inclusive : media and design
web media accessibility for all

Captioning provides the viewer with a verbatim, synchronized transcript of all spoken words as well as non-speech sounds. People who have hearing loss and anyone without access to the soundtrack will benefit.

To see some examples of captioned media, check out our Accessible Video Showcase.

Video description provides audio narration of important details that cannot be understood from the main soundtrack alone. During pauses in dialog, audio descriptions of video provides crucial information about the visual experience. People who are blind or visually impaired and anyone without access to the display will benefit.

Media Accessibilty On the Web

NBC, Fox, PBS, iTunes, and The National Film Board of Canada have started making their online video accessible, and YouTube and Google have provided a way that contributors can caption their content.

1. Captions compensate for noisy backgrounds or where sound isn't allowed.
2. They provide a solution for poor audio quality.
3. Quickly browse the video by reading the associated text as you drag the controller as the captions are always visible.
4. Everyone can see the correct spellings of people, places, and things.
5. Catch details that normally slide by unnoticed.
6. Meet or exceed the W3C Web Accessibility Guidelines adapted by many state, provincial and federal governments.
7. Captions can become part of a search engine.
8. Provide additional support for people who are learning English as a second language.
9. Make your content fully accessible to people who have hearing loss.
10. Video on the web or media player can even look better when the captioning is on.

1. Video Description helps to focus on details that may go missing, even for sighted viewers.
2. Learn names and labels that you wouldn't get from the dialog alone.
3. Multi-task while listening to video described content.
4. Turn television into radio, and listen to your favorite shows
5. Put video described shows on your iPod, and listen while walking, jogging, or driving.
6. Provide additional language support for English as a second language users.
7. Combine video descriptions with captions for rich search engine retrieval.
8. Meet or exceed the W3C Web Accessibility guidelines, adopted by many state provincial and federal requirements.
9. Your audio sounds even better with audio description.
10. Make your content fully accessible for people who are blind or have low vision.