When creating video content, your video should meet digital accessibility requirements.

When we talk about accessibility in relation to video content, we mean opening up the video to as many people as possible. For example, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, or have a condition that makes it more difficult to process information.

It also helps people who don’t speak English as a first language.

The HSE is required by law to ensure our content on the website is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA. This means that any content, including videos, should be easily accessed.

Before you produce a video

Video can be an effective way to talk to your audience. It can also be expensive to make. To produce video content that your viewers will find useful and worth sharing, you will need to be prepared to invest a lot of time and effort.

If you are producing a video for a small number of people, consider whether it’s worth the time and effort involved. Video may not always be the best option.

Making an accessible video

All videos will need to have a caption track file at a minimum. Some videos will need additional files with the video file to make them more accessible.

Learn more about adding:

• captions and transcripts
• Irish Sign Language (ISL)
• audio description (AD)
• translation into other languages

Brightcove

We use a video hosting platform called Brightcove. This has a wide range of accessibility software and tools for embedded videos.

Branding and style guidelines

These branding and style guidelines are for video editors making videos for the HSE.

Templates

You can find Photoshop (PSD) file template downloads for:

• opening and closing screens
• the HSE watermark logo
• people's titles (lower thirds)

Caption tracks and transcripts

Captions are essential for blind and low vision users, and users who prefer reading content rather than watching it in a video format.

People with slow internet connections can access the text version much quicker than the video version.

Transcripts (when enabled in the player) load a text version of the video, under the Brightcove player.

What we need from editors

Any video uploaded to the HSE website needs to have a separate, time-stamped caption track supplied as a .VTT (Video Text Track) or .SRT (SubRip) file.

Please do not send us videos with any embedded or burnt-in captions. Having captions as a separate file means the viewer can choose to switch the captions on or off.

There are some exceptions where burnt-in captions may be needed, such as social media videos and videos for TV screens.

Social media videos

You may need videos with burnt-in captions for social media. You can get advice from the social media team to see if this is needed for your video.

If your video is being uploaded to Brightcove and also being used on social media, you may need different versions of the same video project.

For example:

• a longer video with the captions provided as a separate file
• shorter video (under 2 minutes) with burnt-in captions

Videos for TV screens

If your video is for use on screens in public areas such as in hospital waiting rooms or clinics, you may need a version with burnt-in captions.

Irish Sign Language (ISL)

Irish Sign Language (ISL) is the primary language of the Deaf community in Ireland.

Videos uploaded to the HSE website should include ISL to make these videos more accessible to the Deaf community. This format can take some time to produce. Where reasonable, the video can be added to the website without the ISL video track if the track can be added at a later date.

Where videos do have ISL, they must have a separate ISL time-stamped video file that is the same length as the final video file.

Where to place ISL interpreter

An ISL interpreter can be included to the side of the screen either during production or in post-production.

If your video is mainly text then a separate video of the ISL interpretation may be a better option.

Audio description (AD)

Audio description (AD) is great for users who:

• are blind
• have low vision
• rely on assistive technologies to interact with and access web content

AD is only needed if there are changes in context that are important to the video and are only available visually. This can include text displayed in the video.

For example, if we are seeing a close up of the name of a hospital on an outdoor sign. This location may be important for context and should be called out if so. But if the location has no relevance to the video, we do not need to mention it.

Another example of AD being needed is if the job title of a person is only displayed in text format (as a lower third title block) but is not spoken by the person.

AD can be expensive. If the missing information can be included within the script, then AD is not needed.

If a video needs AD

If your video project needs AD:

• it should only ever account for about 10% of the video, not everything needs AD
• the AD track will need to include the AD as well as the normal audio of the video

AD can increase the length of a video because it takes time to describe context. For this reason, it is not always possible to include AD as an add-on, post-production. Think about what you need for AD when the script is being developed.

If a video needs AD, and a separate AD audio track has been created, your video file will need the following time-stamped (.VTT or .SRT) caption tracks:

• 1 for the version of the video without AD
• 1 for the version of the video with AD

Example of videos with AD

Watch these videos and enable AD (where needed) to learn more about when videos need AD and how to provide suitable AD.

1. Equal Play - shows how AD, sign language and text description can all be offered in one video - equalplay.eu
2. Access - a short documentary about accessibility and universal design - vimeo.com

Translating a video into different languages

There are 2 main ways of translating videos:

• adding translated subtitles to an English-language video
• providing both translated subtitles and a translated voiceover

If the video includes a person speaking on screen, only subtitles may be needed.

But if it is an animation or a video with a lot of imagery, then consider both subtitles and voiceover.

Voiceover work is more complex than subtitles as a different person will need to deliver the voiceover for each language.

For advice and information on translation suppliers, contact the Resources team in HSE Communications.