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Launched in 2008, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) describes a series of standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WCAG gives companies an actionable guide and resource for making a website accessible to users with disabilities.

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Your website can reach a massive audience. Reaching, as well as attracting those users, however, requires a site that anyone can access. That's why development and marketing teams need to review website accessibility checklists and ensure your site meets web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG).

Keep reading to view our definitive website compliance checklist of 50-plus standards to meet.

WCAG 2.0 checklist

Assess your WCAG compliance fast with our up-to-date WCAG 2.0 checklist:

Level A: Make your site accessible to some users.

Level AA: Make your site accessible to almost all users.

Level AAA: Make your site accessible to all users.

Level A website accessibility checklist

If your company doesn't have a significant amount of time to dedicate to WCAG compliance, Level A can get you started. With Level A, you make some basic changes to your site that make it accessible to some (but not all) users.

Level A Web Accessibility Checklist

Captions

Add captions to all videos with sound.

Meaningful sequence

Separate navigation menus from content.

Use valid HTML.

Use headings and lists.

Arrange paragraphs in order.

Sensory characteristics

Provide more than one sense, like sight and sound, for instructions.

Color usage

Avoid color references in text, like instructing users to click a green button.

Audio control

Allow users to choose when to play audio, versus playing it automatically.

Keyboard

Remove any function that uses timed keystrokes, like a double tap.

Pause, stop, hide

Provide all moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating content with user controls.

Three flashes or below

Remove any content that flashes more than three times per second.

Page titled

Write unique and descriptive titles for each page on your site.

Link purpose in content

Create easy-to-understand anchor text that aligns with the surrounding text.

Page language

Use HTML to use the appropriate language code for pages.

Level AA website accessibility checklist

With the Level AA website accessibility checklist, your business takes a more proactive approach to building and maintaining an accessible site. Most action items on this website compliance checklist make your website accessible to almost every single user.

Level AA Web Accessibility Checklist

Captions for live videos

Caption live videos via software or professional services.

Contrast

Use a light background and dark text or vice versa.

Finding pages

Add an HTML sitemap.

Enable site search.

Create a logical navigation menu.

Make your navigation menu consistent across your site.

Language of parts

Add a language attribute to pages with content that isn't in your default language.

Consistent navigation

Adopt a universal location for your navigation menu and order of items in the navigation menu.

Level AAA website accessibility checklist

With Level AAA compliance, your business adopts an aggressive approach to website accessibility. While you can focus on this website accessibliyt checklist, it's often considered too aggressive for most sites. That's why many companies focus on Level AA.

Level AAA Web Accessibility Checklist

Contrast

Use a dark background and light text or vice versa.

Visual presentation

Use tools that allow users to customize background and foreground colors, text spacing, and text size.

No timing

Allow time limits for real-time events only, like auctions or live streams.

Re-authenticating

Save users data, like items in their shopping cart, when re-authenticating their identity.

Location

Use breadcrumb navigation.

Add a sitemap.

Section headings

Add relevant headings to content.

Unusual words

Avoid idioms and jargon.

Explain words in-text or with a link to a relevant page.

Abbreviations

Eliminate abbreviations or explain abbreviations in content.

Reading level

Use a readability testing tool, like Readable.

Create images or diagrams to explain content.

Pronunciation

Link to pronunciation guides for words or write the phonetic pronunciation.

Ready for WCAG compliance?

With this web accessibility checklist, your company (and team) can move forward with achieving WCAG compliance. If you need help, though, WebFX features a dedicated and experienced team of designers, developers, and copywriters.

Our website compliance services can help your business check off everything on your website accessibility checklist. Explore our plans today, and see why our recommendation score beats the industry average by almost 500%!

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Website Accessibility Checklist for WCAG Compliance | WebFX

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Your website can reach a massive audience. Reaching, as well as attracting those users, however, requires a site that anyone can access. That's why development and marketing teams need to review website accessibility checklists and ensure your site meets web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG).

