Quick Tips for Bloggers
So you have a blog, and you’re worried that it might not be accessible to people with disabilities? Don’t worry! A few simple changes can increase your blog’s potential readership.
1. Describe Your Images
Provide descriptive text for any images you post, including those that are part of your template. In HTML, you can provide alternative text for images by adding alt=”your description of the image” within the image tag. Here is an example of a properly alt-tagged image:
Tips for Writing Effective Image Descriptions
- Brief is better.
- The usual rule is to be informative, not poetic. But it’s your blog, so feel free to let your personality come through in the alt text, as well.
- If the graphic includes text, put all of the words in the alt text.
- Put the most important information first. For example, “Acme Logo: Sun rising over white sand dunes” is better than “Sun rising over white sand dunes: Acme Logo.”
- Check your spelling and try to avoid abbreviations. Screen readers will mispronounce words that are misspelled.
2. Avoid the Dreaded “Click Here” or “More…”!
People who use a screen reader to visit web sites will often tab from link to link, skipping over your carefully crafted explanatory text. It’s a [...]