Accessibility in Your Help Center: Helping Humans and AI Alike

Accessibility in your Help Center isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s essential for helping everyone - from users with diverse abilities, to AI tools. Here’s how to make it happen.

Key Accessibility Tips

1. Add ARIA Tags: ARIA tags make your content easier to navigate for humans using assistive technologies, like screen readers or keyboard navigation, and for AI tools to process and understand.
   
   They provide context, clarify relationships, and describe dynamic content, making your Help Center more effective across the board.
   
   For example:

   • aria-label: Helps AI understand the purpose of buttons and form inputs.

   • aria-describedby: Provides additional details for images, form inputs, and dynamic elements, enhancing AI’s ability to analyze, and humans' ability to understand them.

   • aria-hidden: Hides elements that don’t need to be processed, like decorative visuals or duplicate content, making navigation simpler for humans and AI.

   
   For a quick guide to ARIA, check out the W3C ARIA Authoring Practices Guide.
   
   

2. Structure Content Clearly: Stick to semantic HTML (like <header> and <main>) and keep your headings logical and hierarchical. This makes it easier for screen readers and AI to make sense of your Help Center.
   
   

3. Optimize Search and Navigation: Label your search fields clearly and use aria-live regions to dynamically announce suggestions or changes (this one is more useful for humans than AI)

Why It Matters

Accessibility benefits everyone. For people with diverse abilities, it means they can navigate your Help Center with ease, whether they’re using a screen reader or just the keyboard. For AI tools, accessibility does more than just meet compliance standards; it supercharges their ability to:

• Process Content Effectively: Semantic HTML and clear structure make it easier for AI systems to interpret your content’s purpose and relationships.
  
  

• Improve Search Results: Properly labeled buttons, forms, and inputs (e.g., with aria-label) make sure AI can surface the right answers when users search.
  
  

• Enhance AI Interactions: Well-structured and accessible content improves the training data for chatbots or AI co-pilots, making them more accurate and helpful.
  
  

• Support Voice Assistants and Beyond: Accessible design ensures your Help Center content works seamlessly with emerging AI tools, like voice assistants.
  
  

Take Stylo Assist, for example. Our AI co-pilot uses your Help Center content to generate smart, accurate responses to customer support tickets. A Help Center that’s accessible and well-organized lets tools like Stylo Assist deliver faster, more useful support—creating a better experience for everyone involved.

By making accessibility a priority, you’re not just meeting standards - you’re future-proofing your Help Center and creating a resource that works well for humans and AI alike.