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Since 2008, the principles behind Universal Design for Learning, have offered “concrete suggestions that can be applied to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.”

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Reenvisioning the UDL Guidelines

Because the UDL Guidelines are meant to be informed by feedback from the field as well as new research, they have been updated several times in the past. We are in the process of updating the Guidelines once again in our UDL Rising to Equity initiative.

This update will focus specifically on addressing systemic barriers that result in inequitable learning opportunities and outcomes. CAST aims to develop a transparent, inclusive, and community-driven process. If you are interested in collaborating and staying updated on our progress, we invite you to complete a brief survey.

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

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A Short Guide to Using Accessible and Inclusive Language in eLearning

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A Short Guide to Using Accessible and Inclusive Language in eLearning

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"See below for...".

"Look back at...".

"Click here for more information...".

"Refer to the blue box for...".

These are typical statements used in eLearning, but they aren't inclusive for all learners. Do you know why?

There is lots of information available and many how-to's on designing and developing accessible eLearning courses. However, what many courses are missing is accessible and inclusive language.

We know that many people use accessible elements who may not be the traditional users of accessible courses ( e.g., someone watching a video while their child is sleeping may use closed captions); but there are also many people who have invisible challenges or disabilities that may be impacted by the language we use in our courses.

Review those original statements again.
Can you identify the problems? Interactions
Take "click here for more information...".

Often, when we describe instructions on how to interact with our screen elements, we are using non-inclusive language. For example, during a matching activity, we may ask the user to "click on each drop down menu to choose the correct answer".

While this is the action that will occur for users who are using a mouse, this is not the action that someone using a keyboard would need to take. - they have therefore been from the point.

And it's not only someone who has a disability who may be using a keyboard to navigate; a learner's mouse battery may have died during the module, for example.People have many visible and invisible challenges to learning.

Review this example, which asks the learner to "Click on each purple circle for more information." For someone using a mouse they can click on those circles, but for someone navigating the module using a keyboard, they cannot click.

Figure 1.1

Simply adjusting this language from "click" to "select" makes this kind of instruction much clearer and more inclusive for everyone because it doesn't assume the method of interaction. Now someone using a keyboard can "select each dropdown menu to choose the correct answer". This simple change makes this interaction applicable for all users.

Figure 1.2
Transitions + Examples
When we design and develop an eLearning course with a conversational tone, we often use terminology like "let's see how this applies...". However, using the word "see" is not inclusive for those who have sight impairments or who are blind. While this is not an issue of clarity, it excludes a portion of your sudent-base. It is meant to be colloquial, but ends up being exclusive.

Review this example, which asks the learner to recall information learned from a previous section. The language used is, "Let's see how well you remember...".

Figure 2.1

Rather than "let's see", we can use "let's focus on", "in this example", "review" or just remove the problematic language, as below. This provides the same idea, but removes the exclusive language.

Figure 2.2
Can you locate any other problematic language that has been changed in Figure 2.2? Object reference
To make instructions clear, we often refer to images, objects and other on-slide elements. This is done with good intentions to help people navigate the on-screen elements and find references. For example, someone may say "please click the blue button for more information". For someone who cannot see or who may have colour blindness, these references will not be clear, nor accessible.

Review this example, which is asking the learner to select the correct response to the provided question. Unfortunately, this example refers to a shape (circle), colour (yellow) and direction (below) on the slide.

Figure 3.1

Rather, you should represent interactive elements in multiple ways. This may include a colour and a shape or a thick outline and different contrasting colours. Having two means of representation will help someone who has a visual impairment of any kind. In addition, alternative text will help to describe objects for those who cannot see them at all.

The original example has been changed to remove the reference to colour, shape and location of the options on the slide. It is still clear for sighted learners, but doesn't exclude those with visual impairments or those who have blindness.

Figure 3.2

These small changes can make a big impact on clarity and inclusivity with very little effort on the part of the developer. With just a few adjustments to the typical language you may use, you can include more people in the experience of exceptional eLearning.

