Perceivable

1.1 Text alternatives

I have written several blog posts on the subject of alt text. It is the first guideline and this is something that anyone can do, with a little bit of training and practice, to ensure their content is inclusive. Please follow the links below to access blog posts, including how-to videos and detailed information.

In a recent survey by WebAIM, 66% of accessibility failures on website home pages were due to missing alt text. Missing alt text, whether on a webpage, social media or in documents, mean that people who use screen readers are excluded from accessing your full content.

1.2 Time-based media

This covers audio and video content, which can be pre-recorded or live. There are two different issues that need to be considered here: video is usually visual content, and could therefore exclude people with sight impairments; audio could exclude people with hearing impairments. It is therefore important to provide captions, audio description or some alternative format, so that everybody can access your content.

This section is split into several subsections, as there are many combinations to consider. I have written blog posts on most of these, and included audio and video content which shows how you can adhere to the guidelines at both A and AA level.

1.2.1 Audio only and video only (Level A)

Time-based media - video only

1.2.2 Captions (pre-recorded) (Level A)

You may want to start by having a look at my blog post about producing captions . This shows how people without specialist software can caption their video content.

Coming soon - Adobe Premiere Pro has a new auto-transcription tool, which gives video editors more options for transcribing and producing captions. I have been part of a user trial for this new tool and I love it! It won't be long before this is available for all users, so I hope to make a how-to video very soon.

1.2.3 Audio description or media alternative (Level A)

This is an A level guidance and I will cover it in 1.2.5, at AA level.

1.2.4 Captions - live (Level AA)

Again, you may want to start by looking at my blog post on live captions . I have since used the captioning tool on Zoom more and hope to produce a video to show how this works in the near future.

1.2.5 Audio description (pre-recorded) (Level AA)

My blog post for this guideline is in two parts. Part 1 covers the theory behind this and a description of how to achieve it. Part 2 shows a completed video with audio description.

1.3 Adaptable

1.3.1 Info and relationships (Level A)

I am currently working on this one to produce some more detailed how-to videos, because time is showing me that it is something that many people find difficult to achieve, particularly when creating Word documents.

Word - Learn how to mark headings so that a screen reader will announce them.
Word - Learn how to create tables so that a screen reader can access them fully.
Word - Learn how to create lists so that a screen reader read them correctly.

1.3.2 Meaningful sequence (Level A)

Although Word, and to a certain extent, html automatically read in a logical order, there are other commonly used applications that need programming to do this. My blog post about reading order looks at PowerPoint and PDFs. Since writing this post, I have learned how to tag PDFs so that they read correctly with a screen reader. I hope to produce a video to show how this is done, but it is lower priority than some of the other plans because you need to have the Pro version of Adobe Acrobat in order to do it, and most people don't have that luxury.

1.3.3 Sensory charcteristics (Level A)

This guideline looks at instructions and information that rely purely on a particular sense. For example, if I asked you to click on a red circle to view my blog post, that could be tricky for someone with a visual impairment. So it is better to avoid that kind of thing. You can read my blog post about sensory characteristics to find out more.

1.3.4 Orientation (Level AA)

This is no less important than the other guidelines but it is rare that I see non-conformance with it. So this blog post about orientation and preview modes will probably be all I write about the matter.

1.3.5 Identify input purpose (Level AA)

1.4 Distinguishable

1.4.1 Use of colour (Level A)

1.4.2 Audio control (Level A)

1.4.3 Contrast (minimum) (Level AA)

Earlier, I mentioned some research that found 66% of WCAG fails were due to missing alt text. This was the second most common reason for failure. The most common reason, at 86.3%, is poor colour contrast. I wrote a post about colour contrast a while ago, but I am now producing some application specific guidance to supplement this.

Word - Learn how to check and amend colour contrast so that your document is eassier to read by people with low vision and colour blindness.

1.4.4 Resize text (Level AA)

1.4.5 Images of text (Level AA)

This is another subject that I intend to return to. You can read my blog post about images of text . My experience would indicate that the main reason for doing this is to save time. When including text, particularly from a pdf, it is just easier and quicker to take a screen shot. I will eventually produce some instructions on alternative methods.

1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA)

1.4.11 Non-text contrast (Level AA)

1.4.12 Text spacing (Level AA)

Word - Learn how to format text so that it is easier for people with a range of impairments to read.