Publish content your colleagues can perceive and use
Colleagues read internal content on phones, large monitors, screen readers and shared kiosks, often in a hurry and sometimes in a second language. This page shows four things you control as an author: headings and links, images and captions, documents, and a short check before you publish. The examples come from Northstar Works, a fictional company, so the facilities updates, help-desk figures and document names are illustrative.
Headings and links: let readers scan and jump
People using a screen reader often pull up a list of headings or links and navigate from that list alone.
The page title is the top level. Section headings sit under it, and sub-points sit under those. Choose a heading level for its place in the outline, not for how big the text looks.
- Clearer: Parking Update (title) > Changes from 3 June (section) > Visitor spaces (sub-point).
- Less useful: a bold, enlarged line of text that looks like a heading but has no heading style, or a jump from a title straight to a third-level heading.
- Test: read only your headings aloud. They should tell the story of the page.
A link list strips away the surrounding sentence, so the label has to carry the meaning. Say where the link goes and, for files, what type it is.
- Clearer: "Read the May facilities update (PDF, 2 pages)".
- Less useful: "Click here", "Read more" or a pasted web address.
- Two links to different places should never share the same label.
Lead with the word a reader would search for. "Booking a meeting room" works better than "Some thoughts on how our spaces work".
- Aim for under 8 words.
- Do not use a heading to style emphasis or a pull quote.
Images and captions: decide what each image is for
Sample alt text for four common cases at Northstar Works. A caption is visible to everyone; alt text is read aloud in place of the image.
| Image | Treatment | Sample alt text |
|---|---|---|
| Line chart of weekly help-desk tickets | Informative. State the takeaway in the text beside the chart, such as "Tickets fell by about a third over spring". | Line chart of weekly help-desk tickets, falling from 140 in March to 95 in May. |
| Screenshot of step 2 of the expense form | Instructional. Describe what the reader needs to notice, not every pixel. | Expense form step 2, with the Category drop-down highlighted. |
| Abstract shapes in a page banner | Decorative. Add no description so a screen reader skips it. | (Leave empty) |
| Event poster with the date and room as image text | Avoid. Put the date, time and room in the body text instead, then add a short alt text. | Poster for the all-hands on 12 June. |
Documents: build structure in, not on top
Worked example: the fictional "Northstar Works Facilities Update, May", a two-page document sent to all staff.
In the update, "Parking changes" and "Meeting room booking" use the Heading 2 style. Bolding and enlarging the text gives the same look on screen but no structure for assistive technology or for a navigation pane.
- Open the navigation pane in your editor. Every section should appear in it.
- Use real bullet and numbered lists, not typed dashes or numbers.
The update uses one column from top to bottom. A floating text box with the room-booking reminder would be read last or out of place, so the reminder sits in its own paragraph where it belongs.
- Avoid text boxes and stacked layout tricks for core content.
- Place each image in line with the paragraph that refers to it.
The update's room table has the columns Room, Seats and Booking needed, with the first row marked as a header. A reader can then hear which column a value belongs to.
- Avoid merged cells and tables nested inside tables.
- Do not use a table just to position text on the page.
The draft marked overdue repairs in red. The final version adds an "Overdue" word in the Status column, so the meaning survives for anyone who cannot distinguish the colour, or who prints in black and white.
- Pair colour with a word, a symbol or a pattern.
- Check that text stays readable against its background.
Test the result before you publish
Allow about five minutes per page. Run through all five steps each time.
-
1
Skim the headings
Check that they run in order, have no skipped levels, and describe each section on their own. -
2
Read the links out of context
List every link label. Each should make sense alone and be different from any other link that goes somewhere else. -
3
Check each image
Ask what the image is for. Add alt text to informative images, leave decorative ones empty, and state any chart takeaway in the nearby text. -
4
Inspect any attached document
Confirm that it uses heading styles and real lists, that tables have a header row, and that colour is never the only signal. -
5
Try the keyboard and zoom
Press Tab to move through the page: you should reach every link and button in a logical order, and always see where the focus is. Then zoom the browser to 200% and confirm nothing is cut off or overlaps.
What this page covers, and where to ask
These are practical authoring checks. They do not replace your organization's approved accessibility requirements or the instructions for the specific tools you use.
In this fictional setting, Northstar Works' Workplace Experience team owns this page. Take questions about a specific page, document or tool to its content owner or your local accessibility support route, and say what you were trying to publish and which step of the check you got stuck on.
Review this page whenever your approved standards change or your authoring tools are updated, and add examples from your own intranet as they come up.