1. Making videos accessible – Mandatory guidelines
Ba.com accessibility
Making videos accessible – Mandatory guidelines

2. Making videos accessible
The why
The US Department of Transport require all content on travel websites to meet the Web Content Accessibility Group (WCAG) – accessibility level – AA by the end of December 2016
AA accessibility ensures that web product owners (such as ba.com) have met the minimum level required for all users with a disability to use the site and features on the site
This means, videos that we publish on ba.com either direct or via 3rd parties MUST meet the AA level of accessibility
The Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C-WAI) enforces it

3. Mandatory steps to accessible videos

4. Step 1 - Build accessibility in from the start
Consider the contrast of the video
Not using light colours on light backgrounds
Make any text shown on a video large enough to read and is shown for long enough so people can read it
E.g. a sign in an airport which you want the customer to be able to read

5. Step 2 – Make sure your video player is accessible
Not all video players are accessible to some groups of people with disabilities, so ensure that videos:
Avoid keyboard traps (where a customer using a keyboard gets trapped inside the video and has to shut down their browser
Can be accessed and operated without a mouse
Can be easily stopped or started by the customer
Have a transcript
Most ba.com videos use Youtube, which should already be accessible.

6. Step 3 – Never allow Auto-play
Allowing a video to start automatically can disorientate some groups of users
If the audio of a video starts automatically, users using screen readers may not be able to hear the voice of the reader, causing confusion or noise.
Allow the user to choose when to start or stop a video or audio feature

7. Step 4 – No flashing content
Flashing content can trigger epilepsy and migraines in some individuals
Avoid all flashing video
Ensure that the video can run at around 60 frames per second on an average internet speed
If videos do have flashing, ensure the customer is warned BEFORE they play the video (Also, see step 3)

8. Step 5 – Provide a transcript
Who transcripts help
Hearing impaired people
The blind or visually impaired
People with learning difficulties who may need more time to digest information
People who may struggle to understand accents or who may not be fluent in the language spoken in the video
Transcripts must be supplied for all videos

9. Step 5 – Provide a transcript
A transcript must be text only or html
Transcripts must contain all spoken word
Transcripts must describe any visible words (such as a sign)
Transcripts should describe actions or events on screen
Consider an interactive transcript that allows multi-sensory engagement and allows customers to skip elements of a video (embedding interactive YouTube transcripts into ba.com content pages)
The transcript link or interactive transcript must appear immediately after the video
If not interactive, transcripts should be ideally as HTML web pages that appear in a new window, so customers can watch the video if they want
Avoid PDFs or Word documents as these in themselves would also need to be accessible

10. Step 5 – Provide a transcript
Transcript examples
If people are speaking, transcribe what they are saying
0:51 Presenter continues: “You can pay for more checked baggage in Manage My Booking”
Describe any props if they need to be understood by a viewer
1:31 Zooms in to a container of medicine tablets next to a hand bag
Where text displayed on a video needs to aid the viewer, this should be added to the transcript
Example if a baggage label has something important on it

11. “Nice to haves” – but not essential to AA compliance

12. Provide captions
Captions are a text version of the speech and sound on the video. These are displayed over the video, typically at the bottom, and are toggled on and off by the viewer through the video player. They let deaf and hard-of-hearing users follow the dialogue.
Captions are not subtitles
Captions should appear at the same time as the sound they are captioning and remain long enough to read (e.g. ‘music playing’)
Would need to be translated into core languages
Can get in the way of branding and overall design and presentation
YouTube can automatically add captions, but this is not recommended as they may not be accurate
You can, however, write a script and upload it to YouTube with your video. YouTube will then automatically place the captions at the time of the relevant speech. This can save a lot of time

13. Provide audio descriptions
This is a spoken audio track played along with the video and it lets blind and vision-impaired users know what’s happening on the screen.
Audio descriptions can be tricky to implement as they need to still work when the video itself is paused.
For an example of extended audio descriptions see the Pictures of You site. You will need to turn on the audio descriptions.
A transcript that can be read out by screen readers is an acceptable alternative

14. Consider sign language
This feature isn’t so common, but if you are targeting an audience with disabilities then you should give this serious consideration.
The typical arrangement is to have a sign language interpreter in a small picture-in-picture window in the video.
While this feature is nice to have, a transcript is acceptable to help those who are hard of hearing