Accessible surveys

Use an introduction section to give your survey a clear structure and to provide helpful contextual information at the start of the survey.

Provide an indication of how long the survey will take to complete at the beginning of your survey and use a progress bar at the bottom of the survey.

Make sure that questions and answers option are clear and explicit.

Numbering your questions will help users know that they are following the right sequence.

Use plain English and short sentences. This helps everyone to understand the questions completely. Keep questions simple and to the point.

Only use bold for emphasis of individual words and not for whole sentences as it makes text harder to read.

Avoid using BLOCK CAPITALS. The use of all capitals can reduce the readability of your text, reducing reading speed and comes across as shouting.

Aoid changing the font, font colour and font size of your question text. If you must do this it should be used sparingly, as deviating from the templates default may cause problems for users with visual impairments. A recommended minimum font size is 12pt. The recommended font style is Arial.

If you need to present a large amount of text in a question, break it up into a bulleted list.

If you use headings or links within the survey text, ensure they are accessible. See Writing for the Web for guidance.

You can choose to present multiple choice answer options horizontally or vertically. For a simple 'yes or no' question a horizontal format might work well. However, if you offer several possible answer options, it's often easier for respondents with a visual impairment to read the different options if they are arranged vertically.

If you are using a numeric scale which is only defined in the question text, then a user with a short-term member impairment may not be able to remember what the options relate to. They will have to keep referring to the scale for each question.

It is better to avoid using a separate scale. Instead, use explicit wording for each answer. For example: Very good, good, neither good or bad, bad, very bad. The user would then be reminded of the possible responses separately for each question.

Grid questions, scale or rank questions are often used to group similar questions together with the intention of avoiding repetition and allowing respondents to progress through the survey quickly. But grids can result in long, complicated layouts and may not be optimised for mobile devices. This means grids can pose significant barriers for all users.

To make your curvey as accessible as possible, it is recommended minimising or avoiding the use of grid, scale or rank questions. If you do have to use this type of question, ensure the vertical and horizontal question and answers are kept to a minimum.

When using images, audio and video in surveys, you should provide a text equivalent for this content. When inserting an image, you should provide alternative text (alt text) in a dialogue box.

For other media (audio or video), you should include captions or transcripts to accompany the associated note or question text.