A documented timeline of a lifelong learner ~ Thank you for joining me

More Access, Less Excess

Foreground: A red, rectangular road sign that says "ACCESS ONLY" in white, capital letters with a white border around the edges. Two orange and reflective white traffic cones sit in front of the road sign in the middle of a two-lane city street. They sit partially on the double-into-single yellow line. 
Background: dark red brick building with a black metal parking lot fence on the side of the building.
Photo by Patrick Robert Doyle on Unsplash

What could we do, moving forward, to ensure higher accessibility for website pages? In our Technology and Innovation class today we learned several ways to improve the accessible features of our sites.

Described Image:

An image of a distressed yellow-coloured disability sign for a parking space. Symbol is of a stick person in a wheel chair painted on dark, clean pavement with the person facing to the left.
Photo by Jakub Pabis on Unsplash

The image above now has an ‘alt. text’ that describes it as such:

“An image of a distressed yellow-coloured disability sign for a parking space. Symbol is of a stick person in a wheel chair painted on dark, clean pavement with the person facing to the left.”

Author’s added described image

The image at the top of the page also has a description now that can be utilized to describe what the image depicts.

Closed Captioning in Videos

Another accessible tool is the use of ‘Closed Captioning’ which means embedding described video with real-time text appearing on the screen as the video plays.

Below is a video used as an example:

Video by Silktide on YouTube

The closed captioning allows for people who are hard of hearing, D/deaf, have a hearing disability or challenge, and those who have audio and visual learning styles to access videos more easily.

The efforts made by able-bodied people to create more inclusive media and entertainment will never incapacitate them. It will, however, allow our ever-evolving world to be much more accessible for people who encounter barriers everyday.

1 Comment

  1. kgullackson

    Great reflection, Hanne! I love your engaging headlines and photos—they really capture the reader’s attention and enhance engagement. You did an excellent job incorporating multimedia, including pictures, videos, and text, to explain closed captioning in videos and alt text. Additionally, it’s great that you included numerous tags in your weekly reflection. I wonder if you could also add hyperlinks to the articles or resources you consulted. Your reflection is clear, easy to read, and accessible to everyone! Great work ! 🙂