This may seem quite a strange thing to blog about but something that is becoming increasingly important to me is how accessible the content I provide to web users is. YouTube does have automatic subtitles when you upload a video but sometimes it doesn’t pick the exact words which can be humorous but not good for those who are hard of hearing or deaf. Adding the correct words to your YouTube subtitles will benefit your accessibility for those with hearing difficulties but also help others that may not be able to understand regional acsents so well so may call upon the subtitles.
How to add accurate subtitles to your YouTube Videos
Once you have uploaded your video you will come to a screen with your video and a few tabs at the top. If yo look at the image below you will see a tab named ‘Subtitles and CC’, click it.
Next you will see options to click English (Automatic) subtitles that YouTube automatically provide, once again, click this ( see image below if you are unsure what to click ).
Now you are able to edit the subtitles in the automatic feature. You will find a lot of the subtitles that have been created are very wrong. YouTube does try it’s hardest to pick up all the words spoken but if the video star has a strong acsent it will struggle, a lot! It can be quite humorous to watch but it is not good accessibility. Follow these two simple steps to make sure they are correct for those who wish to use the subtitle feature on your videos.
- To edit the subtitles let the video play and then click on the subtitles to replace what is being said accurately.
- As video plays click subtitle to stop section of video, also click time if it does sync correctly and change the time length to show the words you have edited to perfection ( see below to see subtitle being edited).
Once done there is a button at the bottom called publish. You bet you know what to do next, yep, click publish!
Now when a user watches your video and needs subtitles they will get the correct words display.
Well done you have added accurate subtitles to your YouTube video, you are on your way to providing a better user experience for one and all.
If you get stuck please feel free to contact me or leave a comment below and I will get back to you asap.
