We are committed to making our content fully accessible to screen readers, to do this we:

  • write in short, clear sentences and paragraphs.
  • avoid using unnecessarily complex words and phrases
  • add heading levels to all our sub-headings
  • create webpages with a logical navigation and reading order and that can be fully navigated using the keyboard 
  • use descriptive and informative page titles
  • do not use abbreviations such as etc, ie, eg, tel and mob
  • present ranges of dates and times with the word “to” inside of a dash
  • provide concise and meaningful alternative text to non-decorative images and icons (for decorative images, we leave the alt text field blank)
  • provide alternative text descriptions underneath diagrams and infographics
  • provide transcripts and captions on video content
  • create instructions and action buttons that make sense out of context and don’t rely on sensory information like colour or sound
  • do not use colour or position as the only way of conveying content or distinguishing visual elements
  • make sure our text and images of text have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
  • make link text meaningful so that it describes what the reader should expect to find when they click it, for example, ‘Read more about support in Leeds’, not ‘Click to read more’.
  • do not write out web addresses or URLs 

PDFs

We avoid creating pdfs. Instead we create html content. PDFs cause difficulties with accessibility, give people a poorer experience on mobile and are more difficult to edit and keep up-to-date.

MindWell does offer some pdfs where there is a clear user need for them. Printable pdfs are useful for healthcare practitioners and other professionals supporting people’s mental health, for example. We also create printable pdfs to share with people who are digitally excluded. It’s our intention, as far as possible, to make our pdfs accessible and provide html or alternative text descriptions. 

We name pdfs in this format: descriptive name, PDF, file size in MB or KB, for example, “vicious cycle of anxiety (PDF, 400KB).