BACK
Accessibility is non-negotiable in L&D, and yet it’s still too easy to treat it as a final check rather than a starting point. Something to revisit before sign-off, rather than something that influences how a course is built from the ground up.
When accessibility slips down the priority list, people get left behind. It’s estimated 16.8 million people in the UK live with a disability – roughly one in four. If your eLearning isn’t designed to work for everyone, you risk excluding a significant portion of your audience. And when that happens, even the most carefully crafted course won’t make the impact it should.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the internationally recognised standards for digital accessibility. Built around four core principles – that content should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust – they set clear expectations for inclusive design, which should underpin every piece of eLearning you create.
Here are eight common accessibility mistakes to avoid in digital learning – along with how to fix them.
1. Getting colour contrast wrong
A colour combination can look great on a mood board and still be difficult to read on screen. Colour contrast is a core WCAG guideline, yet it’s one of the most common accessibility mistakes people make.
Contrast is measured on a ratio scale from 1:1 to 21:1. Black text on a white background sits at 21:1 – the highest possible contrast. Yellow text on white is an obvious poor contrast offender, but subtler combinations catch people out just as often. For example, light blue on white or soft grey on a pale background can look polished in a design tool and still sit well below what’s considered readable.
WCAG recommends a minimum ratio of 4.5:1 for body text or 3:1 for larger text, such as headings. If in doubt, pair light backgrounds with dark text, or vice versa, and sense-check combinations using a contrast checker before anything gets signed off.
2. Skipping alt text – or merely using the filename
Visuals play a big part in eLearning – images, infographics, charts and diagrams all add context and make complex information easier to grasp. However, without alt text, anyone using a screen reader misses them entirely – and dropping in a filename or generic placeholder is no better than leaving the field blank.
Good alt text should be more than a quick label; it needs to be clear and specific, giving enough detail that the learner understands exactly what the image is communicating. Keep it concise (150 characters or fewer is a good benchmark) and skip phrases like “image of” – screen readers already flag this, so there’s no need to repeat it.
For example:
- Poor alt text: “Image of a bar chart showing workplace incidents”
- Good alt text: “Bar chart showing a 40% reduction in workplace incidents between January and April 2026, following the introduction of updated manual handling guidelines”
Most modern authoring tools, including Articulate 360, include dedicated alt text fields for media, so there’s no reason to skip it.
The only exception is visuals that only serve a decorative purpose. If it’s there to look good rather than communicate something, leave the alt text field blank. This tells the screen reader to skip it, keeping the experience clean and focused.
3. Sacrificing readability for design
If your brand guidelines dictate your font choices, this is largely decided for you. But if you have creative freedom, readability needs to come before aesthetics.
Ornate or heavily stylised typefaces can be difficult to process for learners with visual impairments or dyslexia. Instead, go for clean, familiar fonts that are widely recognised and prioritise readability – sans serif options tend to work best for this.
Letter spacing needs checking too. Overly tight tracking makes text harder to scan, particularly for learners who already find dense content challenging. WCAG recommends a minimum letter spacing of 0.12x the font size as a baseline to work from.
4. Overcomplicating your writing
Accessibility in eLearning goes beyond design – it runs through your writing too. Long sentences, dense paragraphs and unnecessary jargon are all common accessibility mistakes that can create barriers for learners.
It’s a trap that’s easy to fall into, particularly for subject matter experts. When you know a topic inside out, it can be difficult to put yourself in the shoes of a complete novice – or to resist the urge to say more than you need to. But clarity should always come first.
Keep sentences short and language plain. Structure modules with headings and bullet points where it helps with scanning and understanding. These are small copywriting choices, but ones that make a significant difference to whether learning is understood or not.
👉 Find out more about our Articulate 360: eLearning Accessibility training course
5. Neglecting accessibility in video
Whether it’s a short microlearning module or a longer training walkthrough, video is a powerhouse in L&D thanks to its ability to boost retention and engagement.
That said, it’s also very easy to get wrong – especially when it comes to accessibility. Without the right considerations built in, video can quickly exclude part of your audience.
Here’s what to check:
- Add captions to all narration and spoken content. If you’re relying on auto-generated captions, make sure they’re accurate before publishing.
- Apply the same web accessibility principles to on-screen content as you would to your courses, including colour contrast and font choices.
- Include audio descriptions where important visual information isn’t covered by narration.
- Make sure video controls are keyboard accessible and easy to use.
6. Poorly signposted links
Any links you add to courses should be easy to grasp at a glance. Generic phrases like “click here” are far too ambiguous, particularly for learners using screen readers, who often navigate by moving through links out of context.
Descriptive anchor text is what makes the difference. Use copy that explains exactly where the link leads or what the learner will find. For example, use “Access the onboarding checklist” rather than “Click here”.
It’s also worth avoiding action words like “click” altogether, as not all learners will be using a mouse.
7. Overlooking keyboard navigation
Think about how a learner will move through your course. For many, that won’t involve a mouse at all; keyboard-only navigation and assistive technologies are widely used, and modules that haven’t been built with this in mind can falter fast.
Every interactive element – buttons, links and navigation controls – needs to work via keyboard. It’s also worth checking for dead ends: points in the course where a keyboard user gets stuck and can’t move forward.
Make keyboard navigation a standard part of your QA process. Tab through the course yourself before it goes live – it’s the quickest way to spot any issues. Pay attention to whether the focused element is clearly highlighted as you move through too, so learners always know where they are on the screen.
8. Not testing accessibility across devices
Before you launch your learning, accessibility needs to be tested in context. Learners will access your content in different ways, whether that’s on a laptop, tablet or mobile, and your course needs to work well across all of them.
What feels clear and usable on a desktop can break down on a smaller screen. Text can become harder to read, navigation feels clunky and interactive elements don’t always behave as expected. These are the kinds of issues that only show up when you put your course to the test.
When testing, assess how content performs across different screen sizes, with keyboard navigation and assistive technologies where possible. Catching issues at this stage is far easier than fixing them after launch.
Accessible learning starts with the right tools
Articulate 360 has accessibility built into its core: from screen reader support and keyboard navigation to closed captions and dedicated alt text fields. If you’re looking to design eLearning that works for everyone, get in touch to find out how we can help.