ADA Title II by 2026.

What makes a document "accessible"?

Most people are familiar with alt text on images. "Alternative text" is a feature that makes images accessible, allowing someone who uses a screen reader to "read" an image. Other aspects of formatting necessary to make a document "accessible" include: 

• headings formatted as Title Case, H1, H2, H3, etc. in the appropriate order
• color is not used to convey meaning
• color contrast is high
• tables are formatted with header rows, etc.

How do I know if my document is accessible?

Microsoft programs have built-in accessibility checkers which will detect problems. In Microsoft word, for example, under the "Review" tab, there is a "Check Accessibility" button, which will run a check through your document and highlight issues, providing directions to resolve the issues

See the UND TTaDA guide to Common Accessibility Issues for more information and guidelines on different aspects of document accessibility.