Despite their popularity, LinkedIn carousels present significant accessibility challenges that cannot be overlooked. Carousels allow users to swipe through slides in a document-style format, supporting up to 300 slides. LinkedIn Carousels are graphics that must be uploaded as a PDF. Despite LinkedIn’s announcement to phase out this feature by December 2023, carousels remain active and new ones continue to be added, continuing to complicate accessibility for various users.
Technical limitations with assistive technologies
Carousels typically do not operate well with keyboards, screen readers, and other assistive technologies, which can make navigating through the slides frustrating and ineffective. While these carousels mercifully do not autoplay, there is still an issue with the controls disappearing after a few seconds. This may prevent people with disabilities from having enough time to use the controls.
If the PDF the carousel is based on has been created to be accessible, a screen reader may be able to read it out. This only works well for extremely simple content and comes with several quirks. When tested with NVDA, we found that all information is nested inside a list. The order of announcement does not seem to always reflect the assigned reading order in the PDF. Any background text also runs the risk of being announced, even if it’s in a decorative image.
It’s unclear exactly what is going on, but the carousel may be employing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract text from images. Unfortunately, the result is that any semantic information about the text, like heading level or list tags, seems to be ignored.
Additionally, the text contained in these carousel posts is – at the end of the day – text in an image. It won’t respond to custom user settings, such as high contrast mode. This may create complications for low vision readers.
Accessibility mode and its shortcomings
Switching to the carousel’s ‘Accessibility Mode’ doesn’t necessarily improve the experience. In this mode, the platform seems to attempt to read from the Order (or Content) panel of the original PDF, but it’s not an accurate rendition.
For instance, it will acknowledge the presence of a graphic but fail to provide the corresponding alt text to describe the graphic’s content. It picks up heading levels, but not other tag types such as lists.
Hidden features and user experience challenges
Another complication arises with the PDF download feature, which remains hidden unless the carousel is viewed in full-screen mode – an unintuitive location that many users may miss. The ability to download the PDF is crucial as it allows users a more accessible version of the content. That is, assuming the PDF adheres to accessibility standards with proper tagging and so on (not an assumption that always has a happy ending).
If relying on this downloadable version, we’d recommend adding text such as “Open full screen mode to download an accessible version of this document” into the post sharing your Carousel. This will help users find the right download button.
Recommendations for content creators
Given these challenges, content creators should reconsider the use of LinkedIn carousels, especially when aiming for inclusivity. For graphics that contain informative images or more complex text formatting (such as headings and lists), the carousel cannot deliver an accessible experience in either regular or Accessibility mode.
Instead, opting for simpler content formats like posts with concise text and images with alt text are best for accessibility on LinkedIn. To put it simply, text is best!
For those who still choose to use carousels, it is critical to ensure that both the source images and the PDF are designed and formatted with accessibility in mind. If the PDF is accessible and the content and design is simple, a screen reader user may be able to access the same information. Check before you post!
In summary, LinkedIn carousels have significant accessibility drawbacks highlighting the need for a more inclusive approach to content sharing. By prioritising straightforward, accessible formats, content creators can ensure their messages are inclusive and reach a broader audience.
