In today’s digital world video has become a primary means of communication across social media platforms. Captioning is no longer just for the deaf. Reach more people, get better market penetration and increased engagement by following the tips and techniques covered in this session

1. Captioning
Best Practices
Dax Castro
Facebook/Youtube: PDF Accessibility

2. Presentation
Goals
• Understand the difference between live,
open, and closed captioning
• Learn best practices for creating
compliant captions
• Know when to use transcripts for
accessible web content
• See my go-to captioning tools
• Learn captioning tips and techniques
for uncommon situations

3. Caption Types
What is the
Difference?
 Closed Captions
 Open Captions
 Live Captions
 Audio Descriptions

4. Close Captions

5. Closed
Captions
 Not part of the stream
 Can be translated
 Toggles On/Off
 Several Formats

6. Open Captions

7. Open
Captions
Main Difference
 Burned onto screen

8. Open
Captions
Benefits
 Burned onto screen
 Always compatible
 Can be formatted

9. Open
Captions
Drawbacks
 No size adjustment
 No on/off
 Can be blurry

10. Open or Closed…
Which one do I use?

11. Open or Closed…
ASK
YOURSELF…
• What platform/player?
• How advanced is your audience?
• Do you have the ability/skills?
• Is language a consideration?
• Will you need to edit

12. Live Captions

13. Live Captions

14. Live
Captions
 Automated
 Human
 Real-time
 Remote or at location
Formats

15. Live
Captions
Considerations  Accuracy
 Visibility
 Audience
 Platform

16. Meeting Platforms
Do you know where it is?

17. Teams

18. Zoom

20. Skype

21. Google Meet

22. Google Meet

23. Presentation
Goals
• Understand the difference between live,
open, and closed captioning
• Know when to use transcripts for
accessible web content
• See my go-to captioning tools
• Learn captioning tips and techniques
for uncommon situations
• Learn best practices for creating
compliant captions

24. Captioning
Best
Practices
 No more than 2 sentences
 Timed to video
 On screen long enough
 1.5 second minimum
 Separate Sentences

25. Captioning
Best
Practices
 Identify off screen voices
 Describe sound events
 Use punctuation to convey
speech delivery!

26. Captioning
Best
Practices
 Spell out numbers from one
to ten but use numerals for
all numbers over ten.

27. Captioning
DON’Ts
 Don’t caption text already
on screen (slides, etc.)
 Don’t add extra words
 Don’t over punctuate

28. Best Practices

29. Captioning
DON’Ts
 Don’t caption text already
on screen (slides, etc.)
 Don’t add extra words
 Don’t over punctuate

30. Special Characters
Best
Practices
 [dog barks]
 (John)Yes. (Mary) No.
 [♪ Music Playing ♪]

31. Best Practices

32. Presentation
Goals
• Understand the difference between live,
open, and closed captioning
• Learn best practices for creating
compliant captions
• See my go-to captioning tools
• Learn captioning tips and techniques
for uncommon situations
• Know when to use transcripts for
accessible web content

33. Transcripts
Knowing when to use them

34. Remember…
Captions are not
Transcripts

35. Captions
 Can’t be read outside video
 Appear simultaneously

36. Do I need a
Transcript?

37. If you answer
YES
 Is my source audio only?
 Am I going to make CCs?

38. Transcripts
 Separate Files
 Contain additional info
 Speaker
 Timestamp
 Links (optional)

39. Transcripts
 Identify the speaker
 Identify non-speech sounds
 Italics for off screen or
background
Best Practices

40. Transcripts
 Indicate music when relevant
 Use caps for yelling only
 Do not adapt or modify text
 Ums and ahs can be relevant
or not. Just depends.
Best Practices

41. Presentation
Goals
• Understand the difference between live,
open, and closed captioning
• Learn best practices for creating
compliant captions
• Know when to use transcripts for
accessible web content
• Learn captioning tips and techniques
for uncommon situations
• See my go-to captioning tools

42. My favorite Open Caption tools

43. My favorite Open
Caption tools

44. My favorite Closed Caption tool

45. My favorite Closed Caption tools

46. My favorite Closed Caption tools

47. My other favorite Captioning tool
https://www.3playmedia.com/services/features/plugins/3play-plugin

48. Presentation
Goals
• Understand the difference between live,
open, and closed captioning
• Learn best practices for creating
compliant captions
• Know when to use transcripts for
accessible web content
• See my go-to captioning tools
• Learn captioning tips and techniques
for uncommon situations

49. Captioning
Special
Cases
Use ellipses for long pause
or for chants/lyrics
 Um…I can’t wait.
 Go…Go…Go!

50. Non-relevant speech
[Dinner guests discuss the surprise visitor]

51. What did they say?
[Unintelligible]

52. Appropriate level of detail
I just got so frustrated (cough, cough) sorry –
uhhh what was I saying?…, oh yea –
I got so frustrated with my computer.
This becomes:
I just got so frustrated with my computer.

53. Best Practices

54. QUESTIONS?
Dax Castro
Facebook/Youtube: PDF Accessibility