This section includes: summary guidance, text content, headings, links, images, video and audio content, PDFs and other documents, maps
Accessibility, compliance and responsibilities
Accessibility is not just about making content inclusive for people with disabilities and impairments. Accessible content is more usable for everyone.
Content on suffolk.gov.uk should comply with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.
This is an international best practice standard, and from 23 September 2020 it'll be a legal requirement.
You can read our accessibility statement for suffolk.gov.uk. This explains our level of compliance with accessibility standards and regulations.
As a website editor the content that you’re responsible for making accessible includes:
- text content
- images, video and audio content
- PDFs and other documents
- maps (for example Google maps embedded in a page)
As website admins and coordinators the Digital Content Team (DCT) is responsible for:
- interactive tools and transactions (such as forms or decision trees)
- mobile responsiveness (how usable the website is on different devices)
- navigation and search functionality
- design (for example fonts and colour contrast)
- pop-ups and other dynamic content (such as feedback forms)
- HTML checks
The DCT is also accountable for the overall compliance of suffolk.gov.uk with accessibility standards and regulations.
Summary: how to make web content accessible
Text content
- Page titles should be descriptive and not duplicated
- Headings should be descriptive, and properly tagged and nested
- Link text should make sense in isolation (and not repeated for different link destinations)
- Instructions should not rely on sensory abilities, such as vision
- Tables should be simple, easy to use with a keyboard and have descriptions set using 'caption'
- Acronyms and initialisms should be explained in full the first time you mention them
- Technical information requiring a high reading age should have a plain English summary
- Content should be written and formatted so it's easy to scan and understand - see 'Writing for suffolk.gov.uk'
- Camel casing should be used to format things like email addresses, hashtags and short URLs
Images, video and audio content
- Images should have alternative text (alt text) description to explain what the image shows
- Images should not contain text (except logos)
- Video iFrame HTML embed code must include title=”” with a description of the content inside the quotation marks
- Videos (prerecorded) should include closed captions (CC) describing any dialogue and sound effects
- Videos (prerecorded) should include audio description (AD) for any visual information not explained in the main audio track
- Videos (prerecorded) should be made available featuring British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation where appropriate
- Videos (live) including CC, AD and BSL is best practice, but not always practical and not mandatory on suffolk.gov.uk
- Audio content should have a transcript
PDFs and other documents
- Titles should be descriptive and set in the file’s properties
- Headings should be descriptive, set using Styles (not bold, underline or making the text bigger) and nested properly
- Instructions should not rely on sensory abilities, such as vision
- Link text should make sense in isolation (and not used for different link destinations)
- Images (including charts, shapes and icons) should have meaningful alt text description, and not contain text (except logos)
- Tables should have a description, and be simple enough that you can tab through them (but never used for page layout)
- Videos should include closed captions (CC), plus added audio description (AD) where needed
- Audio content should include access to a transcript
- Bookmarks should be added to long documents
- Slides in PowerPoint decks have their own specific accessibility requirements, such as unique titles and reading order
- Spreadsheets in Excel have their own specific accessibility requirements, such as good sheet structure and setting column headings correctly
- Check Accessibility should be used before saving and publishing to find accessibility issues, e.g. poor colour contrast
- Documents should be made available in accessible alternative formats (such as easy read or large print) where appropriate
Maps
- It's hard to make maps accessible (for example a Google Map embedded on a contact page)
- If a map exists to provide directions, this information should be published in text format in addition to the map
- Map iFrame HTML embed code must include title=”” with a description of the content inside the quotation marks
If you're a suffolk.gov.uk editor you'll be able to view:
Text content
Page titles
Your page should be titled properly.
If it's not, users won’t understand what it's for and will struggle to find what they need using search.
Make sure your page title is descriptive, meaningful and suggests in plain English what the page is about.
For example, 'Apply for a school place' is more helpful than simply 'School applications'.
Check that none of your titles are duplicated. If two pages have the same title, how is the user supposed to know which one to use?
Headings
It’s important that any headings you’re using are descriptive, and properly tagged and nested.
Descriptive headings are helpful because they clearly tell people what that section of the page is about.
Tagging and nesting your headings properly means people and screen readers can understand the structure and order of your page.
Never use bold, underline or bigger text size to try and signify a heading.
For more details of how to tag and nest headings see the 'Formatting your content' section of the guidelines.
Links
The link text you’re using should clearly explain where any links will take the user.
This is important because screen reader users often scan through lists of links in isolation. This means they don’t have the surrounding context to help them understand what the link is for.
If the link text still makes sense in isolation and clearly explains where the link goes, it’s likely the text you’re using is accessible.
If you’re using link text like ‘click here’ or ‘more information’ then you’re probably not meeting this requirement, as link text like that doesn’t describe where the link will go or what it’s for.
You can find guidance on writing good link text if you’re not sure.
Instructions
You need to make sure you’re not conveying instructions in a way that relies on a user’s ability to see the page.
For example, only sighted users will understand instructions like ‘click the green button’.
Users who can’t see the page won’t know what you’re referring to, because instructions like that rely on visual descriptions.
Tables
Keep your tables simple. Avoid complex tables with nested, merged or blank cells. You should be able to easily tab through a table using a keyboard, cell by cell and row by row.
