Creating accessible content is all about text: writing good text, using semantic HTML to give text meaning, and providing text alternatives for non-text content.

Writing good text

General guidance

These tips can help to write effective text:

Use clear and plain language throughout
Use simple sentences and bullets
Use UPPERCASE, bold, and italic sparingly
Explain unusual words and jargon
Explain abbreviations in the first instance
Do not rely on shape, size, or visual location to identify parts of a page
Use images and diagrams to support text

Interface elements

Follow this guidance to ensure that interfaces are easily understood:

Make sure there's a concise, descriptive, page title that's sufficiently different from other pages
- The main heading of the page should be very similar (or identical to) the title of the page
Navigation is consistent and helpful, including any relative navigation (you are here, next and previous) and Tables of Contents
Link text describes where you go when you follow the link
- The text is similar to the heading of the page it targets
- Don't use "click here" because it doesn't make sense out of context
Button text describes the action that happens when you use the button
- Don't use 'submit'

Use semantic HTML to give text meaning

Semantic HTML can also help to to make your content accessible. Here are some tips:

Use the right element for the thing (headings, lists, links, buttons).
Headings are used liberally and no heading levels are skipped. The text is clear and meaningful.
Tables have a caption. The rows and columns have headers, where appropriate.

Provide text alternatives for non-text content

Non-text content, such as images or video, can present challenges for users with accessibility requirements. Follow this guidance to create effective text alternatives:

All non-text information, such as images, audio, and video, has a text equivalent.
Images have alt text that succinctly conveys the function and meaning of the images. The alt text:
- should not include "image of" or similar
- should not repeat text that's next to the image
- should be contextually appropriate (the same image in different contexts might have different alt text)
Pay attention to how elements are nested - when an image is the only content of a link, the alt text of the image will serve as the link text.
Empty alt text (alt="") should be used for decorative images.
Charts usually shouldn't have alt text on their image. Instead, they could have:
- a table of the data
- a long description in text
- a link to a long description in text
Audio has captions (open or closed, not just subtitles (which are text of only the dialogue)).
Videos have a text or audio alternative that provides equivalent information.
There are no images of text unless absolutely necessary (and in that case, the image must have alt text).

Browser not supported