Content Author
Responsibilities Mapping
This is an in-progress draft. We welcome comments via GitHub or email from the links below.
Role summary
Content Creation is often used in marketing, but can also be a task assigned to a role within a product team. Content creation involves defining a content strategy, the writing or creation of the content or media for a product. The person who authors the content is responsible for making sure that content is accessible to people with disabilities.
Key Deliverables
- Body copy, managed content, scripts
- Taxonomies
- Writing guidelines
- Media files, including PDF, audio and video
- Etc.
Tasks include
- Content authoring
- Media and documentation creation
- Content strategies definition
- Etc.
Example job titles for this role
Content Strategist, Content Creator, Content Designer, Content Author, Digital Copywriter, UX Writer, Content Producer, Technical Writer, Information Developer, Content Developer
Content Author Tasks: Starter List
Here is a list of tasks for Content Authors to get started. If these design tasks aren’t met, your content - and lack of accessible content like alt text, captions, transcripts etc. - can cause significant barriers to users.
This list is taken from the full list of Content Author tasks.
For all role tasks, see the [Tasks Full List].
| ID | WCAG SC | Level | Task | Main Role | Primary Ownership | Secondary Ownership | Contributor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IMG-002 | 1.1.1 | A | Informative images are described with a clear and meaningful text equivalent (alt attribute or other equivalent means). | Author | Content Authoring | none | none |
| IMG-008 | 1.1.1 | A | The purpose or function of complex images is accurately described in text. | Author | Content Authoring | UX Design | none |
| IMG-010 | 1.1.1 | A | The full explanation of complex images is accurately described in text. | Author | Content Authoring | none | none |
| SEM-020 | 2.4.2 | A | Pages are described using unique and descriptive page title values. | Author | Content Authoring | none | none |
| SEM-022 | 2.4.6 | AA | Heading text meaningfully describes the content's topic or purpose. | Author | Content Authoring | none | none |
| SEM-023 | 2.4.6 | AA | The main heading of the page describes the content of the page. | Author | Content Authoring | none | none |
| FRM-016 | 2.4.6 | AA | The purpose of the form control is clearly described in text. | Author | Content Authoring | UX Design | none |
| TAB-015 | 1.3.1 | A | A meaningful description of the structure of data tables is provided. | Author | Content Authoring | UX Design | none |
| ANM-001 | 1.2.1 | A | Text transcripts are provided for prerecorded audio-only files. | Author | Content Authoring | UX Design | none |
| ANM-002 | 1.2.1 | A | Text transcripts are provided for prerecorded video-only files. | Author | Content Authoring | UX Design | none |
| ANM-007 | 1.2.2 | A | Synchronized captions are provided for all prerecorded video content. | Author | Content Authoring | UX Design | none |
| ANM-010 | 1.2.3 | A | Text transcripts report all significant information from the audio track. | Author | Content Authoring | none | none |
Case Study: How to use the Starter List
A good way to get familiar with the tasks is to do a short case study. Think about how you might tackle the task in your role.
Then, think of how meeting this task impacts an end user.
Task:
IMG-002: Informative images are described with a clear and meaningful text equivalent (alt attribute or other equivalent means).
Primary Role: Content Author
“As the primary owner of this task, I will ensure that any images that contain information or represent an action or a symbol for the user, and are not just decorative - have a descriptive and meaningful text alternative that will be announced by screen reader software.”
Secondary Role: None
There is no secondary owner of this task.
Contributor Role: None
There is no additional contributor for this task.
End user persona: Ilya, a senior staff member who is blind
Ilya is blind and uses a screen reader (speech-to-text software) and keyboard to navigate web pages. She uses websites daily for research and financial transactions. This design checkpoint ensures she isn’t confused by an unexpected behaviour, i.e., when her keyboard focus lands on a button for the first time and content is announced automatically or the button automatically opens another page.
The intent of the task is to ensure that functionality is predictable as visitors navigate their way through a document.
This task helps people with visual disabilities, cognitive limitations, and motor impairments by reducing the chance that a change of context will occur unexpectedly.
Read Ilya’s full story and learn about other design tasks that benefit users like her.
Resources
- Use the Alt Text Decision Tree to help decide if an image needs a description.
- Use the Tips for Writing to get started.
- Review the Images Tutorial for guidance on different types of images.