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Best Practices for LibGuides Accessibility

This guide includes instructions for updating individual LibGuides to be as accessible as possible.

Why shouldn't I have a single bullet point?

Single bullet points are aurally messy. So unless LibGuides forces you to do it (i.e. putting in a hyperlink), only use them when there are multiple items.

When screen readers read a bulleted list, they announce that it's a bulleted list at the start, each bullet point, and when the list ends. For an example, let's look at a grocery list:

  • milk
  • butter
  • ice cream
  • apples

This will sound something like, "begin bulleted list bullet milk bullet butter bullet ice cream bullet apples exit bulleted list".

A grocery list with only one item

  • milk

sounds like, "begin bulleted list bullet milk exit bulleted list".  It's hard to find the meat of that, especially since the screen reader has no emphasis or change in tone.

What to do?

Check your guides for bulleted lists. If there's only one item, remove the bullet. Conversely, if you are listing multiple items, consider using a bulleted or numbered list. Use the "Insert/Remove Bulleted List" feature instead of adding your own symbol or number.

An exception

Inserting a link will automatically create a bulleted list. It is a best practice to use reusable link assets even when only having a single link creates a single bullet point.