Types of users

Think about how you will address different types of audiences in your content.

General and specialised audiences

Most content is intended for several types of users (e.g. experts as well as general readers, teachers as well as students, health professionals as well as health administrators). 

Communicating information to any audience calls for judgement on what they will want or need to know. This affects the amount and technical level of the information you present, as well as the way you pitch the information.

When you write for general and specialised audiences separately, you can pitch the text to the appropriate level (i.e. less technical for the general public, more technical for the experts):

When both general and specialised audiences will read the same text, you need to consider users' different priorities, different reading skill levels and accessibility needs. A 2-step process will help to ensure that you meet all the needs of your users:

• Ensure that the information needs of all your users are met.
• Consider how to present information in a way that will engage all your users. Options include
  • ‘layering’ the same information in different formats within the same piece of text (e.g. including a summary box at the start of a chapter or webpage, and more detailed information further down)
  • developing separate documents (e.g. a fact sheet for the general public and a more detailed report for researchers)
  • developing separate online pathways (e.g. labelling online content as ‘For patients’ and ‘For practitioners’).

Also see Structure options.

Users with diverse needs

Users access content in different ways. Content should meet the needs of all potential users. In addition, Australian governments require all online government content to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)(Opens in a new tab/window), but any organisation publishing digital content should make their websites fully accessible. 

Accessibility outcomes are best achieved when accessibility and inclusivity are integrated with content planning and development processes. For example, think about how your content will be read by a screen reader, how you will present tables or if you need captions for videos.

Some special needs (and corresponding options) to consider during content development include:

• visual impairments (e.g. limited eyesight, tunnel vision, colourblindness); consider
  • enlarging the text
  • ensuring that colour graphs have sufficient contrast between colours
  • following best practice for laying out tables (e.g. no empty cells)
  • ensuring that text can be read by a screen reader
  • including alt text labels for images, and audio descriptions for movies and animated material
• aural impairments (e.g. severe deafness, difficulty with hearing in certain contexts); consider
  • using visual signs for spoken cues
  • captioning voice-overs and dialogue in audiovisual content
• cognitive impairments (e.g. slow processing of visual or written material, low literacy); consider
  • making content as simple as possible
  • adjusting the speed of visual signals and computer actions
• limited dexterity of hands or fine motor control (e.g. inability to respond quickly enough to standard computer prompts); consider
  • increasing the size of icons and radio buttons
  • adjusting the speed of visual signals and computer actions.

Also see Accessibility guidelines and considerations and Inclusive and respectful language for more information. 

Primary and secondary audiences

Primary audiences are those that receive content directly. Secondary audiences are those that receive the content indirectly because they hear about it or are affected by it. 

In general, you will be concentrating on the needs of your primary audiences. But you should also consider how your secondary audiences may receive your content. For example, consider secondary users’ level of knowledge and what they will want to know when developing content.