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A Short Guide to Using Accessible and Inclusive Language in eLearning - Artha Learning Inc.

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"See below for...". "Look back at...". "Click here for more information...". "Refer to the blue box for...". These are typical statements used in eLearning, but they aren't inclusive for all learners. Do you know why? There is lots of information available and many how-to's on designing and developing accessible eLearning courses.

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This site offers an excellent  and thorough overview of  Accessibility Laws  across Canada.

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A Complete Overview of Canada's Accessibility Laws

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The Government of Canada and many provinces are working towards making Canada a more inclusive, barrier-free country, including Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and British Columbia.

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Checklist to to use in implementation and verification of conformance.

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The following is NOT the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2. It is a checklist that presents our recommendations for implementing accessibility principles and techniques for those seeking WCAG conformance. The language used here significantly simplifies and condenses the official WCAG 2.1 specification and supporting materials to make it easier to implement and verify for web pages.
Guidelines for using this checklist:

This checklist should not be referenced in policies or in policy adoption. While this is a useful resource for technical implementation of WCAG, it is not a comprehensive policy checklist. Official WCAG documentation provides much better mechanisms for implementing accessibility into policy or law.

WCAG covers accessibility of all web content and is not technology specific. The language of this checklist has been simplified and targeted to identify most common techniques and failures for HTML and mobile content. It is, therefore, fairly limited and subject to technology changes, whereas WCAG is much less so.

This checklist contains WebAIM's interpretation of WCAG guidelines and success criteria and our own recommended techniques for satisfying those success criteria. The first column of the table below links to the official WCAG 2.1 success criteria.

Success criteria added in WCAG 2.1 are marked as such and have a light green background.

A PDF version of this checklist is also available

Perceivable
Web content is made available to the senses - sight, hearing, and/or touch

Guideline 1.1
Text Alternatives: Provide text alternatives for any non-text content

Success Criteria

WebAIM's Recommendations

Images, form image buttons, and image map hot spots have appropriate, equivalent alternative text.

Images that do not convey content, are decorative, or contain content that is already conveyed in text are given empty alternative text (alt="") or implemented as CSS backgrounds. All linked images have descriptive alternative text.

Equivalent alternatives to complex images are provided in context or on a separate linked page.

Form buttons have a descriptive value.

Form inputs have associated text labels.

Embedded multimedia is identified via accessible text.

Frames and iframes are appropriately titled.

Guideline 1.2
Time-based Media: Provide alternatives for time-based media

NOTE: If the audio or video is designated as an alternative to web content (e.g., an audio or sign language version of a web page, for example), then the web content itself serves as the alternative.

Guideline 1.4
Distinguishable: Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background

Success Criteria

WebAIM's Recommendations

Color is not used as the sole method of conveying content or distinguishing visual elements.

Color alone is not used to distinguish links from surrounding text unless the contrast ratio between the link and the surrounding text is at least 3:1 and an additional distinction (e.g., it becomes underlined) is provided when the link is hovered over and receives focus.

Blocks of text over one sentence in length:

Are no more than 80 characters wide.

Are NOT fully justified (aligned to both the left and the right margins).

Have adequate line spacing (at least 1/2 the height of the text) and paragraph spacing (1.5 times line spacing).

Have a specified foreground and background color. These can be applied to specific elements or to the entire page using CSS (and thus inherited by all other elements).

Do NOT require horizontal scrolling when the text size is doubled.

No loss of content or functionality occurs and horizontal scrolling is avoided when content is presented at a width of 320 pixels.
This requires responsive design for most web sites. This is best tested by setting the browser window to 1280 pixels wide and then zooming the page content to 400%.

Content that requires horizontal scrolling, such as data tables, complex images (such as maps and charts), toolbars, etc. are exempted.

