Publisher Insight
How to Review Accessibility on a News Website
A newsroom checklist for making article templates, media, navigation, and publishing tools easier to use.
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Can readers navigate without a mouse?
Test the main menu, search, article links, forms, cookie controls, and media player using a keyboard. Confirm that focus is visible and follows a sensible order, and that readers can reach and operate every interactive control.
Check that dialogs can be opened and closed accessibly, skip links work, and repeated navigation does not trap focus. Include mobile and zoomed layouts in the review.
Are article structures clear to assistive technology?
Use one descriptive page heading, a logical sequence of subheadings, meaningful link text, and labels for controls. Keep important information in text rather than communicating it only through color, position, or an image.
Editors should be able to enter headings, alternative text, captions, and descriptive links without special code. A CMS can support good content practice only when the workflow and templates expose the right fields.
How should a newsroom handle images, audio, and video?
Write alternative text for images that convey information, and use empty alternatives for decorative images where appropriate. Provide captions or transcripts for relevant audio and video, and make playback controls understandable and operable.
Build accessibility review into the media checklist. A visually polished newsroom banner or video is not complete if readers cannot perceive the information or operate the player.
How can publishers organize an accessibility review?
Use the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as a technical reference, then test common journeys such as finding an article, changing an edition, subscribing, and contacting the publisher. Automated tools can flag issues but do not replace manual and user testing.
Assign owners for template fixes, content guidance, third-party tools, and periodic review. Document issues, prioritize barriers by impact, and retest after changes rather than treating accessibility as a one-time audit.
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