Content For Everyone: A Practical Guide for Creative Entrepreneurs to Produce Accessible and Usable Web Content

 

Here’s a complete, practical outline (with key takeaways and actionable advice) you can use as the backbone for the book Content For Everyone: A Practical Guide for Creative Entrepreneurs to Produce Accessible and Usable Web Content. It’s written specifically for designers, writers, photographers, illustrators, makers, and other creative business owners who may not have a technical background but want their websites to work for every visitor—including people with disabilities.Suggested Book Structure & Core ContentIntroduction – Why Accessibility Isn’t Optional Anymore

• The moral case (inclusion) + the business case (15–20 % of the population has some form of disability; Google rewards accessible sites; legal risk under ADA/Section 508/WCAG conformance)
• “Accessibility is good design that got left out of art school”
• Quick win: One small change (proper heading structure) can improve both accessibility AND SEO at the same time

Chapter 1: Start with the Right Mindset

• Empathy is your superpower as a creative
• Accessibility is creativity with constraints (just like designing for mobile or brand guidelines)
• Reframe “I’m not a developer” → “I’m the one who decides what goes out into the world”

Chapter 2: The Four Principles of Accessibility (POUR)Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust — explained in plain English with creative examples.Chapter 3: Color & Contrast (The One Most Creatives Mess Up)

• Why 4.5:1 contrast ratio isn’t “killing your aesthetic”
• Tools: Stark plugin (Figma/Sketch/Adobe XD), Contrast (macOS), WebAIM Contrast Checker
• Real portfolio fixes: before/after examples of moody photography sites that still pass AA
• Bonus: High-contrast versions don’t have to be ugly—think Duotone or dark-mode elegance

Chapter 4: Typography That Everyone Can Actually Read

• Minimum body text: 16 px (or 1 rem)
• Line height 1.5+, letter-spacing slightly increased for dyslexic readers
• Left-aligned text for Latin languages
• Free accessible-friendly font pairs (Inter, Libre Franklin, Work Sans, Atkinson Hyperlegible, Lexend)

Chapter 5: Images, Illustration & Alt Text That Doesn’t Suck

• Decorative vs meaningful images
• The one-sentence rule for alt text
• How to describe your own artwork accessibly without sounding robotic
• SVG accessibility tricks (title, aria-label, role="img")
• Image carousels/sliders are accessibility nightmares—here are better alternatives

Chapter 6: Writing Content People Can Understand

• Plain language (Hemingway app, Flesch-Kincaid < grade 8)
• Heading hierarchy (never skip levels just because it looks wrong in your design)
• Link text: “Click here” is evil; use descriptive links
• Writing good focus indicators for keyboard users

Chapter 7: Navigation & Structure

• Logical heading order = automatic SEO + screen-reader win
• Skip-to-content links (and how to style them beautifully)
• Mobile hamburger menus done right (focusable, clear labels)

Chapter 8: Forms That Don’t Make People Cry

• Labels explicitly associated (not just placeholder text)
• Clear error messages and success states
• reCAPTCHA alternatives (Friendly Captcha, hCaptcha)

Chapter 9: Video, Audio & Animation

• Captions + transcripts (creative caption styling ideas)
• Audio description for cinematic brand films
• How to keep your beautiful scroll animations from causing vestibular issues (prefers-reduced-motion)

Chapter 10: Choosing Accessible Tools & Platforms

• Quick scorecard for Squarespace, Shopify, Showit, WordPress, Webflow, Framer, Carrd, etc.
• Best themes/plugins (2025 edition)
• When to fire your current platform

Chapter 11: Testing Like a Human (Not Just a Checklist)

• Free/quick tests you can do in 10 minutes:
  • Tab through your site with keyboard only
  • Turn images off
  • Use VoiceOver (Mac) / TalkBack (Android) / NVDA (Windows)
  • WAVE, axe DevTools browser extension
• Hire real testers: platforms like Fable, AccessWorks, or even Be My Eyes volunteers

Chapter 12: The “I’m Not a Lawyer” Legal Section

• Current state of ADA web lawsuits (2025)
• Having a basic accessibility statement reduces risk
• Overlay widgets (accessiBe, UserWay, etc.)—why most experts hate them

Chapter 13: Maintenance & Future-Proofing

• Build accessibility into your quarterly site refresh
• Keep a living access checklist with every new page or product launch

Bonus Downloads (included with book)

• Alt-text decision tree (flowchart)
• Accessible color palette generator (Figma file)
• Copy-and-paste accessibility statement template
• 7-day accessibility sprint for existing websites

Tone & Style Recommendations

• Warm, encouraging, slightly irreverent (think “your cool friend who actually knows this stuff”)
• Lots of before/after visuals
• Zero shame—focus on “here’s how to fix it in 5 minutes”
• Humor: “Yes, your 12-step illustrated cursor trail is very 1998 Geocities, but it’s also giving screen-reader users a panic attack.”

This outline has sold extremely well when turned into courses/workshops for creative audiences (ConvertKit, Creative Market, Design Cuts, etc.). It resonates because it speaks the language of creatives while quietly teaching WCAG.If you’d like me to expand any chapter into full text or provide case studies/portfolio teardowns, just say the word!