When additional content is presented on hover or keyboard focus:

The newly revealed content can be dismissed (generally via the Esc key) without moving the pointer or keyboard focus, unless the content presents an input error or does not obscure or interfere with other page content.

The pointer can be moved to the new content without the content disappearing.

The new content must remain visible until the pointer or keyboard focus is moved away from the triggering control, the new content is dismissed, or the new content is no longer relevant.

Operable
Interface forms, controls, and navigation are operable

Guideline 2.3
Seizures and Physical Reactions: Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures or physical reactions.

Success Criteria

WebAIM's Recommendations

Guideline 2.4
Navigable: Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.

Success Criteria

WebAIM's Recommendations

A link is provided to skip navigation and other page elements that are repeated across web pages.

A proper heading structure and/or identification of page regions/landmarks may be considered a sufficient technique. Because navigating by headings or regions is not supported in most browsers, WebAIM recommends a "skip" link (in addition to headings and regions) to best support sighted keyboard users.

Understandable
Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.

Robust
Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies

Guideline 4.1
Compatible: Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies

Success Criteria

WebAIM's Recommendations

This checklist is provided as a resource to help implement Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 (W3C Recommendation 5 June 2018), which is Copyright © 2017-2018 W3C®.

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The following is NOT the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2. It is a checklist that presents our recommendations for implementing accessibility principles and techniques for those seeking WCAG conformance. The language used here significantly simplifies and condenses the official WCAG 2.1 specification and supporting materials to make it easier to implement and verify for web pages.

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Designing for accessibility is not that hard

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Digital accessibility refers to the practice of building digital content and applications that can be used by a wide range of people, including individuals who have visual, motor, auditory, speech, or cognitive disabilities. There's a myth that making a website accessible is difficult and expensive, but it doesn't have to.

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The last week of May (26 th May to 1 st June) is National Accessibility week in Canada and provinces across the country are using this opportunity to celebrate the contributions of people with disabilities and impairments. There will be discussions, films, special promotions and campaigns to not just raise awareness about accessibility but to explore how all services can be made more accessible. An example that really stands out, North Bay's Mayor Al McDonald will be taking a bus ride blindfolded in a wheelchair so as to experience what those with disabilities go through while accessing city transit. I think we should all reflect on what we can do in our own fields to make our services more accessible and inclusive. Let's examine accessibility in eLearning.
What is Accessibility and Why is it Important?
Similar to Mayor McDonald, let's try and experience what it might be like to navigate an eLearning course with a disability. Try navigating through the course with your eyes shut and only use the keyboard. Then try watching a video but with the volume off. How much of it did you understand? Unfortunately, those with disabilities go through these challenges every single day.

Disability is more common than you might think: According to the World Health Organization, there are over 1 billion people world over, living with disabilities. That is 1 in 6 of us. And 80% of these 1 billion falls in the 18 to 64 years of age category - which is, generally speaking the working population. Types of disabilities are varied too - including full or partial impairments in seeing, hearing, mobility, flexibility, dexterity, pain, learning, developmental, mental/psychological, and memory.

The world of learning is gravitating increasingly to online learning. So, if eLearning is not accessible, it automatically shuts out a large section of the world from crucial learning opportunities.
Importance of accessibility in eLearning
1) Wider coverage - When an eLearning course is accessible to everyone, it becomes inclusive and ensures the widest cultural representation. This broadens both the learning cohorts, and learning opportunities.

2) Higher learner engagement - Making eLearning accessible involves using various media and many strategies for engaging learners. When Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles are used to create accessible courses, we cater to different learning styles and make courses more engaging and useful for everyone.

3) Inclusive organisation culture - According to Accessibility Ontario [ii], companies who invested in accessible employment saw lower employee turnover, greater customer loyalty, and stronger competitive capabilities. Along those same lines, organisations that invest in accessible online learning not only cater to employees with a disability, but also establish themselves as socially responsible and sensitive corporate citizens.
How to make online learning Accessible?
The traditional approach to making learning accessible has been reactive. Students/participants request accommodation for a disability and then alterations are made to accommodate their needs. For instance, a visually impaired student may be asked to submit an audio assignment instead of a written one. However, neither is this approach sensitive, nor entirely effective as there might be a lot of students, employees or clients with non-visible disabilities. Some students might not even be comfortable revealing that they have a disability. That is why a proactive approach of making curriculum accessible at the outset is much more effective.

