What are the best practices for writing accessible web content and captions?

2 Follow the WCAG guidelines

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of standards and recommendations for making web content accessible to people with disabilities. The WCAG covers four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Each principle has several guidelines and success criteria that you can use to check and improve your web content. You can also use tools and resources such as WAVE, AChecker, or WebAIM to evaluate and test your web content for accessibility issues.

3 Use captions and transcripts for audio and video

Another key aspect of web accessibility is to provide captions and transcripts for your audio and video content. Captions are synchronized text that display the spoken words, sound effects, and speaker identification of your audio and video content. Transcripts are text versions of your audio and video content that include the same information as captions, but in a separate document or web page. Captions and transcripts help users who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have cognitive or language barriers to access your audio and video content. They also benefit users who prefer to read or have low bandwidth.

4 Use color and contrast wisely

Color and contrast are essential elements of web design, but they can also affect the accessibility of your web content. Some users may have color vision deficiencies, low vision, or use devices with different color settings. To ensure that your web content is accessible to these users, you should use color and contrast wisely. Avoid using color alone to convey meaning, such as red for errors or green for success. Use sufficient contrast between your text and background colors, and avoid using light gray or yellow text on white backgrounds. You can use tools such as Color Contrast Analyzer or WebAIM Contrast Checker to test your color and contrast ratios.

5 Use semantic and valid HTML

Semantic and valid HTML is the foundation of web accessibility, as it helps browsers, screen readers, and other assistive technologies to understand and present your web content. Semantic HTML uses elements that describe the meaning and structure of your content, such as <h1> for headings, <p> for paragraphs, <ul> for unordered lists, or <nav> for navigation. Valid HTML follows the rules and syntax of the HTML specification, such as using closing tags, quotes, and lowercase letters. You can use tools such as HTML Validator or W3C Markup Validation Service to check and correct your HTML code.