Free accessibility tools for content creators
Whether you are creating online content, documents, presentations, blog posts or learning materials you must make sure your content is accessible. It isn't enough for your website to be accessible, your content has to be too. These are some of the best, free, accessibility tools for content creators.
For more tips on creating accessible content, check out our blog.
Grammarly
Grammarly is a tool to check your content, from grammar and spelling to style and tone. There is a Windows app and browser plugins to check your content as you write it, offering tips for improvement.
Hemmingway App
The Hemingway App is a free online tool that highlights issues with your content. Paste in text and it’ll show you issues such as sentence length and phrases with simpler alternatives.
HeadingsMap
You must use the correct headings when creating content. HeadingsMap is a Chrome plugin that checks which headings you’ve used and if they’re in the correct order. Headings are also important for SEO. Read more about headings.
Funkify
Funkify is a disability simulator that allows you to view your website and digital content through the eyes of people with different disabilities. You can simulate vision impairments such as blurred vision, colour blindness, and tunnel vision. It’s a great way to get a better understanding of how people may read your content.
Colorsafe
Colorsafe helps you create accessible colour palettes for your brand, based on WCAG Guidelines of text and background contrast ratios. Select your background colour and it will show you a range of accessible colour options for your text.
Word accessibility checker
If you’re creating a document in Microsoft Word, it has a built-in accessibility checker to help make your content accessible. Find the checker under Review > Check Accessibility. This will highlight any issues and how to fix them. We recommend first reading our guide on creating accessible Word documents.
PowerPoint accessibility checker
PowerPoint also has a built-in accessibility checker. It should be used whether you’re doing a presentation or creating a document. Find the checker under Review > Check Accessibility. This will highlight any issues and how to fix them.
Accessible PowerPoint templates
Many PowerPoint templates aren’t accessible. Microsoft has pulled together a selection of the most popular accessible PowerPoint templates to get you started. Make sure you still use the accessibility checker!
Dark Reader
Dark Reader is a Chrome plugin that changes websites into dark mode.
Dark mode is becoming more popular so it’s important that you check your content and graphics still work in dark mode.
This is a great example from the White House who implemented fixes to enable dark mode to work. The first picture is the White House website as viewed normally. The middle picture is in dark mode using Dark Reader, where you are unable to read most of the text. The third picture is their own built-in dark mode which solves all of the issues in picture 2.
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