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Writing for Accessibility

A yellow bubble with Writing ALT Text for Accessibility in black, with the words Did You Know? in white over pink and blue boxes. The inclusive pixelation logo appears in the lower right, with blue arrows in the upper right.

Writing ALT Text for Accessibility

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Writing for Accessibility

Welcome to this deeper-dive series of blog posts! I’ll be digging in to some accessibility topics that relate to my presentations on accessibility, with the goal of providing you with information and resources to make your workplace more accessible. The first post in this series is on Writing ALT Text for Accessibility.

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In Summary

ALT text is a hidden description for images, helping people who can't see them understand what's there. It's also useful if images don't load or for search engines. Good ALT text describes the image and its purpose, keeping it short and to the point. You only skip ALT text for purely decorative images. While computers can help, always check their suggestions to ensure the description is accurate and helpful.

a blue icon of an open book with a pencil in the crease

Writing for Readability

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Writing for Accessibility

Welcome to this deeper-dive series of blog posts! I’ll be digging in to some accessibility topics that relate to my presentations on accessibility, with the goal of providing you with information and resources to make your workplace more accessible. The second post in this series is on Writing for Readability. (Did you miss the first post on Writing ALT Text?)

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In Summary

Readability means writing clearly and simply so everyone can easily understand. This is important because it helps people with reading challenges, those using screen readers, or even people learning the language. You can make your writing more readable by using easy words and short sentences and paragraphs. Organizing text with headings or bullet points helps too. There are even online tools that can check how easy your writing is to understand.

A yellow bubble with Writing Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions in black, with the words Did You Know? in white over pink and blue boxes. The inclusive pixelation logo appears in the lower right, with blue arrows in the upper right.

Writing Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Writing for Accessibility

Welcome to this deeper-dive series of blog posts! I’ll be digging in to some accessibility topics that relate to my presentations on accessibility, with the goal of providing you with information and resources to make your workplace more accessible. The third post in this series is on Writing Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions. (Did you miss the others on ALT Text and Readability?)

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In Summary

When we talk about making videos and audio easier for everyone to use, we focus on three main things: captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions. Captions are like subtitles that show up on a video screen. They display what people are saying and important sounds. A transcript is a full written version of everything said and important sounds in a video or audio recording. It tells you who is speaking and when certain sounds happen. Audio descriptions are for people who can't see well. They're like a narrator who describes important things happening on screen that aren't explained by the talking, like what someone is doing, where they are, or their facial expressions.

blue icon of emoji - 3 faces and a question mark

Writing Bonus! Accessible Emoji Use

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Writing for Accessibility

I was done with my planned series on Writing for Accessibility… or so I thought! We covered writing ALT text, writing for readability, and writing captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions. I wanted to add one more “writing” topic to the series: accessible emoji use!

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In Summary

This article shares how to use emojis in an accessible way. Key tips include not replacing words with emojis, avoiding them as bullet points, and placing them at the end of sentences. It's also important to check emoji descriptions, and to use them in moderation.

the words "special text" in various Unicode fonts

More on Accessible Writing: Fancy Fonts

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Writing for Accessibility

Every time I think I’ve finished this series on Accessible Writing, another topic comes up! This article on Fancy Fonts started as a LinkedIn post to get some thoughts from my network. 

Read More »More on Accessible Writing: Fancy Fonts

In Summary

Using "fancy fonts" from online generators might seem cool for social media, but they cause problems. These special fonts are actually made of different computer characters that can be hard for people with disabilities, like those using screen readers, to understand. They also make it harder for your content to show up in online searches and can even be linked to spam. It's much better to use regular fonts so everyone can easily read and find your content.