Southern New Hampshire University

Creating an Accessible ScreenSteps Article

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Screensteps articles can be helpful, but they can only be helpful to everyone if they are created to be accessible. The following is a guide to following accessibility practices when creating a Screensteps article. 

Selecting the Heading Style

Heading helps the user understand the page and how it is organized. To find out how to create the correct heading structure, you can go to the article How to Use Heading Structures Correctly and Efficiently.

Watch this quick video on How to Create a New Heading.

The new item drop-down menu in screen steps.

Select the heading from the outline view. Drag it to the appropriate heading level you need it to be.

New heading on the left side of the screen steps editor.

When you complete the dragging of the heading level, it should change from "H2" and the correct heading hierarchy level (ex., H3, H4, etc..).

The heading size three for the new heading set up.

Adding Alternative Text (Alt. Text)

Describe all visual objects with an Alternative Text (Alt Text).  

  • Explain “why” the image relates to the content. The Alt Text is read aloud by screen reading software. Review the following article to learn more about How to create Alternative Text. 


  1. Select the image.
  2. A column for the alt. text will appear on the left hand side of your article.
The alt-text text-box boxed in.

Checking the Color Contrast

Here are two articles you can reference How to Check Color Contrast with Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA) and How to Check Color Contrast with A11Y.

Using Text Style

Drop-down menu for the text style settings.

When using the text style guides use the default font and color style. Keeping the default settings will keep the color contrast compliant with WCAG standards.

Give hyperlinks meaningful display names.  

In the Styles gallery, a visual menu is located on the Home tab. 

To apply a style, select the text you want to format, and then click the style you want in the Styles gallery.  To learn more about Style formatting, visit the Microsoft Support Website:

Select your paragraph content block to create your destination (meaningful link and description link).

  1. Type your paragraph.
  2. Type the destination words that you want to be linked out.
  3. Highlight the words you typed as the destination, for example, "installing WAVE and using WAVE."
Words “installing WAVE and using WAVE” highlighted.
  1. Select the link icon in the home ribbon.
  2. Then select "External Link" from the drop-down.
The drop-down menu from selecting the link icon. With the "External link" selection highlighted.
  1. Paste the link into the text field.
  2. If you select "Open link in a new window," you must include a written working in the article, warning the user that they will be taken to a new window.
  3. WCAG standards recommend leaving "Open link in a new window" unselected.
The window to enter the link for the right-clicked text.

Check Spelling and Grammar

Accessibility best practice recommendation to create a draft in Microsoft Word. You can edit the draft and review the content using the built-in Editor tool, or if you have a Grammarly account, you can copy and paste your draft into Grammarly to check spelling and grammar.  

Test for Accessibility Using Web Accessibility Evolution Tool (WAVE)

After you post the article in ScreenSteps, run WAVE to check for accessibility barriers.

The website to learn about WAVE and install is installing WAVE and using WAVE. You can find a video for using WAVE (00:11:20).

Below are Some Best Practices for Creating Accessible Articles

  • Keep titles unique and simple
    • Use different naming conventions for manuals, chapters, and articles.
  • Many users may have difficulty distinguishing between the manual title, chapter title, and article title if they all have the same title.

Below are examples of barriers that may impact the user experience:

This example shows you how the user's experience is impacted when the chapter's title is the same as the article's title:

  • Chapter title: "How to enable and create Break Out Rooms in Ring Central Meeting."
  • Article title: "How to enable and create Break Out Rooms in Ring Central Meeting."
Example of chapter title and article title being same. An arrow pointing to the chapter name and another pointing to the article link.
  • Here is an example of an accessible chapter titled "Break Out Rooms in Ring Central."
  • Here is an example of an accessible article titled "How to enable and create Break out Rooms in Ring Central Meeting."

Another example that creates a user experience barrier is creating similar titles such as:

  • Chapter's title: "How to install the RingCentral Meetings Mobile app on iOS."
  • Article title: "How to download and install RingCentral Meetings from the App Store (Apple Devices)."
Example of chapter title and article title being similar. The Chapter name says "install" while the link says "download and install" for example.
  • Here is an example of an accessible chapter titled "Using Ring Central on Mobile Device."
  • Here is an example of an accessible article titled "How to Download and Install Ring Central Meeting From the App Store (Apple Devices)."

Use Inclusive and First Person Language

When creating your job aids, use more inclusive language, for example, “select,” “hit,” "press," or “choose" instead of using the word "click." When we use the word "click," we assume everyone uses a mouse.

Steps to Confirm Videos are Accessible

  1. Add the time stamp in the format (HH:MM:SS)
  2. Confirm that closed captions are turned on, and the closed captions are accurate. You can follow this video to show you how to create accessible videos, add captions to your Screen-Cast-O-Matic video, add captions to your Screen-Cast-O-Matic video and change them.

Adding Tags (Relevant Keywords) to Screen Steps Article

It is essential to add tags (relevant keywords) to the article. Tags (relevant keywords) are indivisible labels that add critical information about the article's content. Inserting tags (relevant keywords) will help users discover the article if they need to know precisely what they are looking for.

  1. These tags help find the articles in the database.
  2. Go to the Screen Steps online
  3. Go to the article where you want to add tags (relevant keywords). You can find it under "properties."
A preview of a screen steps article with the "Properties" tab open and the "Tags" section of it boxed in.
  1. Type in tags (relevant keywords) about your newly created article.
  2. Use the enter button after typing in one of the tags (relevant keywords). You can use alternative spellings and abbreviations as well.
The box for entering tags for the article.

Please add as many different words to include in your article tags (relevant keywords). Adding searchable keywords will be beneficial to all users.

Additional Resources


Previous Article Checklist of Accessibility Learning Activities
Next Article ScreenSteps Accessibility Checklist

Accessibility and Assistive Technology

Need More Help? 2
Overviews of Accessibility Settings (Windows and Mac) 2
Employee-Facing Support and Services 3
Web Accessibility Testing 5
Accessible Documents and Emails 13
Text-to-Speech Tools 12
Voice and Speech Recognition Software 6
Color and Contrast 8
Keyboard Accessibility 2
Alternative Text 12
Accessible and Inclusive Environments (Virtual or In-person) 20
Accessible Spreadsheets, Tables, and Charts 10
Accessible Audio, Images, and Video 14
Page Structure 4
Vision Settings 2
Hyperlinks 5
Reading Tools 15
Writing Tools 5
Math Tools 6
Logical Reading Order 2
Tasks and Organization 6
Older Operating Systems 6
Creating Accessible Job Aids in Screensteps 6
Creating Accessible Content in Venngage 1

Other Resources

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