Making your coverage accessible #

This page is for writers, picture editors and producers. Exponential's administration is tested for contrast and target sizes (Story: accessibility); coverage of it should be readable by the same people: readers who use screen readers, magnification, captions or keyboard only.

Contents #

1. Screenshots and alt text
2. Code, commands and tables
3. Links
4. Charts and figures
5. Video and audio
6. Plain language

Screenshots and alt text #

Describe what the screenshot shows and why it is there, not every pixel.

Weak:   "Screenshot"
Weak:   "Exponential admin"
Good:   "The admin4 dashboard of Exponential in dark mode, with the content tree on the left and a list of
         recently modified articles."
Good:   "The layouts editor: a block called 'Title' is being dragged into the main zone of a page layout."

If the screenshot shows text that matters to the story (an error message, a setting), put that text in the article too.

Code, commands and tables #

• Put commands in text, never only in an image: readers need to copy them, and screen readers need to read them.
• Use real tables with header rows for comparisons, not images of tables.
• Keep code blocks short and introduce them with a sentence that says what they do.

Links #

• Link text says where it goes: "the project's security policy", not "click here".
• Mark links to downloads and PDFs as such: "the press kit (ZIP, 43 KB)".

Charts and figures #

• Give the numbers in the text or a table next to the chart.
• Do not rely on color alone; label lines and bars.
• Keep the conditions of performance figures beside the chart (Verifying numbers).

Video and audio #

• Captions for every video, checked by a person, especially for product names and commands (Captions and accessible video).
• Say aloud what you click: "I open Setup, then Extensions" rather than "I click here".
• Transcripts for podcasts, with the commands and links written out.

Plain language #

• Explain terms at first use: content management system, content class, siteaccess (Glossary for journalists).
• Short sentences for steps; one action per step.
• Expand abbreviations once: Content Security Policy (CSP).

Related pages #

• Story: accessibility
• Accessible slides and visuals
• Style and spelling for coverage
• Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.