Accessibility Standard¶
This standard describes Digital-Products-specific accessibility practices for spreadsheet-based products. It is a floor, applied within the practical limits of the spreadsheet medium, not a claim of full compliance with any particular accessibility standard (e.g., WCAG) unless and until that's explicitly tested and documented for a given product.
Color is not the only status signal¶
Anywhere a product uses color to indicate status (on track / at risk / off track; valid / invalid; complete / incomplete), it must pair that color with a second, non-color signal — an icon, a text label, or a symbol — so the information is not lost for colorblind customers or when printed in black and white. Conditional formatting that changes only fill or font color, with no accompanying text or icon, does not meet this standard.
Legible font sizes¶
Body text and input cells should use a font size that remains legible at normal zoom/print scale (generally 10pt or larger for body content). Avoid shrinking text to fit more onto a tab; prefer restructuring the layout instead.
Screen-reader-friendly structure where feasible¶
Within the limits of what Excel supports, products should:
- Use clear, descriptive cell content and headers rather than relying purely on visual position to convey meaning.
- Avoid conveying essential information only through merged-cell layouts or complex nested visual structures that don't read sensibly in a linear (row-by-row) traversal.
- Give named ranges and table columns meaningful names, which can aid users relying on assistive technology to navigate by name.
Alt text for images and charts¶
Where the platform supports it (Excel does, for images and charts), provide descriptive alt text summarizing what a chart or image conveys, so the information isn't lost to a screen-reader user or when alt text is surfaced in accessibility checks.
Practical note¶
Full accessibility compliance for spreadsheet software has real technical limits (this is not a web page). This standard asks builders to apply the accessibility practices that are actually available in Excel consistently, not to over-claim compliance with a standard the medium can't fully satisfy.