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How to create accessible documents and contribute to barrier-free education

Learn how to create accessible documents and contribute to barrier-free education using guidelines for digital accessibility. Understand the importance of accessibility, the characteristics of accessible documents in Word and PDF formats, and how to convert inaccessible documents into accessible formats.

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How to create accessible documents and contribute to barrier-free education

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  1. How to create accessible documentsand contribute to barrier-free education Lars Ballieu Christensen Advisor, Ph.D., M.Sc. Tanja Stevns Director, Special Education Teacher

  2. Contents • What is digital accessibility? • Why is digital accessibility important? • What is an accessible document? • Word, PDF, XXX • What and how? • Creating accessible documents with Word • Creating accessible PDF documents from Word • Converting inaccessible PDF into more accessible formats

  3. What is digital accessibility? A set of universally accepted design principles with the aim to ensure that digital contents can be accessed by as many people as possible, from as many technological platforms as possible, and in as many different situations as possible Christensen & Stevns, HCII 2015

  4. Why is digital accessibility important • Cross-platform • Browsers, operating systems, resolutions • Navigation, orientation, interpretation • Assistive technologies • Conversion, repurposing • Braille, audio books, large-print, e-books, …

  5. Accessibility in Context Specific Design Dyslexic, Low Vision, Blind,… Universal Design Active language, short sentences, illustrations, holistic, … Digital Accessibility Use tech correctly, tag structure, provide alternatives, set language, … Christensen & Stevns, HCII 2015

  6. What is an accessible document? • Authored in accordance with appropriate accessibility guidelines • Authoring tools have been used as intended • Features of authoring tools have not been abused • Prerequisite for • access with assistive technology • automated transformation into alternate formats

  7. What is an accessible Word document? • Authored in accordance with the guidelines from Microsoft • Word used as intended • Word features not abused • In practice: • Minimum metadata defined (title, author) • Structural elements tagged • Content and content alternatives authored correct (alt text, tables, math, …) • The master language set and language changes marked

  8. Things to keep in mind • Reading order must be logical • Avoid important information in headers and footers • Avoid text boxes • Avoid WordArt • Avoid Drop Caps • General accessibility principles: • Color not the only means • Sufficient contrasts (4½:1, 3:1) • Link text understandable outside context • Be aware of inaccessible document templates

  9. Word – Meta data • Minimum: • Title • Author • Used for title pages, bookshelf entries, library listings, …

  10. Word – Language • Master language • Any changes to the natural language throughout the language • Used for spell-checking, grammar-checking, speech synthesis, Braille transcription

  11. Word – Headings • Nested, strictly hierarchical • Change appearance of style rather than use another style • Used for TOC, navigation

  12. Word – Illustrations • All non-textual contents must have alternate text associated • Alt-text must have the same meaning/the same function in the particular context (= do not reuse without thinking) • Not the same as a caption • Used by screen readers, for search indexes, …

  13. Writing alt text • Meaning? • Function?

  14. Word – Tables • Used for tabular-type information • Rows and colums • Headers must be marked up • Don’t mix up with columns

  15. Word – Columns • Used for newspaper-type flow of text into columns of text • Do not mix with tables

  16. Word – Lists • Numbered lists • Unnumbered lists (bullet lists) • Use the appropriate tools • Do not use own random symbols for bullets

  17. Word – Footnotes, End notes • Use the footnote, end note tools • Important for the logical reading order

  18. Word – Headers/Footers • Use the appropriate tool • Important for screen readers • Important when reflowing

  19. Example - Conversion Talking e-book Accessible, multilingual Word document

  20. Word – Math • Use proper equation editor • Do not insert pictures of equations • Do not type equations as plain text with formatting

  21. Example - Conversion Talking math book Accessible, Word document with math equations

  22. Accessibility Checker • Included in several tools • Can check many issues • Is not a replacement for human validation

  23. What is accessible PDF • PDF is many things: • Image-only PDF • Text PDF • Tagged PDF • Accessible PDF: • Is in Tagged PDF format • Is tagged up in accordance with the semantic structure of the document • Does not have protections that prevent access from assistive technologies

  24. Creating accessible PDF • Preferably created from accessible source document (Word, InDesign, …) • PDF converter must be able to • Create tagged PDF • Transfer semantic mark-up from source to PDF • ”Content Extraction for Accessibility” rights must be granted

  25. Creating accessible PDF cont. • Good PDF converters • Save-As-PDF (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, …) • Adobe PDF Maker • SensusAccess • Poor PDF converters • Print-to-PDF solutions • Scan-to-PDF

  26. Making inaccessible PDF accessible • Adobe Acrobat touch-up • SensusAccess • Convert to DOCX (or plain text) • Edit result • Convert to final format

  27. Example - Conversions Inaccessible, image-only PDF More accessible Word document 1. 2. Edit Accessible Word document Reflowable e-book 3.

  28. SensusAccess e-learning Introduction to the course 20 mins Introduction to SensusAccess Simple conversions Advanced conversions Special conversions Designing and creating accessible documents Producing Braille Producing MP3 files Producing advanced e-books Converting inaccessible and tricky documents Producing DAISY talking books Producing simple e-books 25 mins each plus exercises 20 mins each plus exercises 25 mins each plus exercises http://www.sensusaccess.com/sensusaccess-e-learning

  29. In summary • Universal principles • Accessible documents can be • Used cross-platform • Accessed with assistive technology • Repurposed into alternate formats • It’s not difficult – use technology as intended • Use accessible PDF, appropriate tools, reasonable protection • Accessibility can be improved with few means

  30. Resources • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ • Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web Information and Communications Technologies (WCAG2ICT): https://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/ • SensusAccess alternate media and accessibility self-service for academic institutions: www.sensusaccess.com

  31. Questions; comments ?!

  32. Contact information Lars Ballieu Christensen • Mail: lars@sensus.dk • Phone: +45 40 32 68 23 Tanja Stevns • Mail: tanja@sensus.dk • Phone: +45 23 24 06 72 www.sensusaccess.com

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