Accessibility in Social Media
Social media is an important and useful tool for communication and promotion, yet, accessibility on these platforms can be a significant issue for individuals with disabilities. By making your media accessible, not only are you being inclusive of people with disabilities, you鈥檙e encouraging wider participation with your content and events. Below are some simple guidelines to keep your social media accessible for all.
Alt text (or alternative text) is a short, detailed description of what鈥檚 shown in an image. In addition, Alt text allows screen reader users to know what鈥檚 happening in an image. , , , and provide specific fields for you to add alt-text for images and GIFs (). When it鈥檚 not possible to add alt-text, include descriptive captions.
Keep words simple and clear. Avoid using acronyms and abbreviations. Write words in full and use plain, simple English.
Camel case is the practice of capitalising the first letters of words in multiple-word hashtags. Use camel case when writing hashtags to allow all users to interpret them better. Assistive technology such as screen readers will read uncapitalised hashtags as long incoherent words.
Camel case hashtags examples:
- #UniversityOfLimerick
- #ThisIsAVeryLongHashtag
Put hashtags and mentions at the end. Punctuation marks are read aloud by screen readers. Be mindful of how hashtags or @ mentions can disrupt your content.
Captions are text versions of the spoken word presented within multimedia. Closed captions are crucial for viewers with hearing impairments. They also enhance the viewing experience for people watching in their non-native language, or viewers in sound-off environments.
Link shorteners convert long URLs into small, easier-to-manage URLs. They make it easier for all users to type a URL and they also benefit screen reader users as they help limit the raw characters a screen reader must read aloud.
Some useful shortening websites:
Emojis are a popular way to enhance your messaging on social media. But for those who can鈥檛 see them, they may be distracting. For example, if you entered 馃槃馃馃敟 in one of your posts, someone using a screen reader would hear 鈥淕rinning Face with Big Eyes, Butterfly, Fire.鈥 Use emojis in moderation.
Special characters do not work well with screen readers. Most are actually mathematical symbols and end up sounding like a complex calculus equation when read using translation software.
Example:
You 饾樀饾槱饾槳饾槸饾槵 it's 饾捀饾搳饾搲鈩 to 饾槃饾椏饾椂饾榿饾棽 your tweets and usernames 饾枡饾枍饾枎饾枠 饾枩饾枂饾枮. But have you 饾櫋饾櫈饾櫒饾櫓饾櫄饾櫍饾櫄饾櫃 to what it 饾槾饾槹饾樁饾槸饾槬饾槾 饾槶饾槳饾槵饾槮 with assistive technologies like 饾摜饾摳饾摬饾摤饾摦饾摓饾摽饾摦饾摶?
鈥 Kent C. Dodds 馃寣 (@kentcdodds)