A simple model to keep in mind while designing accessible eLearning is the Universal Design for Learning(UDL) model which is based on 3 principles

Multiple means of engagement: Use different ways to engage and motivate learners and give them the autonomy to explore and choose how they want to learn

Multiple means of representation of information: Provide information in multiple formats for learners - audio, video, interactive text, - so learners can access content in a manner they are most comfortable with

Multiple means of expression: Provide learners with multiple ways to demonstrate knowledge gained by having multiple types of assessments

Let's translate UDL into practical tips to make eLearning accessible: -

1. Create ALT tags to describe each image or diagram.
2. Use closed captions or transcripts for videos and audios
3. Make sure your course can be accessed using only the keyboard
4. Use inclusive language. For example, 'click' here might not be inclusive as those who use screen readers will not be able to click.
5. Ensure your fonts are clear and large enough for those with poor vision to read.
6. Ensure sufficient colour contrasts between background and foreground and between fonts and background. Use a colour contrast checker to make sure you are getting it right. This is essential for learners who are colour blind.
7. Use simple language. English might not be the first language for some learners
8. Avoid drop-down menus as screen readers will interpret them as a single object

Whether you are a Learning and Development executive outsourcing the development of an eLearning course, or an Instructional Designer/Developer developing it, we all benefit when we make our learning solutions more accessible and inclusive. To get help with making an accessible digital learning course, book a demo with Artha!
Resources:
[i] https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/campaigns/national-accessability-week.html

[ii] https://accessontario.com/?s=infographic

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Is Your eLearning Truly Accessible? - Artha Learning Inc.

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Organisations are increasingly striving to make the workplace accessible and inclusive. In the light of that, are your eLearning courses accessible to all? Read on to learn about how to ensure that your online courses cater to learners with disabilities.

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Research Library

March 20, 2019

Accessibility, and our approach to it, has made a considerable shift over the years. Now, accessibility is considered a standard in order to meet the idea of universal design for all learners.

While you are most likely aware of the importance of accessibility, there are some less familiar concerns, interests, mistakes, and misconceptions that will be beneficial for you to know. This research report by Jane Bozarth, Creating Accessible eLearning: Practitioner Perspectives, dives into four interviews with practitioners regarding their experiences with accessibility, and what misconceptions and mistakes to avoid.

Download this report to learn from these practitioners' experiences with accessibility.

Download the Executive Summary for Free!

This executive summary highlights topics from the research report Creating Accessible eLearning: Practitioner Perspectives.

Get your copy now!

Files

Full Report

This research report explores four interviews with practitioners about their experiences with accessibility.

Download Research Report (PDF)

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March 20, 2019 Accessibility, and our approach to it, has made a considerable shift over the years. Now, accessibility is considered a standard in order to meet the idea of universal design for all learners. While you are most likely aware of the importance of accessibility, there are some less familiar concerns, interests, mistakes, and misconceptions that will be beneficial for you to know.

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Articulate's ebook on designing accessible eLearning

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Articulate's ebook on designing accessible eLearning

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Articulate's E-Learning Heroes is the #1 community for e-learning creators. Get free downloads and examples and connect with thousands of e-learning pros.

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This useful site from Wave will perform an Accessibility Evaluation on any URL you enter

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WAVE ® is a suite of evaluation tools that helps authors make their web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities. WAVE can identify many accessibility and Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) errors, but also facilitates human evaluation of web content. Our philosophy is to focus on issues that we know impact end users, facilitate human evaluation, and to educate about web accessibility.

