As we move towards a digital-first world, it’s only fair everyone has equal access to information online. Digital reading is increasingly becoming popular. So what is it, and how can you teach content accessibility in this online world as a growing business/organization?
What is Digital Reading?
Digital reading is engaging with books, articles, or other written content on electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, or eBook readers. Unlike traditional print books, digital reading involves formats like PDF, HTML, or ePUB. In our internet-driven world, this form of reading has become increasingly common.
For instance, instead of sifting through shelves of library books to find specific information, people can now quickly search online, locate an eBook in PDF format that contains the needed information, download it, read it, and even delete it once they’re done. This convenience highlights the simplicity of digital reading.
Amazon Kindle exemplifies the digital reading experience. It allows people to purchase books in digital formats, often at lower prices than printed versions, and enjoy them on their portable devices. While digital eBooks offer all the advantages of traditional reading, they add a layer of flexibility that print books can’t match.
Why Should You Make Your Digital Content Accessible?
Digital reading is the new-age upgrade of traditional reading. But when accessing books or reading materials online, it’s necessary to make your digital content accessible for many reasons. One of the most important reasons to make it accessible is to enhance the user experience and to make it accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Here are other reasons why you should make your digital content accessible:
1. Inclusivity
Content accessibility ensures that everyone can consume content, regardless of their abilities. Making digital reading accessible to everyone ensures that you are providing equal opportunities for employment, education, and participation in society.
2. Legal Requirement
Many countries have implemented laws and regulations requiring digital accessibility, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States. Failing to comply with these standards can lead to legal repercussions, including fines and potential lawsuits.
3. Higher Reach
When digital content is made accessible, you can reach a wider audience because you are not only reaching an audience with disabilities but also people using different devices, like computers or mobile phones, or someone using additional devices for support.
4. SEO Improvement
Search engines prioritize websites with accessible content because they emphasize a positive user experience. Enhancing your content’s accessibility can boost your website’s search engine ranking.
5. Reputation
Showing a strong commitment to accessibility boosts your organization’s reputation, reflecting your dedication to all users and your determination to offer an inclusive online experience.
How to Make Your Digital Content Accessible for Everyone?
Not just for people with disabilities, but making digital content accessible is necessary for everyone. People may be using a different device or assistive technology to access your content online. And for that, you need to make your digital content accessible to everyone. But how to do so?
1. Language
Writing in a way that’s easy for everyone to grasp is the essence of accessible language. This involves crafting content that’s straightforward, concise, and clear.
Here’s how to do it:
- Use immediately understandable language. Opt for simple words and avoid complex terms or jargon that might confuse your readers.
- Keep your sentences short—ideally under 21 words. Longer sentences can be challenging to read, so conveying one idea per sentence is best.
- Choose words that match the reading level of your audience. A lower reading level makes your content accessible to more people.
Accessible writing is crucial for helping those with low literacy or cognitive disabilities better understand your content. But it’s also beneficial for the general reader. For instance, sentence length directly impacts comprehension.
According to the American Press Institute, readers can fully understand content when sentences are around eight words long. In short, simple and clear writing is universally better. It aligns with web writing standards, making it easier for online readers to quickly scan content, which is essential in our fast-paced world.
2. Text Structure and Font Style
Enhancing content accessibility involves carefully designing visual elements. The typeface, text size, and layout you select significantly influence readability. Moreover, the way text is arranged on the page can make a substantial difference.
- Choose an easily recognizable font, allowing the eye to identify shapes and patterns quickly. Simple, familiar fonts like Tahoma, Helvetica, Arial, and Verdana are excellent choices.
- Ensure there is ample spacing between letters and words to enhance clarity.
- Limit the variety of fonts used across your website to minimize cognitive strain.
- When highlighting text, use bold instead of italics or underlines, as these can be challenging for individuals with dyslexia or vision impairments.
- Whenever possible, align the text to the left. Centered or right-aligned text should be used sparingly. Avoid fully justified text, as uneven spacing can make reading difficult for people with dyslexia.
