One of my biggest misconceptions when I first started learning about accessibility was… well, basically everything I thought I knew about assistive technology. When we talk about accessibility, we talk a lot about screen readers and other assistive devices. And if you’ve never used or been around this kind of technology, it’s easy […]
Alt Text… or Text Alternatives?
The Phrase “Alt Text” comes up a lot when we talk about web and content accessibility. We’ve got lots of content about Alt Text. But Alt Text is not the terminology used by WCAG. Instead, they use the phrase “Text Alternative”. Let’s take a look at why: What’s the Difference? Alt Text is […]
Why Is Error Reporting Important?
Validation is an important part of any publisher’s workflow. It prevents broken or flawed content from moving forward undetected. And it helps reduce the amount of manual intervention and QA required by the workflow process. But identifying errors and halting erroneous content is only half of the story. After all, once the error is […]
Are Your Emails Accessible?
In this blog, we’ll go over three things to look for when making sure the emails you send out are accessible. Adequate Font Size and Color Contrast If you’ve got a lot to say, it can be tempting to choose a smaller font. Sometimes even the default font, 12pt, can have some users reaching for […]
Audible Captions and the Publishing Industry
What Are Audible Captions? Back in July of 2019, Amazon-based platform Audible announced a new feature called “Audible Captions”. The feature, as you might have guessed, provided machine-generated captions to accompany Audible’s audiobooks. These captions only provided users with around 3 words of text at time, which were shown as the text was read aloud. […]
3 Important Things to Consider When Self Publishing
So, you’ve finally finished that book you’ve been working on. You’re ready to go from aspiring author to successful, self-published author. Well, almost. Here are three self-publishing steps you don’t want to skip before turning your book dreams into book realities. Hire an Editor or Proofreader! You’ve been staring at this thing for months now. […]
3 Things to Love About WCAG 2.2
Web accessibility, at its core, is about addressing the potential difficulties associated with using the web for people with disabilities. However, many of the solutions and standards prescribed to address these difficulties make the web a better place for everyone. Standardizing certain aspects of web design makes the web a more intuitive place. There’s […]
How Do eBooks Help Readers with Dyslexia?
What is Dyslexia? Dyslexia is a very common learning disorder that affects around 20 percent of the population. Dyslexia is a much broader term than most people realize. Simply put, it refers to a person with otherwise normal intelligence having difficulties associated with reading. The reason for that difficulty could be that the reader has […]
What You Should Know About Content Conversion
With modern technology, content conversion may seem like a non-issue. A task like converting a Word document to a PDF or a PDF to an ePub is something that you can do with just a couple clicks, right? Well, it’s not exactly that simple. Accessibility Not Guaranteed Just because content fits a format, doesn’t mean […]
Answers to Common Questions About Alt Text
What is Alt Text? Alt text is an attribute added to an image to tell the browser what is contained in the image. This is important for accessibility—ensuring users on assistive devices understand the context and contents of the image. Alt text can also act as a fallback if the image is unable to render […]