Guidelines: Email Accessibility

Creating accessible emails helps everyone read and act on your message, including people who use screen readers, prefer dark mode, or need higher contrast. For step-by-step sending tasks, see the Accessible Email Checklist.

⚠️ Important: Follow the VCSU Marketing Style Guide.

📬 Poster-Style Emails

We often send image-only, poster-style emails (one graphic with text). These are usually informational (event/place details) or active (prompt an action). Unfortunately, there are a few problems with this type of image-only email.

📐 View typical layout

Subject
Body: a single inserted poster image (no live text)
Signature

Example poster-only email showing subject line, a single image in the body, and a signature.

🚫 View common issues

No preview or search: When no real text is typed into an email, the system cannot generate a preview, and the content cannot be searched or copied. You can tell this email contains no text because the preview only shows the signature—not the information from the poster.

Spam filtering: image-only emails are more likely to be blocked or flagged.
Poor readability: zooming makes text blurry; users can’t adjust text size, contrast, or dark mode.
Images may not load: many email clients block images by default, leaving a blank message.

🧰 View how-to

Best practice: put essential details in live text and use images to enhance—not carry—the message.

Repeat essentials as live text in the email body: title, date, time, location, and the call to action/URL.
Alt text:write a short, purpose-driven summary; don’t transcribe every word on the poster.
- Example: “Event poster: Fall Career Fair — Sept 24, 11–2 pm, Student Center. Details below.”
Link fallback: if the image links to more info, add a nearby text link with the same wording so people with images blocked can still access it.
Contrast: if any text remains in the image, check color contrast—and still include that text in the body.

🧩 Accessibility Guidelines

View a complete list of best practices.

🖊️ Writing effective alt text

Goal: describe the purpose of the image in context. Skip phrases like “image of…”.

Example showing a concise, purpose-based alt text.

Bad: “A group of people walking.”
Good: “Three students walking on campus; one wears a ‘VCSU Viking Ambassador’ T-shirt.”

Tip: if the image contains essential text, put that text in the email body or include it in the alt text. For complex visuals, provide a nearby long description.

Helper: ASU Alt Text Generator

Alt text rules:

Informational / Active / Complex: add meaningful alt text; for complex visuals, include a nearby long description of key points.
Decorative: mark as decorative (null alt). If your client doesn’t offer a “decorative” option, leave the alt field blank.
Guideline: keep essential content as live text. Use images to enhance—not carry—the message.

🤖 About automatically generated alt text

Auto-alt is a fallback and often misses intent. Review it in the Alt Text pane, remove boilerplate (e.g., “Description automatically generated”), and edit so it reflects the image’s purpose.

VCSU walking bridge over the Sheyenne River with trees and a clear blue sky.

Bad auto-alt: “A bridge. Description automatically generated.”

🏷️ Logos & signatures

Use a text-only signature. Images—including logos—are often blocked by email clients, especially on mobile.

If a logo is included, keep it small and non-essential.
Add clear alt text (e.g., “VCSU logo”) or mark it decorative.
Pitfall: blocked logos often show as a broken image icon instead of the logo.

Broken image icon showing a blocked logo.

🎞️ Video in email: use a linked thumbnail

Most email clients (including Outlook) don’t play embedded video. Use a thumbnail image that links to the hosted video instead.

How to handle video thumbnails

Insert a still thumbnail (high contrast, no flashing).
Add alt text that includes the action, title, platform, and duration.
Good: “Watch: How to make email accessible in Outlook (YouTube, 2:14).”
Bad: “Screenshot of video player.”
Link the image to the hosted video (YouTube, Stream, etc.).
Add a nearby text link with the same wording (fallback if images are blocked).
Ensure captions/transcript are available on the video page.

✅ Do / ❌ Don’t

Do keep the thumbnail readable and high-contrast.
Do include platform and duration in the alt/link text when possible.
Don’t use auto-playing or flashing thumbnails.
Don’t rely on the image link alone—always include a text link.

🔁 GIFs, motion, and seizure safety

Looping animations can distract or trigger symptoms for some users.
Prefer a screenshot + link to the GIF/video; avoid flashing or strobing content.
Reduced-motion settings may not stop GIFs in all email clients.

📎 Attachments: naming & referencing

Use clear, descriptive filenames (e.g., Travel-Form-Sep-2025.pdf).
Mention each attachment in the body (“See attached PDF”).
Note file type/size when helpful (e.g., “Syllabus (PDF, 2 MB)”).

📚 Resources

☎️ Contact

Debbie Dramstad
Web Accessibility & Application Specialist
debra.dramstad@vcsu.edu

Last reviewed: September 9, 2025