SAIF: Making Information Accessible

Guidelines for producing accessible printed and electronic information

Always clearly state who the email is from and give your contact details.
Include your Company Registration Number or Charity Number, if relevant, and an email Privacy Policy and Disclaimer.
Keep your subject line of between 20 - 50 characters and avoid uppercase, multiple characters or signs for money (£,$).
Set the line length of your emails to a maximum of 65 characters.
Use lowercase for links and avoid breaking them over 2 lines

Plain Text emails are more accessible to assistive technology.
The layout will not change when opened by the recipient.
Plain Text emails will only accept ‘safe’ characters, i.e. letters, numbers, common punctuation marks.
Web addresses (URLs) should be written in full, i.e. http://www....

HTML emails can be more visually attractive than plain text emails. However, they may not be displayed in the same way in the recipient’s mailbox.
They should comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 1.0 AA or the WCAG 2 equivalent.

If using an Address Book or Contact List, use the BCC field (an email copy whose recipients do not know the identity of other recipients).
A Plain Text Newsletter is usually easier to read by assistive technology than a HTML version. However, some people prefer to read a visually attractive HTML Newsletter or the same content on a webpage.
For Plain Text Newsletters, use the Text Email Newsletter (TEN) Standard – see www.headstar.com/ten.
For HTML Newsletters use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 1.0 AA or the WCAG 2 equivalent – see www.w3.org/WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative).
If you use HTML, offer a Plain Text version as well.
Do not send Newsletters to people who have not requested them.
Always offer your recipients an opportunity to opt out.
Include a link to a webpage with the same content as the HTML Newsletter.

Accessible website design and development by Jim Byrne.