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In our efforts to create deep content for our web sites, it is easy to forget that cultural institutions have a legal obligation and an ethical duty to make the content accessible to all audiences, including those with hearing and/or visual impairments. This tutorial is designed to provide instruction on how to create synchronized text tracks ("closed captions") within Quicktime video for delivery on the web.

Synchronized text tracks can be used for a variety of purposes:

to provide hearing-impaired users with an alternative to the audio track.
to annotate the video.
to provide a means to search the video for particular scenes or content.
to provide information about the video for visually-impaired users.

The use of text tracks in Quicktime video can enrich the experience for all users.

This tutorial is designed for users of Apple Macintosh computers. All of the concepts can be readily adapted by PC users. To use the tutorial, you must be running MacOS 8.6 or better and Quicktime 4.1 Pro.

Additional help can be found on Apple Computer's web site. For your convenience, I have downloaded the relevant web pages from Apple and converted them into a PDF file. Select this text if you wish to view or download the PDF. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view or print the file. Acrobat Reader is available free from Adobe.