Text considerations
- We try our best to use inclusive instructions. Not everyone 'clicks', some swipe, press, tap or use their voice to navigate a website.
- Use descriptive links e.g. “Read more about our user agreement” as opposed to “Read more” or “Click here”. Ambiguous link text can be difficult to interpret when read by a screen reader out of context.
- Write in simple sentences and avoid complicated words or figures of speech.
- Avoid long blocks of text. This can look daunting.
- Structure text with short sentences and headings.
- Don’t write in all-caps. It makes word recognition harder and means screen readers could think the text is an acronym and read each letter individually.
- Clear the formatting of pasted text. It often brings in an undesired style that may be problematic to access impaired persons.
Video considerations
- Provide video as an alternative communication tool where possible.
- Provide text content in addition to any videos.
- Ensure videos have a caption.
Image considerations
- Don’t upload images with text unless you provide a text alternative. Screen readers and search engines can’t read text content in an image.
- Include titles or alt text when uploading images. This means screen readers can read out a description of an image.
Other considerations
- Please do not use multiple colours, where possible stick to the primary accent colour of your platform. This is a consideration for people on the autistic spectrum.
- Do not change formatting with the code editor. Use pre-defined paragraph and headings.
- Use consistent layouts between pages. This helps users find the content they need.
If your platform is dual language, content in activity pages, member profiles and mass messages should be labelled so screen readers know which language to detect before reading.
This has to be done in the code view of the content editors by an admin after a user has added a pending activity, before you mark it live.
For example:
<p>English content</p>
Becomes
<p lang=“en”>English content</p>
<p>Welsh content</p>
Becomes
<p lang=“cy”>Welsh content</p>