Please follow these guidelines when creating self-help pages to ensure they meet accessibility standards.

Self-Help Accessibility

Document Structure and Formatting

Use proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to organize content and facilitate navigation.

Create sections within the document using the Confluence Layouts element for better organization.

Ensure that bulleted and numbered lists are formatted using the Confluence list options.

Text and Contrast

Use the Confluence editor’s default font settings to maintain readability. Avoid using custom font styles that may be difficult to read.

Use Confluence’s color options to ensure sufficient contrast between text and background.

Images and Multimedia

Add alternative text descriptions and captions to describe images and graphics.

Ensure that videos have captions and/or transcripts before adding to page.

Tables

Create tables using the Confluence table options and ensure that the first row contains table headers.

Use Confluence’s table options to merge cells, set column widths, and adjust table properties as needed.

Write a table caption describing the content of the table.

Forms and Interactive Elements

When adding forms to Confluence documents, ensure form fields have descriptive labels.

For interactive elements, such as buttons or checkboxes, use Confluence’s built-in options.

Keyboard Navigation and Focus

Ensure all interactive elements within the document can be accessed and interacted with using a keyboard.

Screen Reader Compatibility

Test the document’s compatibility with screen readers by utilizing Confluence’s “Preview” feature.

When including links, ensure that the links make sense out of context. Phrases such as "click here," "more," "click for details," and so on are ambiguous when read out of context.

Accessibility Validation

Use browser extensions like “WAVE Accessibility Evaluation Tool” to check for accessibility issues in Confluence documents.

Test documents manually with screen readers (such as Narrator or NVDA on Windows, or Voiceover on Mac) to see if content is read in the correct order.

CIT Self Help

Standards for Creating Accessible Self-Help Documents