Accessibility in email. What is email accessibility?. Email accessibility is the practice of ensuring that those with disabilities can understand and interact with all elements in an email. Email body copy should be HTML text. Limit text in images, in fact, it is best to not have any text in images. Insert alt tags to help describe the image as it applies to the email content. Common disabilities that affect how an email can be experienced include visual and hearing impairments, as well as cognitive or learning disabilities. Assistive technologies are utilized to aid those with disabilities, and formatting our emails properly helps those assistive technologies work. 
Accessibility in email. Add visual elements in the email, including colors and images and gifs in a manner that allows those with visual impairments to interact with the content. 
For colors, use Ohio State branded approved colors. Don't forget to check the colors of your in-text links. Our light gray is #eff1f2, and our scarlet is #ba0c2f. For colors, university accessibility standards require WCAG AA, but passing WCAG AAA whenever possible. 
For images and animations, avoid animated gif files with excessive flickering and flashing, as they can trigger people with seizure disorders. The flashing is to be slower than three times per second. Keep the play length short. Five seconds is the recommended length. A widely accepted standard is no more than 40% of the email should be made up of images. Along with this, do not include any essential text in images alone. The message should be delivered through live text. For alt tags, alternative text in your HTML code allows assistive technology to be utilized to still understand the images, even if people cannot see them. When a screen reader passes through an image, it will notify the user and read out a description of it. Always use alt tags with your images or gifs that help a recipient understand the email content. We have more information available on the OMC website about email accessibility.