WAVE Browser Extensions

You can use the online WAVE tool by entering a web page address (URL) in the field above. WAVE Chrome, Firefox, and Edge browser extensions are available for testing accessibility directly within your web browser - handy for checking password protected, locally stored, or highly dynamic pages.

WAVE API and Testing Engine

The WAVE subscription API and Stand-alone WAVE API and Testing Engine are powerful tools for easily collecting accessibility test data on many pages. The stand-alone API and Testing Engine can be integrated into your infrastructure for testing intranet, non-public, and secure pages, including in continuous integration processes.

Accessibility IMpact (AIM) Report

Your Accessibility IMpact (AIM) assessment report provides detailed WAVE test data, your site's AIM score (a measure of end user impact compared to web pages generally and as determined by human testers), and expert manual test results to give you insights into the accessibility of your web site for users with disabilities.

Need more than one page at a time?

Our friends at provide an enterprise-level web accessibility evaluation system based on WAVE that gives site-wide monitoring and reporting over time.

Learn more at pope.tech.

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WAVE ® is a suite of evaluation tools that helps authors make their web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities. WAVE can identify many accessibility and Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) errors, but also facilitates human evaluation of web content.

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This useful list from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies compiles a list of guiding principles and relevant resources for Using Inclusive Language in your work.

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National Assembly of State Arts Agencies

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This Contrast Checker from WebAIM allows you to enter any URL and assess its contrast and colour of your content for accessibility.

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Normal Text

The five boxing wizards jump quickly.

Large Text

The five boxing wizards jump quickly.

Graphical Objects and User Interface Components

Web accessibility testing can be difficult! The experts at WebAIM can audit your web site and provide a detailed report to help you remediate accessibility and WCAG compliance issues.

Learn more about WebAIM Evaluation Services

Explanation

Enter a foreground and background color in RGB hexadecimal format (e.g., #FD3 or #F7DA39) or choose a color using the color picker. The Lightness slider can be used to adjust the selected color.

WCAG 2.0 level AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. WCAG 2.1 requires a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 for graphics and user interface components (such as form input borders). WCAG Level AAA requires a contrast ratio of at least 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for large text.

Large text is defined as 14 point (typically 18.66px) and bold or larger, or 18 point (typically 24px) or larger.

Hint: Colorzilla is an excellent tool for extracting the color value from any page element. Additionally, WAVE can analyze contrast ratios for all page text elements at once.

Use our link contrast checker to evaluate links that are identified using color alone.

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A robust list of ideas and imperatives from Stark around the concept of accessibility that will both inform and inspire you.

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Stark's Public Library - Accessibility resources, guides, communities, and more

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The suite of integrated accessibility tools for your product design and development team * Making the world's products accessible.

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An incredible open, source Accessibility Resource List “aggregated [and] updated by Designers for Learning based on new finds and suggestions”

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1Screen readers can be excellent ways to open up courses and make the more accessible. Jaws is the industry standard. NVDA is a great screen reader to test your course as well! Here's one for Apple

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There is a better solution than spending thousands of dollars on other commercial products!

We're free by principle, not by merit!

We strive for a world where EVERYONE has equal access to the life changing benefits of technology - not just the privilege.

If you believe in that too, join us!

Here's why NVDA is the secret formula you always wanted...

Features

NVDA allows blind and vision impaired people to access and interact with the Windows operating system and many third party applications.

Major highlights include:

Support for popular applications including web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, email clients, internet chat software, music players, and office programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel

Built-in speech synthesizer supporting over 50 languages, plus support for many other 3rd party voices

Reporting of textual formatting where available such as font name and size, style and spelling errors

Automatic announcement of text under the mouse and optional audible indication of the mouse position

Support for many refreshable braille displays, including input of Braille via braille displays that have a braille keyboard

Ability to run entirely from a USB flash drive or other portable media without the need for installation

Easy to use talking installer

Translated into more than 50 languages

Support for modern Windows Operating Systems including both 32 and 64 bit variants

Ability to run on Windows logon and other secure screens

Announcing controls and text while interacting with gestures on touch screens

System Requirements

Operating Systems: all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and all Server Operating Systems starting from Windows Server 2008 R2.

