Accessible Word Documents

1. Accessible Word Documents • Presenters: • Bruce Howell, • The Carroll Center for the Blind • Trudy Knudson & Becky Gibson • Open Access Technologies (OAT)

2. Objectives for Today’s Training • Understand why accessible documents matter • Explore techniques that make them more accessible

3. What We Will Discuss Today • Who accessibility affects, and why it matters • Core principles for creating an accessible Word document • What is meant by “tagging?” • Tools and resources

4. Introduction • Why do accessible documents matter? • Who does it affect?

5. Core Principles for Creating Accessible Word Documents • Document structure • Lists • Links • Alternative Text

6. Core Principles for Creating Accessible Word Documents, Continued • Document language • Columns • Tables • Color & Contrast • Other issues

7. Tagging for Accessibility • What is “tagging?” • Preserving or adding tagging • Screen reader navigation and interaction

8. Establish Accessible Document Features • Use headings for semantic structure • Tables of Contents • Enable ease of screen reader navigation

9. Document Structure Features • Hierarchical structure through headings • Include an automated Table of Contents for longer documents • Enables efficient screen reader navigation

10. Use Structured Lists • Ordered vs. Unordered • Nesting within a list • Aids in nonvisual comprehension – items are related; you know how many items will be shown

11. Create Meaningful Hyperlinks • Active links make accessing associated content or references quick and easy • Must have label that makes destination clear out of page context • Use a method for creating a shortened URL

12. Add Alternative Text for Images • Make them succinct, but based upon placement context • Select “mark as decorative” for nonessential images • Images which are more complex, such as charts or graphs, may require additional steps to convey their meaning

13. Identify the Document Language • Screen readers are affected by the language associated with the document • If any sections of content are intended to be in a different language, the language profile must be identified for those areas

14. Using Columns • Use Columns Tool in the layout ribbon • Allows screen readers to read columns from top to bottom, then left to right • Never use Tab to make something that visually appears like columns

15. Incorporating Tables • Do not use tables for layout purposes • Use them to supplement text, providing a concise visual depiction • Use where the relationship between two data factors can be logically shown in a row and column presentation

16. Incorporating Tables, Continued • Keep the table simple; avoid nested tables • Do not merge or split cells • Avoid empty rows or columns • Column and Row headers must announce for screen reader users

17. Color & Contrast Considerations • Information conveyed through color must be provided in another way • Contrast enables persons with low vision or color blindness to read document content

18. Other Things to Avoid • Text boxes or paragraph borders • Background watermarking • Avoid text art

19. Tagging Your Document • Definition of tagging • Tagged elements must be preserved, or added • Critical for screen reader navigation and interaction

20. Tools for Your University • Use “Accessibility Checker” in Word • Develop a Governance Plan

21. Useful Resources • Format Your Word Documents with JAWS and NVDA (National Braille Press) • Addresses required University formatting styles • Defines techniques for screen reader users to properly format Word documents

22. Useful Resources, Continued “Creating Accessible Microsoft Documents” - Office of the Texas Governor “Creating Accessible Documents in Microsoft Word” - University of Washington

23. Questions?