Guidelines for Content Creators

1. Don't use images of text

Text embedded directly into images cannot be highlighted, copied, searched for or read out by a screen reader. It won’t be automatically translated by browser plugins such as Google Translate, which some users rely on to read content.

2. Left align paragraphs of text

Centred text makes it harder to predict the start of each line, making it harder to scan, and can be frustrating to navigate by users who are zoomed in.

3. Use sentence case text

The shape of sentence case words is distinct and familiar, unlike uniformly shaped uppercase text which takes longer to read and process. Users with cognitive and visual impairments rely heavily on the shape of words to identify them.

4. Provide alt text for meaningful images

Interactive and informative images need a text alternative so assistive technologies such as screen readers can announce them. Purely decorative images can be left with an null (empty) alt text (alt="")

5. Provide transcripts and captions for videos with audio

Captions help hearing impaired users to access audio content, while written transcripts can be accessed by assistive technologies and improve indexing of online content.

6. Write meaningful, unique link text

Use descriptive link text that describes the action users can take. Avoid generic labels e.g. 'click here', 'read more, or 'download' which may not make sense to a screen reader user navigating a page using just links.