Hashtag Make Accessible Hashtags
You, too, can be an accessibility champion!
TL/DR: By capitalizing the first letter of each word in your social media hashtags, you are helping to create better experiences for your viewers and users who live with a disability! #TheMoreYouKnow
Many of you have probably heard the term "accessibility." If you're not familiar with it, the term refers to making sure that digital experiences are designed in such a way that anyone can utilize and enjoy them regardless of what type of disability they have. It's guided by a set of best-practices that were created in response to the Americans With Disabilities Act.
However many of us who work in this space have embraced an expanded view, known as "Inclusive Design." This means that accessibility isn't just a checklist that we tick to make sure we don't get sued; it's a conscious effort to make sure that people with disabilities feel seen, heard, and recognized by the experiences we create. It's about designing an experience in such a way that nobody feels like they're missing out.
You can do this, too! The next time you're writing that post for LinkedIn or Instagram or whatever you use, capitalize the first letters of each word in your hashtags (aka "start case"). Not only does this make it easier for sighted users to read and comprehend them, but screen readers use the capitalization to determine how to read text.
Let's say someone makes a post about their new bass guitar, and they use the hashtag "fenderprecisionbass." A screen reader will verbally run all three of these words together because there's no indication of where each word stops and/or starts.
But if the person types out the hashtag like "FenderPrecisionBass," the screen reader will space the words out normally. The added bonus, as you can already see, is that even if you aren't visually-impaired, your brain doesn't have to work nearly as hard to figure out what the hashtag actually says.
So, go try it out today. It adds a few seconds to your posting time, but it will make a huge difference to your audience!
#InclusiveDesign #UserExperience #SocialMedia #MakeHashtagsInclusive #AccessibilityHack #SeeWhatIMean #StartCaseInHashtags #ThankYouForComingToMyTedTalk