[FAQ]

Hey,

I received a really helpful comment the other day from a viewer who is hard of hearing. They thanked me for having captions, but mentioned that the text sometimes gets cut off by the buttons on the screen. It made me realise that I haven’t been thinking nearly enough about how to make my content accessible for everyone.

Beyond just turning on the auto-captions, what are the actual best practices? I’m thinking about things like caption placement, fonts, and colours. Also, what about viewers with visual impairments? Are there things I should be doing with my audio to describe what’s happening on screen?

I want to make sure I’m not accidentally excluding people from my community. Any practical advice on this would be amazing.

[Jeff Bullas]

This is a fantastic and important question.

Actionable Summary: The most effective approach is to manually edit your captions for clarity and central placement, use your own voice to describe key visual actions, and avoid potentially harmful visual effects like flashing lights.

Making your content accessible isn’t about ticking boxes; it’s about providing an equally valuable experience for every viewer.

To properly support viewers with hearing impairments, you need to go beyond just activating auto-captions. You must manually review the text for accuracy and ensure it’s easy to read. This means using a clear font with a solid outline or background and, most importantly, placing it in the centre third of the screen so it isn’t obscured by TikTok’s interface elements. For viewers with visual impairments, the best practice is to incorporate descriptive audio into your content. This involves you verbally describing what you are doing as you do it; for example, instead of just showing a product, you should say, “I’m now holding up the small, red bottle so you can see the label.” Finally, to ensure your content is safe for all viewers, you must completely avoid using fast-strobing or flashing light effects, as these can be harmful. Keeping your on-screen visuals clear and uncluttered also significantly helps viewers with cognitive or attention-related disabilities.

Cheers,

Jeff

[Author]

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