Pretty is Accessible
summary
Argues that “pretty” and accessible are the same goal and shows concrete fixes: runs the Adobe Acrobat accessibility checker and fixes tag/reading order, adds alt text and document title metadata, raises font from 11 to 12, and replaces layout tables with use columns not tables plus column breaks. Converts a Canva resume and a government flyer into tagged, contrast-checked PDFs that preserve aesthetics and improve engagement (newsletter gets noticeably better feedback). Teaches that Styles add semantic value so Word → PDF exports keep real headings.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:09Speaker background
- 3:23Pretty is accessible
- 8:53Accessible documents
- 14:14Accessibility vs design
- 22:13Why tables harm
- 26:12Color contrast warnings
- 29:06Document titles matter
- 32:18Remediating a template
- 42:29Styles for accessibility
- 45:03Accessibility and design
- 46:53Q&A
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