Best Practices for Working with the Cells
Avoid merging too many cells in Excel. Merged cells can confuse screen readers, which makes it harder for people using them to understand the data. Screen readers may not read the information in the correct order.
It would be best to have a cell be a title for the numbers or words that will be underneath to explain what this data be shown means.
Best Practices for Font
Try to use the automatic black font when typing because it causes very few color contrast issues.
Best Practice Overall
It would be best to go over this article How to Create an Excel Sheet That is Accessible to Everyone (Desktop Mac) or How to Create an Excel Sheet That is Accessible to Everyone (Microsoft 365 Web App) because they have a lot of useful information on how to use some of the key accessible feature inside of excel.
It is also best to give each sheet a unique name to limit any confusions for someone who is using a screen reader.
When using tables, graphs, or any other way to show data, try to use headers and keep it simple so a person using a screen reader can easily identify any information that is be conveyed.
Additional Resources
- The information gathered for this article comes from Microsoft How to Create an Accessible Excel Sheet.
- Make your Excel documents accessible to people with disabilities - Microsoft Support
- Microsoft Excel Video Accessibility Training - Microsoft Support
- SNHU Accessibility and Assistive Technology Resources