Accessible language
Accessible language is language that includes everyone.
See the latest guidance on making language and text accessible
For more comprehensive guidance on this topic that has been developed as part of the Web Accessibility Guide — NZ Government, see:
Why accessible language is important
People can feel excluded when:
- they do not understand words or phrases
- language is used in ways that pose challenges to users of other technologies, such as text-to-speech software.
People are more likely to use your website if:
- it’s easy to navigate
- the information is clear and easy to understand.
Writing for the web
Writing for the web involves thinking about:
- the purpose of the page and the user’s goal
- how people read and process information in an online environment
- how search engines and machines, like screen readers, read online content
- the user’s reading ability, the device they may be using, their computer literacy and their familiarity with your subject.
More information:
Accessibility standard requirements
Guideline 3.1 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 includes 6 success criteria related to language.
Guideline 3.1 Readable — WCAG 2.1
We recommend applying as many of those success criteria as you can to make your content easier to read and understand. However, the NZ Government Web Accessibility Standard currently requires only 2 of them:
New Zealand Government Web Accessibility Standard 1.1
3.1.1 Language of page — set the main language of your page
Note: This topic has been updated as part of the Web Accessibility Guidance project — for the latest guidance, see Setting the language in HTML — NZ Government.
To meet success criterion 3.1.1, you must identify the default language of each web page. The easiest way to do this is to add the lang attribute with the correct ISO-639 language code to the <html> tag. This helps screen readers, and other software that processes text and language, to know how to pronounce or render the content.
Use:
<html lang="en">to show a web page is in English<html lang="en-nz">to show a page is in New Zealand English<html lang="mi">to show a page is in Māori.
Understanding Success Criterion 3.1.1.
3.1.2 Language of Parts — indicate any changes in the language on the page
Note: This topic has been updated as part of the Web Accessibility Guidance project — for the latest guidance, see Indicate a switch to a different language in a web page — NZ Government.
A web page will generally use 1 language. However, sometimes you may need to include words or a passage in another language. Success criterion 3.1.2 Language of Parts requires that you show a change in language if it happens. This is so software can tell it apart from the page’s main language.
The easiest way to do this is to add the lang attribute — with the correct language code — to the HTML element containing the text that’s in a different language. A common approach is to add the lang attribute to a <p>,<span>, or heading tag.
<p>This sentence is in English, which is the page’s main language.</p>
<p lang="mi">Kei roto tēnei rerenga kōrero i te reo Māori.</p>
<p>This is a new paragraph that defaults to the page’s main language.</p>
In this example, the opening <p> tag for the text in te reo Māori uses lang="mi" to show that the content of that <p> element is in te reo Māori.
Understanding Success Criterion 3.1.2.
Setting the language in PDF and Microsoft Word documents
Note: This topic has been updated as part of the Web Accessibility Guidance project — for the latest guidance, see Setting the language in PDF and Microsoft Word documents.
The default language can also be set in PDF and Microsoft Word documents, as can the language of parts of the document where it’s different from the default language.
In Microsoft Word, the way you do this depends on the version of Word. In Word , the default language for the document as a whole can be set in the ‘Language’ group of the Word ‘Options’ dialog window.
To set the language for a passage of text in Word , first select the text and then choose ‘Set Proofing Language…’ from under the ‘Language’ item in the ‘Review’ tab.
In Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can set the PDF’s default language from the ‘Advanced’ tab in the ‘Document Properties’ dialog window. To open the ‘Document Properties’ dialog, select ‘Properties…’ from the ‘File’ menu.
Setting the language of a specific passage of text in a PDF is a little more complicated.
Specifying the language for a passage or phrase with the Lang entry in PDF documents
Utility links and page information
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