4 minute read

WCAG 1.2: Time-Based Media

If your story moves, make sure no one’s left behind.

Here’s a full transcript of the video, complete with detailed descriptions of the visuals. For visual users, we’ve included screenshots to show how transcripts are structured and why they’re such an important part of accessibility. Whether you prefer to watch, read, or both, we’ve got you covered.

Video transcript

Visual:

A musical theatre production. The red curtains part to reveal the set of Hamilton. Alexander and Eliza take center stage, while The Bullet lurks in the background.

Jessica, voice over:

I love musicals. People singing and dancing just make me happy. But what if you couldn’t see the choreography or hear the lyrics?

Visual:

The same scene, but the performers are hidden.

Jessica:

Is Hamilton really the same experience if you listen to the soundtrack instead of watching the play? 

Welcome to What in the World is WCAG: 1.2 Time-Based Media.

Visual:

Title card. 1.2 Time-based media is scrawled onto a sticky note, which is slapped onto the screen by a cat’s paw. Now, we’re entering a presentation-style format.

Jessica:

Captions.

Visual:

Video player, showing a large white man with beard and glasses smiling as he walks through a park. According to the caption, the man is saying “What a lovely park!”

Jessica:

Captions give you all the sounds from dialogue to music to squelching noises in text format on the screen.

Visual:

The caption updates. The man can suddenly hear a squelching noise. He looks concerned.

Jessica:

Whether you’re hard of hearing, trying to watch TikTok in bed without waking your partner, or you just can’t understand that particular accent, captions ensure you don’t miss out on anything. (And it helps kids learn to read, so turn them on whenever you can!)

Sign Language.

Visual: 

Diagram showing the American Sign Language alphabet. 

Jessica:

Sign language interpretation can be an art. While in some formats like the news it may require a flat affect, when interpreting for say, a music concert, they can bring more than just the words to life, and embody the feeling of the music, too. Don’t believe me? Pause this, Google for viral ASL interpreters. You will be amazed.  

Visual:

Screenshot of Kaariya performing live at Eurovision 2024, with a BSL interpreter, whose gestures almost mimic the eclectic performance of the artists behind him.

Jessica:

Watching Cha Cha Cha from Eurovision without sound was an experience unto itself.

Audio Description.

Visual:

A cartoon of a still from an old widescreen cowboy movie. The main character, resembling Clint Eastwood, stares intensely beyond the 4th wall.

Jessica:

Audio Description comes in two forms, one where the video pauses for descriptions and one where it is slipped into the spaces without dialogue. Often the voice will be a good match for the subject matter, like a cowboy movie might have a southern accent doing the AD. Audio Description is rarer than it should be, as it provides people with vision impairments a more immersive experience.

Transcripts.

Visual:

A copy of the written transcript for this exact video, revealing the previous dialogue and visual descriptions. Taffy, the Siamese cat, admires the transcript happily with a little love heart above her head.

Jessica:

Transcripts are not just a text version of the spoken words. Like captions, they need to include any relevant sounds, and may also include descriptions of images if it’s a transcript of a video. Transcripts are a AAA WCAG requirement, but it’s one I want to promote as it helps so many people all at once.

Audio-only or video-only, prerecorded.

Visual:

Screenshots of the WCAG criteria 1.2.8 Media alternative (pre-recorded). The W3C’s accompanying text reads “An alternative for time-based media is provided for all prerecorded synchronized media and for all prerecorded video-only media.”

Jessica:

I know I said transcripts are triple-A, and they are… for videos with sound.

Visual:

Screenshot of criteria 1.2.1 Audio-only and video-only (prerecorded) which is single-A. Accompanying text reads “For prerecorded audio-only and prerecorded video-only media, the following are true, except when the audio or video is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.”

Jessica:

This is what happens when you refuse to retroactively change anything except Parsing.

Visual:

A screenshot of the WCAG guideline 4.1.1 Parsing, which the W3C has labelled “Obsolete and removed.”

Jessica:

In the simplest terms, audio-only content like a podcast must have a transcript. Video-only content like a slideshow must have an audio description. It’s easy to get these confused and think the transcripts are a universal requirement, and they really should be.

Time-based media. If your story moves, make sure no one is left behind.

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