My list of tools I use and recommend for making high-quality accessible digital content. I am not sponsored by any of these software.
Share with colleagues if you found it useful for your work!
Content copy
Excellent for refining first drafts and developing ideas. It’s incredibly helpful if you are stuck on expressing something.
Not good for crafting a specific tone of voice unless you’re a prompt engineering wizard.
I use it to check for English language mistakes since English is not my first language.
However, it can be quite distracting when working on a first draft, as it can shift your focus from ideas to corrections. In those cases, switch it off.
A superb tool for editing your copy. The sentence highlights, word suggestions and overall reading grade level are excellent guides for crafting simple yet effective text.
However, its recommendations might not always align with the tone or message you want to convey.
Simpler alternative with reading grade: Wordcounter
Tip
Use plain text editors like Notepad or TextEdit to remove ‘invisible’ code styling when copy-pasting from these tools.
Accessibility checking
A simple yet highly effective tool for checking your page’s heading nesting structure.
You’ll get a comprehensive accessibility report for all page components.
Not beginner-friendly. Some knowledge of digital accessibility is helpful, as the tool doesn’t always catch every issue.
An absolute time-saver for identifying broken links on your pages.
However, it might not be effective for large websites or those with extensive navigation.
Image content
Image creation
Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer
A powerful, budget-friendly and versatile software that integrates image and vector editing along with file web optimisation.
Alternatives:
Photopea: a free browser-based alternative for image editing.
Canva: ideal for beginners who want to create social media content. It offers easy-to-use templates and settings but lacks image optimisation capabilities.
Image optimisation
If you want to optimise a small number of assets for the web quickly and with low effort.
To prevent poor image quality caused by a Content Management System’s (CMS) automatic resizing, use the straightforward Image Resizer to ensure your correct image dimensions.
Easy zero-effort tool for a significant image file size reduction. The free plan allows 20 pictures, up to 5 MB per file, in a single upload.
You can convert your visual assets to lightweight web formats such as .webp or .avif after you nailed their design, size and quality.
An easy, life-saving tool for enhancing image quality when you lack a high-quality camera or are not provided good-quality visual assets.
However, it struggles with photos of people, often making them appear artificial. The free version reduces image resolution.
Image accessibility
Superb for writing descriptive alt text for images which you can add to your website, presentations and/ or digital documents.