To choose fonts read our article on Top 10 Dyslexia-Friendly Fonts. - Choose an easy-to-read format by combining text with images. This approach breaks up content and uses visuals to aid comprehension.
3. Links and Headings
Online readers typically skim through content until they find a section that resonates with them, and some might rely on screen readers, such as users with visual impairment. Headings and subheadings play a crucial role in helping all users, including those using screen readers, to navigate a webpage more effectively. To ensure that assistive technologies present your content as intended, it’s important to adhere to accessibility standards.
Web pages are structured using HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), and you might have come across the term ‘semantic markup.’ This refers to a method of writing and organizing HTML to convey the meaning of the content. Proper markup is essential for establishing the hierarchy of your content, which applies to everything on the page, from headings and paragraphs to emphasized text and lists.
4. Visuals
Visual accessibility ensures that everyone can appreciate the beauty of your designs, including those who are color-blind or have other visual impairments. To make visual elements accessible, it’s important to provide alternative text, which allows screen reader users to understand and appreciate the content of images. Since visual elements often aid comprehension, the alternative text should effectively convey the same meaning as the image itself.
5. Videos
When creating accessible videos, consider a universal design approach, which involves thinking about a diverse audience with varying abilities, preferences, and circumstances. This means ensuring that both the visual and audio components of your videos are accessible to everyone through video and audio accessibility services.
6. PDFs
PDF documents offer a range of advantages, including interactivity, convenience, security, and compactness. However, they can pose challenges for individuals with disabilities. Ensuring that a PDF is accessible requires thoughtful preparation to accommodate various accessibility needs. You can make a PDF accessible through PREP’s PDF Remediation Software.
7. Social Media Content
Social media often serves as the starting point for many customer interactions with our brand, making it a crucial component of our digital campaigns. Ensuring that our social media content is accessible contributes significantly to providing a positive user experience for all. Additionally, it helps establish a favorable brand image right from the initial encounter.
8. Webinars
We’ve previously discussed how to ensure content is accessible before it’s put to use, but what about live events? How can you enhance the accessibility of your webinars and meetings?
- Select an accessible platform: Opt for platforms like Zoom or Google Meet, which offer features such as live captioning and closed captions. These platforms are also designed to be fully navigable with a keyboard and support screen readers.
- Communicate clearly and at a measured pace: Speak distinctly and avoid rushing. Provide a method for participants to ask questions or voice concerns. Distributing notes in advance is also helpful so attendees can better follow the discussion.
- Present content in various formats: If you’re delivering a presentation, use a combination of text and visuals. Ensure that any visuals are detailed to make their meaning accessible to all viewers.
9. Podcasts
Ensuring content accessibility in a podcast involves incorporating several key elements we’ve discussed. This includes using a media player that supports accessibility features and providing a transcript of the episode.
10. Color Palettes
Color blindness impacts approximately 1 in every 12 men and 1 in every 200 women globally. This condition often limits a person’s ability to completely distinguish red, green, or blue hues. The most prevalent type of color blindness is red-green color blindness. Individuals with this condition may struggle to differentiate between colors, including red or green. For instance, someone with red-green color blindness might confuse blue with purple.
Read our article on Accessible Color Palettes to choose and
understand color palettes.
PREP's Role in Enhancing Digital Reading
Accessibility plays a critical role when it comes to adopting fair practices for digital reading. It is not only a legal requirement to make your digital content accessible, but also an ethical practice and a great way to improve your user experience, ultimately profiting your business. Here’s how PREP’s PDF Remediation services can help you enhance your reader’s digital reading experience:
- For Publishers and Content Providers: PREP helps the publishing industry meet accessibility standards by making textbooks, ancillaries, educational material, and documents fully accessible and compliant with ADA/Section 508/EAA/WCAG 2.2 and above standards.
- For Colleges and Universities: PREP supports higher education institutions, such as universities or colleges, creating an inclusive learning environment by making learning material accessible. It supports accessibility teams, faculty, administrators, instructional designers, and others to ensure that learners with varied needs or assistive technology users have access to all shared materials.
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