Accessibility for Content Creators: Writing and Producing Inclusive Content

Accessibility does not begin with design and end with code. Content creators — writers, editors, marketers, and multimedia producers — have a direct and significant impact on whether digital content is usable by everyone. The words you choose, the structure you create, the images you describe, and the media you produce all determine the experience for users with disabilities.

The good news is that writing accessibly is largely about writing well. Clear, structured, descriptive content benefits all users, not just those who use assistive technology.

Writing in Clear Language

Clear, straightforward writing is an accessibility requirement, not just a style preference. Users with cognitive disabilities, learning disabilities such as dyslexia, non-native language speakers, and users who are simply busy or distracted all benefit from content that is easy to understand.

Write in short sentences with active voice. Use common words rather than jargon or technical terminology — and when specialized terms are necessary, explain them. Break long passages into shorter paragraphs with descriptive subheadings. Use lists when presenting multiple items or steps. Avoid idioms, metaphors, and culturally specific references that may not translate well.

WCAG requires that content be as readable as possible, and at Level AAA, that supplemental content or an alternative version be provided when text requires a reading ability more advanced than lower secondary education level.

Alternative Text for Images

Alternative text is one of the most important content responsibilities. Every image that conveys information needs a text alternative that communicates the same information to users who cannot see the image. Screen readers read the alt text aloud, and it appears when images fail to load.

Writing good alt text is about communicating purpose, not just appearance. Ask yourself: what information does this image convey that a user needs to know? A photo of a team in a meeting might need alt text like "Team collaborating on project plans around a conference table" rather than "photo.jpg" or a vague "team photo."

Different types of images need different approaches:

Informative images that convey content need descriptive alt text that communicates the information. Keep it concise — typically under 125 characters — but ensure the essential information is present.

Functional images such as icons used as buttons need alt text that describes the function, not the appearance. A magnifying glass icon in a search button should have alt text "Search," not "magnifying glass."

Decorative images that add visual interest but no information should have empty alt text (alt="") so screen readers skip them entirely. Stock photos used purely for aesthetic purposes often fall into this category.

Complex images such as charts, graphs, infographics, or diagrams need more than a brief alt attribute. Provide a short alt text that identifies the image, then provide a detailed description nearby — either as visible text, a caption, or a linked long description.

Link Text

Links should make sense out of context. Screen reader users frequently navigate by pulling up a list of all links on a page. If every link says "Read more" or "Click here," that list is useless.

Write link text that describes where the link leads or what it does. Instead of "Click here to download our accessibility guide," write "Download our accessibility guide." Instead of "Learn more," write "Learn more about WCAG conformance levels."

Never use a raw URL as link text unless the URL itself is the information being communicated. URLs are difficult to read aloud and even harder to understand when heard.

Headings and Structure

Use headings to create a meaningful content hierarchy, not for visual styling. Screen reader users navigate by headings to scan content and jump to sections of interest. Headings must follow a logical order — H1 for the page title, H2 for major sections, H3 for subsections within those sections — without skipping levels.

Every page should have exactly one H1. Subheadings should be descriptive enough that a user can understand the section's content from the heading alone.

Tables

Use tables for tabular data — information that has meaningful relationships between rows and columns. Never use tables for visual layout. When you use tables, include proper header cells using <th> elements with scope attributes that indicate whether they are row headers or column headers. For complex tables with multiple levels of headers, use id and headers attributes to explicitly associate data cells with their headers.

Provide a caption or summary that describes the table's purpose, especially for complex data tables.

Lists

When presenting a group of related items, use actual HTML lists — ordered lists (<ol>) for sequential items and unordered lists (<ul>) for non-sequential items. Do not create fake lists using line breaks and dashes or bullet characters. Proper list markup tells screen readers how many items are in the list and where the user is within it.

Video and Audio Content

Multimedia content has specific accessibility requirements:

Captions must be provided for all pre-recorded video with audio. Captions must include all spoken dialogue, identify who is speaking when it is not visually obvious, and include meaningful sound effects. Captions should be synchronized with the audio and available as closed captions that users can toggle on or off.

Transcripts must be provided for pre-recorded audio-only content such as podcasts. Transcripts should include all spoken content, identify speakers, and describe relevant non-speech sounds.

Audio descriptions must be provided for pre-recorded video where important visual information is not conveyed through the audio track. Audio descriptions narrate significant visual elements — actions, scene changes, on-screen text — during natural pauses in dialogue.

Auto-playing audio must be avoidable. If audio plays automatically for more than three seconds, provide a mechanism to pause, stop, or control the volume independently of the system volume.

Accessible Documents

PDFs and other downloadable documents must also be accessible. This means they need proper tag structure (headings, lists, tables), a logical reading order, alternative text for images, defined document language, and bookmarks for navigation in longer documents.

When possible, provide important information as web content rather than as downloadable documents. Web content is inherently more flexible and easier to make accessible than PDF.

Social Media Content

Accessibility extends to social media. Add alt text to images posted on social media platforms — most major platforms now support this. Use CamelCase in hashtags so screen readers can parse them correctly (e.g., #WebAccessibility rather than #webaccessibility). Avoid conveying information solely through images or video without text alternatives.

Sensory Characteristics

Never provide instructions that rely solely on sensory characteristics such as shape, color, size, visual location, orientation, or sound. Instead of "click the green button" or "see the sidebar on the right," provide additional context: "click the Submit button" or "see the Related Articles section."