County Announcement Guidelines

These guidelines are intended for anyone sending a County Announcement email.

County Announcement emails are an important way to share timely information with employees across the County. Following these guidelines will help ensure announcements are clear, accessible, easy to read, and usable by everyone, including people who use assistive technology.

Use these guidelines when creating County Announcement emails, and use the Checklist to review your message before submitting for approval.

Email Size & Performance

• Keep the total email size under 1.5 MB.
• Optimize images before inserting them.
• Avoid large or unnecessarily high-resolution graphics.
• Avoid using more than 3-4 images.
• Link to PDFs, documents, videos, and other files rather than embedding them in the email.

Use Real Text Whenever Possible

• Use actual email text rather than text embedded in images.
• Do not send an announcement as one large image.
• Message should still be understandable even if the images are unavailable.
• If an image contains important information, include that information as text in the email.

Images & Alt Text

• Add meaningful alt text to images that provide information.
• Describe the purpose or information conveyed by the image rather than every visual detail.
• Mark decorative images as decorative using an empty alt text.
• Do not use filenames, such as banner-final2.jpg, as alt text.
• Do not include URLs in alt text.

 Color & Contrast

• Make sure there is sufficient contrast between text and its background. If needed, use a color contrast checker ((like this one: WebAIM Contrast Checker).
• Do not use color alone to communicate meaning. For example, avoid instructions such as “Items in red are required.”
• Avoid placing text over busy photos or patterned backgrounds.
• Be especially careful with small, thin, or lightly colored text.
• Make links identifiable by more than color alone, such as by underlining them.

Keep the Layout Simple

• Use a single-column layout whenever possible.
• Avoid complicated or nested tables.
• If a data table is necessary, keep it simple and use appropriate row and column headings.
• Make sure the content has a logical reading order for people using assistive technology.
• Avoid overly complicated layouts with multiple columns, boxes, and competing sections.

Headings & Content

• Use clear headings to organize longer announcements.
• Keep paragraphs short and use lists when they make information easier to scan.
• Use descriptive link text, such as “View the Open Enrollment Guide,” instead of “click here.”
• Avoid using the full URL as link text unless displaying the URL is necessary.
• Avoid excessive bold, italics, ALL CAPS, or underlining for emphasis.

Fonts & Readability

• Use common, easy-to-read fonts.
• Use a comfortable font size for body text (we recommend at least 12pt).
• Avoid very small text, condensed fonts, and decorative typefaces.
• Left-align paragraphs rather than justifying them.
• Use enough spacing between paragraphs and sections to make content easy to scan.

Attachments & Linked Documents

• Whenever possible, link to an accessible webpage rather than attaching a document.
• PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoints, and other linked or attached documents should also meet accessibility requirements.
• Use meaningful names and descriptive link text for documents.

Subject Line

• Keep the subject line concise and descriptive.
• Clearly identify what the announcement is about.
• Put the most important information toward the beginning.
• Avoid vague subjects such as “Important Information.” Be specific about the topic.