Consider the needs of people with different abilities, situations, or circumstances when designing email content.
Not everyone interacts with digital products and services in the same way. Some people may use a keyboard rather than a mouse. Other people cannot see clearly and require glasses or may use screen magnification software, and some may have limited movement and use a switch device or voice recognition software.
People may have temporary or situational disabilities such as a broken arm, holding a baby, or using a mobile phone whilst walking. No matter how and where someone is reading an email, they must be able to view, understand and interact with it without difficulty.
Practices
- Use text: Always use actual text in HTML or plain text emails rather than placing text within an image. Never place text that is essential to the understanding of the messaging in an image. Sometimes, images may not display, and even if they do, the size of the text in the email may become unreadable if the image is scaled down. Images can also become pixelated and blurred when magnified and, therefore, more challenging to read. Using actual text ensures everyone can understand the message’s meaning, including people using assistive technologies such as screen readers.
- Colour contrast: Use our text colour palette and ensure that colour combinations provide enough contrast. Avoid using our secondary colour palette for text, as the colours do not offer enough contrast with the background.
- Responsive: Ensure the layout and typography can adapt to the device and device settings used to view the email, ensuring people can view the content at different orientations, e.g. landscape and portrait.
- Don’t rely on colour alone: Use text to accompany colour to provide messages, notifications, or hints that everyone can understand.
- Keyboard access: Ensure it is possible to interact with emails using a keyboard alone rather than relying on a mouse.
- Consider target size: Consider the target size for interactive elements such as buttons and links, ensuring they are large enough to activate. This design decision enables people using touch devices, those with mobility impairments such as hand tremors, or those with reduced dexterity from conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis or arthritis to activate the correct element without error.