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Accessibility Checklist

This guide contains major best practices for creating accessible online content. This guide used to be part of the LibGuides Editor training but has become a standalone guide.

Captions, Subtitles, and Transcriptions

Best Practices for Incorporating Videos

To ensure all users are able to understand your media content with speech, videos should include a textual component. There are lots of scenarios where users might need or prefer fully captioned or transcribed videos such as: having low vision, sensory processing disorders, viewing videos in loud or chaotic environments (like coffee shop), viewing videos in public (like public transit), or viewing videos in quiet spaces (like the presence of a sleeping child).

  • Use existing UWM Libraries-made and/or Map existing media widgets in LibGuides. All library videos are captioned.
  • Verify that external videos have accurate, helpful captions before uploading them to your guide
  • If you make a videos, have the Instructional Design Librarian (hanoszko@uwm.edu) upload your video to the UWM Libraries YouTube Channel and caption it for you (Preferred) OR create a full transcript in an accessible document type (Word, PowerPoint) upload it with your video.
  • Choose videos that are descriptive enough to be understood/helpful without visuals
  • Avoid videos with background music or sound effects
  • The shorter the video, the better. Avoid creating and uploading videos over 4min in length. 

Definitions

Definitions

Type

 Definition Use Case
Captions

 Text versions of speech and other important audio content

 An instruction video with captions on the bottom of the screen for students to watch without audio
Subtitles

Text version of speech translated from another language

 A video for a foreign language class in Spanish with English translation subtitles
Transcripts

 A written record of the speech from the video available to read outside of the audiovisual player. Screen readers may prefer a transcript to a captioned video. Helpful for those who cannot watch the video.

 An instruction video with a separate document of the spoken words to be reviewed alongside or separate from the video. Transcripts can also be used to create captions using video captioning software.

Video Captioning Options

Editing YouTube captions (preferred method)

YouTube will generate captions for any video you upload, but these captions need to be edited to make them truly accessible. When you've finished recording a video either

  • Upload to a personal YouTube account OR
  • Contact Heidi (hanoszko@uwm.edu) to add your video to the Libraries' Youtube Channel

Follow these instructions for editing auto-generated captions in YouTube Studio.

Tips Editing Captions in YouTube:

  • It may take up to 24 hours for YouTube to generate captions for your video.

  • You can then edit the captions for grammar, flow, capitalization
  • Anything over 15 minutes will require an authentication of your account
  • Your video can be "unlisted" meaning only those with the link will be able to find it

Creating Transcripts

If you would like to avoid using captions, you can investigate these free transcription options. You can use a transcript to upload alongside your video in LibGuides or use it to create captions in another application.

oTranscribe

  • Create your own transcript. All controls can be managed through your keyboard. 
  • No account needed

Google Docs

  • Use your Google account and Google Docs to create a text-to-speech transcript. 
  • Have GoogleDocs open with text-to-speech running in the background as you record your video.

Microsoft PowerPoint

  • PowerPoint can be a simple effective tool for creating and recording videos without video editing software. Include your script in the notes field of each slide so that it aligns with the on-screen content AND matches your narration exactly. 
  • Use the in-app accessibility check tools to make sure your slides and notes are accessible, then upload the PowerPoint as a document along side your video.