Notes on creating accessible video content

The section on creating accessible video content is divided into two thematic areas:

Everyone learns differently and some users can only listen to all or part of your course without watching the videos. Users viewing the course on a mobile device can also rely on audio instructions and descriptions. Blind or visually impaired people cannot see the displayed content or cannot see it correctly and therefore use audio playback. Similarly, people who are deaf or hard of hearing use subtitles. To make your course as accessible as possible, you should ensure that your course content is delivered in an easily understandable way using only the audio content and subtitles.

A good course should always be structured in such a way that the course content can also be delivered using audio content alone. There are three ways to make the audio content of your videos accessible:

• Describe what can be seen on the graphs.
• Express yourself simply and clearly.
• Provide subtitles.

Describe what is shown on the charts or what you are doing.

Describe all visual content details relevant to the course content. For instance:

titles and titles

When a new slide appears, always start with the title or include it in the first few sentences on the topic. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness estimates that there are 295 million people with visual impairments, of which 43 million are blind. Hence, a description of the charts is very important to many people.

do not say: “Read the slide or text on the screen”.

Rather: “On this slide, I introduce the three main areas this section will cover: video production, high-quality audio recording, and PDF formatting.”

Images and interactions

When describing images, avoid features that require sight, such as B. color, shape, or spatial position. (eg “click on the square”, “in the box on the left”, “the blue text in uppercase”).

do not say: “If I do it this way, it’s really easy.”

Instead, explain what you do: “I select the entire paragraph with the mouse and then click on“ align left ”. You can also find this option in the Format menu “.

Also, be careful not to skip steps when explaining interactions.

do not say: “I’ll go through this line by line and boom, I’m already in the routine!”

Instead, describe all the steps in detail: “After the breakpoint in the routine, I go through the code with F7. I could have clicked the” Step One “button right here in the functional area.”

Express yourself simply and clearly.

It can be assumed that for two thirds of the course participants the language of instruction is a foreign language. For these people, idioms, colloquialisms and slang are often completely incomprehensible. Speak clearly and understandably and deliberately avoid idioms and colloquialisms to make course content accessible to as many users as possible.

Speak slowly and formulate accurately in plain language. It presents new topics in detail and explains unknown words or acronyms. All participants benefit, especially those who need a little more time to understand the content and read the text.

Provide subtitles.

The World Health Organization estimates that around 430 million people have hearing problems and require subtitles when taking a course. We offer Automatically generated subtitles and transcripts for courses in English, Spanish and Portuguese, but these are very prone to errors depending on the quality of the audio, the number of technical terms and the teacher’s accent. Be sure to check the generated subtitles and correct any errors. In subtitles, everything said in the video must be reproduced exactly.

• Make sure proper names, technical terms and technical terms are spelled correctly.
• Do not eliminate filler words and linguistic slips, such as “um” and “oops”, from the subtitles, as this creates unpleasant different perceptions (known as cognitive dissonance) for users who listen as they read the subtitles.

For courses in languages ​​other than English, Portuguese and Spanish, please see our support articles Learn more about how to upload your subtitles.

Overview of creating accessible audio content

• Try building the audio script yourself, like an audiobook. If possible, the script shouldn’t depend on visual elements.
• Describe all visual content details relevant to the course content.
• Give users time to process what they feel. Speak at a moderate pace that is easy for them to follow. Take small pauses between conversations so that users can absorb and process the audio and visual content.
• Express yourself. Avoid sentences and paragraphs that are too long.
• Use simple words and avoid overly conversational language. You should also avoid abbreviations, technical terms, and complicated metaphors or idioms.
• Be clear and concise, repeating key points to emphasize their importance. Expressing the same thing over and over in different ways can make it easier to understand.
• Make sure the spoken content is reproduced accurately in the subtitles.

An attractive and consistent visual design is very important in the creation of the course, but many users have visual impairments, eg. B. nearsightedness or farsightedness, red-green color blindness, complete loss of color perception, blurred vision or tunnel vision leading to blindness. To make visual content accessible to as many people as possible, you just need to stick to a few basic principles.

Font and font size

• Avoid writing longer passages IN CAPITAL LETTERS, as many people have a hard time reading text this way. You should use capital letters only for section titles or if you want to emphasize a term.
• Make sure you choose a font that is easy to read on smaller screens (on mobile devices). A font size of at least 12 points is recommended, preferably 14-16 points or larger.
• Use accessible fonts to increase readability. Sans serif fonts such as Tahoma (sans serif), Verdana (sans serif) and Arial (sans serif) are recommended.

color

• Don’t highlight content in a way that requires users to be able to distinguish between different colors. People with low vision or red-green color blindness may have difficulty understanding videos or accompanying material where it is important to distinguish colors or where color contrast is poor.
• Pay attention to the color contrast. It depends on the hue (color) and the color value (light / dark). For example, combinations of blue and yellow or black and yellow have a strong contrast because both the hue and the color value are very different from each other. On the other hand, red-orange and orange combinations have a weak contrast because the hue and color value are very similar. With this Online color contrast control you can check if your contrast ratios are accessible.
• Imagine if all the charts and graphs in your video were black and white. Would the content be understandable for everyone? If not, use labels in addition to colored markings to differentiate course content.
• Do not use bright colors or neon colors. Bright colors make it difficult for users with visual impairments to understand the content.

Check out this article for more examples and tips on using strong color contrasts Instructions for creating accessible course content.

Various

• Brevity is the soul of wit. Some people may find complex visuals that are confusing, making it harder for them to focus on the topic of the video.
• Avoid content that flashes quickly. Content that flashes quickly (more than 3 times per second) can trigger seizures in light-sensitive people. Therefore, you shouldn’t use flashing red content at all.
• Pay attention to spelling and grammar. Spelling and grammatical errors can confuse users so that they do not understand the content correctly, especially if the course is not taught in their native language. It also makes a bad impression and can affect your reputation as a teacher. You should definitely check your final documents for spelling and grammar errors or ask a friend or colleague to correct them.

Overview of creating accessible visual content

• Avoid writing in ALL CAPS.
• Make sure that the text and graphics on the display are always large enough to be recognized and read by people with impaired vision. Use a font size of at least 12 points.
• Use accessible fonts.
• The colors should be clearly different from each other and there should be sufficient contrast between the content and the background. Do not use bright colors or neon colors.
• Don’t use color alone to convey information.
• Keep the background calm and use a clean, unobtrusive layout and design. Users should be able to easily navigate your content.
• Use illustrations, symbols, etc. only as a supplement to the text, not as a substitute.
• Avoid fast blinking content as this can potentially trigger seizures in light-sensitive people.
• Pay attention to correct spelling and grammar.

Links to other articles on accessibility and inclusion

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