Tables should have descriptions, set using 'caption' (not a heading above the table).
Acronyms and initialisms
These should be explained in full the first time you mention them.
For example you could write 'Adult and Community Services (ACS)' initially, then 'ACS' throughout the rest of the page.
Technical information
Any document or page content requiring a high reading age should be accompanied by a plain English summary.
For example, if your page included a legal document about planning regulations you should add an explanation of what the document is about in simple language.
Camel casing
Use camel casing to make email addresses, hashtags and short URLs more accessible.
Camel casing is where the first letter of each word strung together in a sequence is uppercase.
For example instead of donotreply@suffolk.gov.uk, write DoNotReply@suffolk.gov.uk.
Short URLs should be formatted like this: www.suffolk.gov.uk/ContentGuidelines.
This approach to formatting is more accessible for people using assistive technology, as their screen readers will recognise and read out words individually.
It's also easier to read generally. Remember that making content accessible and inclusive makes it more usable for everyone, not just people with disabilities.
Images, video and audio content
Image description
Images should have alternative text (alt text) description to explain what the image shows. Without this, anyone using a screen reader would miss out on what the image is being used for.
Images containing text
Your images should not contain text (unless the image is decorative and not intended to communicate information).
This is because screen readers won’t be able to read the text within the image. The information should be published as normal page text instead.
This doesn’t include logos and brand names - it’s okay for those to contain text.
Audio content description
Your videos or audio content should be clearly described so that users who can’t hear them can still access the information.
This means checking that videos have closed captions (CC) explaining any sound effects and dialogue.
It's best practice to also provide a version of your video that includes British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation, but this may not always be practical.
You should also include transcripts for any audio content you publish.
Audio descriptions for video content
Your video may cover something that’s not described in the audio track – the contents of a chart or graph, for example.
If you were only following the audio, you’d miss this information. To make sure users can access the information they need, you’d need to add audio description (AD) to describe anything not covered in the main audio track.
Sign language interpretation
It's best practice for both prerecorded and live video to be available featuring CC, AD and British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation, but this not always practical and not mandatory on suffolk.gov.uk.
PDFs and other documents
If you're a suffolk.gov.uk editor, you can read our guide to creating accessible documents for full guidance relating to PDFs and Microsoft Office documents.
This section includes: why search is important, how search engines works, how to optimise your web content
Why search is important
Most people start their search for information online using a search engine.
Half of visits to suffolk.gov.uk start with someone using a search engine, such as Google.
This means it's important that users can find your pages using search engines.
How search engines work
Search engines aim to present the most relevant results for any search term.
They do this by first building up an index of webpages on the internet.
They then use a complex algorithm to rank pages for different search terms.
It's thought there are over 200 factors influencing the Google search algorithm.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the ranking of your webpage on search results.
SEO is a complicated and specialist practice. However, as a content editor you can influence how high your page appears for relevant search terms.
How to optimise your web content
Publish on an authoritative domain
Authoritative domains such as gov.uk or nhs.uk are more trusted by search engines. This means pages on those websites rank higher on search results pages.
All pages on suffolk.gov.uk are considered authoritative and trustworthy. If you have the choice between publishing content on this website or a non-gov.uk domain, opt for suffolk.gov.uk; it will mean your page is more likely to rank highly with search engines.
Meet the user need
Make sure your content is relevant and answers the questions people will have.
If people visit your page and immediately return to their search results Google may think your page is not relevant.
Include keywords people use to search
Write your page title, summary and content using the words and phrases people would use when searching.
Do not try to 'trick' Google by repeating keywords unnaturally. This may result in a penalty, where Google stops your page from appearing on results pages.
Make sure your page is well written and formatted
Write clear, concise and descriptive page titles, summaries, sub-headings and content. This helps both search engines and users understand what the page is about.
Ensure your sub-headings are in a logical order.
Do not put information in images
Search engines cannot read information in images, for example: text overlaid onto photos.
If a lot of your page information is contained within images, search engines will think the page doesn't have much content.
Add alternative text to photos
When you add photos to a page make sure you add alternative text (alt text). This helps the image (and page) show up in Google Image search.
Avoid sparse pages or duplicate content
Google may penalise your website if it contains a lot of sparse pages or duplicate content. This means your website would not rank highly on search results pages.
This would only apply to a trend found widely across a website, not just an individual page.
Complete the page metadata
You can add metadata to your page when editing it in the Content Management System (CMS).
This metadata is only read by search engines, and provides more information on what the page is about
Fix any usability issues
Make sure your page doesn't have issues that would cause a bad user experience, for example: broken links.
Acquire good links from other websites
Search engines look at links to a page from other websites as 'votes' that your page is relevant and useful.
Getting links from trustworthy and authoritative websites will help your page rank higher in search results. For example, if you publish a page related to healthcare for young people, links from NHS, university and other relevant websites will be beneficial.
Be aware that it can take days or weeks for search engines to fully take account of all the links to your page and adjust its search ranking.
Avoid bad links from other websites
If a lot of spam or low quality websites are linking to your page, search engines may penalise your page or website.
There are lots of online tools to help monitor inbound links to a website. You can ask the Digital Content Team for more details.