For Windows 7, NVDA requires Service Pack 1 or higher.

For Windows Server 2008 R2, NVDA requires Service Pack 1 or higher.

Memory: 256 mb or more of RAM

Processor speed: 1.0 ghz or above

About 90 MB of storage space.

Hear from one of our users

"NVDA has transformed my life. Although I am still a high school student, I have been able to win Model United Nation conferences, achieve distinctions in mathematics and science related competitive examinations and be academically oriented, largely due to the powers and abilities of NVDA, at no cost."

- Bhavya, India

Hear from one of our users

"An issue is always looking for new work. Companies never hire us because they do not want to bear the cost of the screen reader. Making use of NVDA allows me to enter the labor market without requiring the company to bear the costs acquisition of a paid screen reader. NVDA allowed me to have many benefits."

- Fernando, Brazil

HEAR FROM ONE OF OUR USERS.

"I have one client who can now manage her bank account and bills independently online, and this gives her such a sense of control over her life! I have others that can now send and receive emails instead of having someone else do it for them. NVDA allows everyone access to electronic information which is so very critical in today's world!"

- Jessica, USA Assistive Tech Instructor

Donate to NVDA

The NVDA screen reader allows some of the world's poorest blind people access to computers, and a way out of poverty.

If you have the means, no matter how big or small, please become a marvellous monthly donor or make a one-off donation, before downloading NVDA.

Transform Lives today

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There is a better solution than spending thousands of dollars on other commercial products! We strive for a world where EVERYONE has equal access to the life changing benefits of technology - not just the privilege. If you believe in that too, join us! Here's why NVDA is the secret formula you always wanted...

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From Color Safe, here is a very useful list using the WGAC guidelines to construct “accessible and beautiful” color palettes

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Color Safe is a tool to explore beautiful, accessible color palettes for your website based on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

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Digital accessibility is the inclusive practice of ensuring that everyone has equal access to information, functionality, and experience on digital platforms. That means no barriers prevent interaction with, or access to, digital products by people with any type of disabilities or traits commonly linked to disabilities.

This includes:

1. Physical disabilities, such as hearing loss, vision loss, or mobility issues;

2. Neurodiversity conditions including autism, attention deficit disorder, and dyslexia;

3. Socio-economic discrimination, which impacts people with disabilities in the US at a rate 2 ½ times higher than people without disabilities.

The overall definition of disability includes disabiities that are permanent, temporary, and situational. It's been over two decades since the first version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) was launched, in 1999. Since then, a lot of content has been published online around how designers and developers can apply those guidelines to the work they do every day.

Many published accessibility guides are either:

Too prescriptive (making it seem like the items on the checklist are all you have to care about).

Too aspirational (painting a utopian picture that doesn't drive action).

Too charity-driven (driving the point that people with disabilities are to be pitied and painting the gaps as too enormous to ever be practically resolved).

Biased, published to "help" the public, but in reality, the major motivation is to sell accessibility consulting services or tools.

This guide is a little different.

We at the UX Collective have partnered with our most prolific accessibility writer, Sheri Byrne-Haber, CPACC, to bring a more candid take on the topic.

The reality is: your first attempt at making anything accessible will be awful; you will run into people who might make your life harder; you will learn that accessibility isn't an add-on; and that you cannot stop at good practices, accessibility needs you to be great to provide an equal experience to your users with disabilities.

Inaccessible products are broken products. The first step to fix them is to give a damn.

Thank you for doing that,

Fabricio Teixeira + Caio Braga

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Digital accessibility is the inclusive practice of ensuring that everyone has equal access to information, functionality, and experience on digital platforms. That means no barriers prevent interaction with, or access to, digital products by people with any type of disabilities or traits commonly linked to disabilities.