Accessibility means ensuring that online services are usable by everyone. It promotes equality and inclusion while also making web content clearer and easier to use for all users. Authors publishing on this platform should take accessibility into account to ensure that blog contentis accessible to all readers.
Accessible text is clearly written, well structured, and appropriate for its target audience. Guidance on good writing practices can be found in the LAB Publisher’s Guide. This page also includes a few additional recommendations that are particularly important from anaccessibility perspective.
General Guidelines
- Write clearly: explain technical terms and spell out abbreviations.
- Present the most important information at the beginning of the article.
- Make the text easy to scan by using subheadings.
- Use descriptive headings. Prefer sentence-style headings and place the key message at the beginning.
- Check spelling and grammar carefully.
- Reading the text aloud can help you assess its clarity and flow.
Recommendations for making web content more accessible: See Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
Using Images
- Images and infographics help illustrate the content of the text.
- Make sure that any information conveyed through images, charts, or diagrams is also available in text form, either within the body of the article or in the image’s alternative text.
Alternative Text for Images (Alt Text)
Alternative text, commonly known as alt text, significantly improves the accessibility of online content. Accessibility requirements statethat all non-text content must have a text alternative. In other words, information presented through images, videos, and audio should alsobe available in text form.
Authors know their subject matter best, so we recommend providing alt texts for images when submitting content. Alt text is not visible in the published article, but it allows users of screen readers to understand the content and purpose of an image.
A good alt text briefly but accurately describes the image. Providing alt text is also beneficial for search engine optimization (SEO). There is no need to begin with phrases such as “The image shows…”, as screen readers already indicate that the content is an image before reading the alt text.
Infographics are an effective way to visualize information. However, from an accessibility perspective, their large amount of information can present challenges. Begin the description with the word “Infographic” and briefly explain the topic and key content. Also indicate that the infographic is described in more detail within the article text.
Example of alt text: Cyclist riding a fat-tire mountain bike in sunny, snowy terrain. Coniferous trees are visible in the background.
Using Links
Links can be embedded in the text to direct readers to other online resources. Accessible links should use descriptive and meaningful link text. Link text is the clickable part of a hyperlink and should indicate where the link leads.
- When linking to a webpage, include the page title in the link text, for example: “Read the LAB Focus blog instructions.”
- When linking to a file, include the file name or main title and the file type, for example: “Annual Report 2019 (PDF).”
- When linking to content in another language, indicate this in the link text or nearby description.
Avoid using URLs as link text. They make reading more difficult and can be challenging for screen reader users. Also avoid genericlink texts such as “read more”, which do not clearly explain the destination of the link.
Additional Information on Accessibility
The LAB Focus accessibility guidelines are based on resources provided by Celia, including general information on accessibility, clear content structures, and alternative text for images.
Find more information about web accessibility on Traficom Web Accessibility website and Accessibility Fundamentals Overview by W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).