Use programmatically formatted heading styles to add structure and navigability to your document. Elements such as titles, section headings and segment titles should be formatted using MS Word heading styles.
Provide alternative text or descriptions for non-decorative images. Text should describe the function and purpose of the image and include any text shown in the image.
Place images, data tables, charts, and other objects 'inline' with the document content (rather than 'floating').
Describe hyperlinks with plain language text that gives information about where the link will take the reader. Do not use words like "click here", which provide no information about the hyperlink to a screen reader user.
When a header row is visually present, format the first row of a table to be the header row using the "Repeat Header Rows" command.
If a table contains merged or split cells, the table is inaccessible in Word and the document must be converted to an accessible format, such as Adobe PDF.
Text boxes are inaccessible in Word. If a document must contain text boxes, it must be converted to an accessible format, such as Adobe PDF.
Do not use carriage returns, tabs, and other blank characters to create white space in a document. Instead, use MS Word spacing settings.
Format lists programmatically using the bullet commands in the paragraph group.