Audio/Video Features

This is a technique for testing:

WCAG 2.0: Guideline 1.2 Time-based Media: Provide alternatives for time-based media.  Understanding Guideline 1.2

This guideline has many sections that relate to audio, video, captioning and sign language.

Overview

As the BBC point out in their multimedia accessibility guidelines  “many multimedia technologies provide challenges in making materials which are accessible for some audiences.”  Skills for Access also state that “Making multimedia e-learning optimally accessible is not about ticking a checklist!  All our advice encourages a thoughtful and analytic approach to addressing accessibility issues. Accessible e-learning is achieved by engagement, not by formula.”
The checks used for Web2Access sites are very basic and it should be noted they are not ideal.  Offering alternatives for multimedia such as animations or rich video films with action, conversations and a wide variety of scenes can rarely be adequately explained with text descriptions, captions or subtitles.

Method

There are really no options but to check manually for alternative representations for multimedia content.  Alternative text for images can be checked automatically when they are included within the code as has been described under Image ALT Attributes.

Easy YouTube Player for use with a link to the video demonstrating captioning

Videos, animations and audio files or podcasts etc require captioning, subtitles and audio descriptions or text descriptions.  You will see the captions and sub titles on the video or animation, the transcript or text description is usually seen below the video or as part of the content. There are times when an audio file is supplied for text that is a graphic.

Advice