Instructional Podcast 1
Making AI-Generated Web Content Accessible

0:00 - Introduction 

Hello and welcome to my podcast on making AI-generated web content accessible. I’m Lina, your host, content writer, and student passionate about creating inclusive web content. 

In this podcast, I hope to bridge the gap between algorithm-generated content and the humans meant to perceive it. Together, we’ll explore the principles of accessibility and how to make your web content appeal to a diverse audience. 

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Accessibility isn’t just about supporting individuals with disabilities—it’s about humanizing your content and creating a better experience for everyone. Whether you’re new to these ideas or looking to refine your skills, you’re in the right place. 

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Let’s start to make the digital world a more inclusive space, one step at a time.  

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0:41 - Lesson Objectives 

At the end of this podcast, you will be able to:  

• Describe the principles of accessibility set out in the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.  

• Describe how to modify AI-generated text to ensure it is visually accessible and compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies, in keeping with the WCAG standards. 

• Describe how to produce accurate text alternatives for AI-generated images and video content that describe and convey essential information usable on screen readers. 

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1:11 - Part 1: Learning the Principles of the WCAG 2.0 

First, let’s explore the foundational principles of accessibility outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG. By following these principles, you can make your AI-generated content more perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for all users. 

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1:34 - What is the WCAG?  

It’s a set of principles and guidelines designed to make web content accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities. (W3C, 2008) Accessibility means considering all these diverse needs to ensure that web content is usable for everyone. 

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1:55 - How do these principles work?  

• Perceivable content means that text is easy to see and hear, and adaptable for assistive technologies like screen readers. This includes images and videos, which should have clear and descriptive text alternatives. 

• Operable content must be easy to navigate, allowing users to use keyboard navigation and enough time for interaction, while avoiding fast moving or flashing elements that could trigger seizures or migraines. 

• Understandable content uses clear, simple language and predictable design to minimize confusion. It includes features like helpful error messages and prompts to guide users and correct mistakes. 

• Robust content ensures compatibility with current and future technologies by using proper coding practices such as HTML, CSS, and markdown. 

 

For this short podcast, I’ll focus on the first principle of the WCAG: making content perceivable. While operable, understandable, and robust content is equally important, it would require more time to fully explore how AI-generated content can be modified to meet those standards. 

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2:58 - Part 2: Modifying Text to Ensure It Is Visually Accessible 

While AI can produce content, it does not account for the diverse abilities and needs of human users. That is why it is our responsibility to modify text and images of text to ensure they’re readable and inclusive. 

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3:14 - Let’s start with text and background contrast (1.4.3 Contrast).

High contrast between text and its background is essential for readability, especially for people with color-blindness and poor vision. But even for users without visual impairments, low-contrast text such as light grey on white can sometimes be impossible to read. Take the time to view your web content across devices and lighting conditions to ensure it is legible. For sharing important information, black text on a white background offers excellent contrast and is always a reliable choice. 

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3:43 - Next, let's talk about the ability to resize text (1.4.4 Resize text).

Allowing users to enlarge text up to 200% without needing assistive tools is helpful for people with low vision or reading difficulties. Enlarging text reduces eye strain and improves comprehension. Whether it’s adjusting browser settings on a desktop or pinching to zoom on a mobile device, flexibility in text size is critical. 

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4:05 - But what if you want to include an image of text (1.4.5 Images of Text) in your web content?

Screen readers do not have the ability to process images of text, and resizing these images can distort their quality. Whenever possible, use actual text instead of images. If you must include text within images, ensure there are alternatives like descriptive captions. This is especially important because AI often generates unreliable image-based text. 

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4:30 - Finally, let’s talk about how to present blocks of text (1.4.8 Visual Presentation), which consist of more than one sentence.

Align text to the left and avoid justification, as uneven white spacing can be distracting. Use generous line spacing—about one and a half spaces within paragraphs—and keep paragraph spacing at least 1.5 times larger than the line spacing. This helps reduce visual clutter and supports comprehension. Limiting line width to avoid horizontal scrolling and enabling users to customize text and background colours can further improve accessibility for people with low vision, colour-blindness, or light sensitivity. 

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These adjustments make text more readable and inclusive for everyone. Importantly, your content will not only be accessible, but user-friendly as well, and we could all benefit from user-friendly design. 

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5:19 - Part 3: Producing Accurate Text Alternatives for AI Images and Video 

Text alternatives are crucial for ensuring that everyone—including people using assistive technologies—can fully access and understand your visual content. 

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5:33 - Creating text alternatives for non-text content (1.1.1 Non-text Content), such as images or videos, plays a key role in accessibility.

These alternatives serve to convey meaning to users who rely on text to interpret visuals. For example, controls and inputs in media should have clear, descriptive names so that users can interact with them through text-to-speech tools. If your content is meant to convey a sensory experience, your text alternatives should provide a descriptive identification. However, for visual content that is purely decorative, make sure that it’s marked so that screen readers can skip it. The goal is to create descriptions that capture the key meaning of the image or video without leaving out important details. 

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6:15 - Captions (1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)) (1.2.4 Captions (Live)) and transcripts (1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded)) are also essential.

Including captions for prerecorded and live videos not only helps people who are deaf or hard of hearing but also benefits non-native speakers and people with cognitive disabilities. It also allows for search engines to index your media. For videos, transcripts should go a step further by describing actions, sounds, and visuals to provide full context. 

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6:38 - Finally, even videos with minimal or no background audio (1.4.7 Low or No Background Audio) require text alternatives.

To ensure the spoken content is perceivable, keep background noise at least 20 decibels lower than the foreground speech or give users the option to mute the background sounds entirely. 

 

By incorporating these modifications, you can make your AI-generated visual content accessible to everyone. 

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7:01 - Summary 

Let’s summarize by revisiting some key points about accessibility and how the WCAG guidelines can help make web content usable for everyone, regardless of their abilities. 

 

The WCAG principles—perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust—are essential for creating accessible content. Today, we focused on the first principle: perceivable content. This means ensuring your content is easy to see, hear, and is adaptable for assistive technologies, with descriptive text alternatives for images and videos. 

 

While AI excels at generating content quickly, it lacks the ability to think critically about accessibility. That’s where we come in, ensuring that our content is perceivable for everyone.  

 

Adjustments like increasing text contrast, allowing text resizing, avoiding images of text, and aligning text to the left make a big difference, especially for those with colour-blindness, low vision, or light sensitivity. 

 

Text alternatives are also critical for making images and video accessible. These descriptions should be clear, concise, and capture the essential meaning of the visual content. It’s about bridging the gap for users who rely on tools like screen readers to interact with your media. 

 

I have included the transcript for this podcast, where you will find all the WCAG guidelines I discussed cited by section. You can also explore the guidelines yourself by visiting w3.org or using the link provided in the transcript.  

 

Thank you for listening, and let’s continue making the web a more inclusive space for everyone. 

 

References 

W3C, 2008. Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. [online] Available at: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ [Accessed 17 November 2024].