Accessibility guidance

Your content must be inclusive and accessible to as many people as possible.

Recommendations and best practices

Building accessible content is an iterative process that spans planning, creation, editing, and publication. The following recommendations help create ArcGIS StoryMaps content items with maps and visualizations accessible to a broader audience.

Key workflows

As you build content with ArcGIS StoryMaps, consider accessibility in each of these workflows:

Create—During the creation process for ArcGIS StoryMaps, consider your target audience and purpose, and use plain, inclusive language in titles and while filling in metadata.
Add content—When adding media and visual elements to the content layout, write text alternatives for images and add accessible descriptions for other visual content. Consider how theme choices will impact color vision deficiencies.
Edit—If updating existing content with new links, consider how to write good link text and whether the link needs a warning that it will open in a new tab or as a different file type.
Publish—Before publishing, use a color vision deficiency simulator to preview your work and manually test access with keyboard navigation and screen readers.

Map design

Know your audience and purpose. Consider what data and layers directly support that goal. What variables will you use in your visual hierarchy?

Data alternatives

When sharing maps, consider alternative formats to foster learning and access. Alternatives include tabular data, infographics, charts, links to other resources, or text narratives.

Templates

ArcGIS StoryMaps allows you to create story templates. This helps authors who build an accessible content structure ensure that it stays consistent across their organization.

Accessibility checklist

The following checklist helps identify potential accessibility issues to keep in mind while designing and creating content with ArcGIS StoryMaps.

Important:

Completing the checklist does not guarantee the content you create is accessible. However, addressing items on the checklist will improve the experience of reading your content for a larger audience. For a downloadable version of the accessibility checklist, see An accessibility checklist for your stories.

General

Ensure that your content meets the following criteria:

Information does not solely depend on color, sound, shape, size, or visual location. You have used multiple ways to convey the same information.
Text and background color have sufficient contrast.
Important visual information, such as map pins or charts, also has sufficient contrast with the background.
Links are descriptive and provide intent.
Section headings are descriptive.
Text styles—such as headings—are used in a way that matches their intended purpose.
Content does not lose context when zoomed or enlarged.
Content is understandable with no styles enabled.

Plain language

Ensure that your content is written in plain language:

Language is accessible, including avoiding word choices or idiomatic expressions that may affect understanding and translations.
Reading level is accessible for the audience and uses short sentences and simple terms, unless adding definitions.
The text meets organizational inclusive language guidelines.
The text follows plain language guidelines.

Important:

Plain language may be required for government organizations in the United States.

Format, style, and links

Ensure that your design meets the following criteria:

The layout is consistent, with short headings to create reader navigation structure.
Font styles are easy to read, whether serif or sans serif (see Accessibility.com).
Theme is accessible and has sufficient color contrast.
Reading time is under 10 minutes.
Links have a short, meaningful description, and the website is named in the hyperlink text or within the sentence.

Alternative text for media

Alternative text is descriptive information about visual media that is announced by screen readers. It is required for media to provide support for search engines and readers using assistive technologies, and it is shown to readers if the media can’t be loaded.

Ensure that your alternative text meets the following criteria:

You've included the object, action, and context in a short phrase or a complete sentence.
You've used 125 characters or fewer for simple media, and complex media balances useful context and brevity.
The alternative text describes the media in the context it appears. It doesn't repeat the caption or running text, and it doesn't add conclusions.
All text embedded in media is included in the alternative text regardless of length.

For additional guidance on writing alternative text, see Resources.

For information on adding alternative text to content you create with ArcGIS StoryMaps, see Accessibility features > Alternative text.

Still media and maps

Ensure that your images and maps meet the following criteria:

Image gallery blocks include contextual alternative text describing all content within the gallery.
Charts and tables include title, caption, headers, and axis labels, with no blank cells.
Charts use high-contrast colors; see the City University of Seattle Library's tips.
Alternative text describes the map's purpose, if not already covered in running text.
Optionally, you have added a downloadable .csv file of locations for map tour places.
Simple map alternative text uses known reference points; see Penn State University's New England map.
The alternative text is formatted consistently for complex maps. See the Animated example section in the Using alternative text for equitable storytelling blog article by the ArcGIS StoryMaps team.

Audio and video

Ensure that your audio and video content meets the following criteria:

Alternative text describes ambient sounds or a text transcript is included for spoken words.
The video includes closed captions.
Closed captions are enabled on linked videos (for example, YouTube, Vimeo, or other video hosting services).

Multimedia and data visualization

Ensure that your multimedia and data visualizations meet the following criteria:

All media have meaningful alternative text, except decorative images, which do not need alternative text and were avoided.
Media have alternative ways to be consumed, such as closed captions, alternative text, or transcripts.
Data is available for charts, maps, SVGs, and so on through assistive technology.
Flashing elements were limited or removed.
Audio and video are not played automatically.
Captions or a transcript is included with audio or video content.

Resources

Use the resources below to learn more about making accessible content with ArcGIS StoryMaps: