Microsoft Word Accessibility Headers/Titles, Paragraph Styles, Images, Links, Tables, & Accessibility Checker

What is accessibility and why do we care? Accessibility means access. It refers to the ability for everyone, regardless of disability or special needs, to access, use and benefit from everything within their environment. It is the “degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible.” Accessibility is the right thing to do. Accessibility represents an important step toward independence for individuals with disabilities. Accessible content provides access to fundamental information. In addition, accessibility allows users with disabilities to participate in day-to-day activities many of us take for granted. 1-5 out of 18 students have some type of disability

What is accessibility and who says so? Accessibility is the law for many institutions. With new national requirements in the United States there are numerous legal mandates for accessibility. These policies will likely expand in scope. In the United States, Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act sets standards for web pages designed or maintained by federal agencies. State and local governments as well as educational and nonprofit institutions around the United States need to be in compliance. http://www.section508.gov/content/learn/laws-and-policies

What is Delta doing? Delta College and 508 Compliance are a work in progress. What has been done so far? Accessibility Task Force New website (in development) Faculty Training Institutional Wide Training (coming) Policy (in development) eLearning Procedures and Best Practices

Best Practices Structure Headings should be used to convey structural information about a document Use styles to create titles and section headings Use paragraph styles to continue proper formatting Best Practices

Fonts One or two fonts should be used throughout a document Use commonly used fonts; Arial, Times, Helvetica, Courier, Verdana, Tahoma, Georgia, Palatino, Garamond and few others Pay close attention to font color on buttons or backgrounds Best Practices

Images Include alternative text for images, charts and diagrams Do not use textured/patterned backgrounds Use color as an enhancement, not as the only means of conveying information Best Practices

Best Practices Backgrounds Use text and page background color combinations of significant brightness and contrast Best Practices

HEADERS Headings are an important tool for screen readers They assist with navigating to different parts of a document Assistive technologies ignore text size and emphasis unless styles are used Headings can be used to automatically generate a TOC HEADERS

Headings By default, Heading 1 and Heading 2 can be seen and selected in the Styles section of the Home ribbon in Word Select the text you wish to make a heading, then left-click the heading level you wish to assign to this text Word will automatically add Heading 3 to the menu after Heading 2 is used in a document and so on Should be selected based on their hierarchy Start the page with a heading (Heading 1) Follow it with sub-headings (Heading 2) And so on, sub-sub headings (Heading 3) Items of equal importance should be equal level headings Heading levels should not be skipped

PARAGRAPH STYLES Paragraph styles give structure to a document They can be used in the same manner as the Heading tags Pieces of text can be selected individually to be styled PARAGRAPH STYLES

Styles By default, Normal is selected There are several paragraph or word styles that can be selected, including: Subtitle Emphasis Strong Quote Book Title List Paragraph Should be selected based on their use Can be used on sections of text not only full sentences

GRAPHICS Graphics are Images, Charts and Tables Graphics are great representations of what you want to say Graphics can create an emotion or feeling for the user Graphics are useless to those that are visually impaired unless some sort of assistive adjustments are made GRAPHICS Alternative text for images, charts, graphs, and tables is vital to ensuring that users with visual impairments have access to information included in these visuals. This descriptive text should be limited to 120 characters for simple images, while the alternative text for graphs, tables, and complex images (such as detailed maps and diagrams) should give a brief summary of the included information.

Images 1. Right-Click image and select Format Picture In the Format Picture dialog box, select the Layout & Properties icon Add a title and description to the ALT TEXT 1 2 Should be used with purpose Images need Alternative Text to accompany the images

Charts – Alternative Text Right-Click the outer edge of the chart box and select Format Chart Area In the Format Chart Area under Chart Options tab dialog box, select the Layout & Properties icon Add a title and description to the ALT TEXT 1 Should be used with purpose Charts need a caption and alternative text to accompany them 2

Charts – Captions Right-Click the outer edge of the chart box and select Insert Caption In the Insert Caption dialog box add a caption to the chart to describe the graphic 1 Should be used with purpose Charts need a caption and alternative text to accompany them 2

Links can assist with instruction Links can assist with instruction. Send the user out to another site to continue to convey a message or support Links can be descriptive or secret if they are shortened Links can be long and difficult for screen readers LINKS

Links To add a hyperlink, place cursor where you want the link or highlight the text you want to convert and right click and select Hyperlink In the Hyperlink dialog box in the Address: section type the web address you want the link to go to starting with http://www. 1 Hyperlink text should provide a clear description of the link destination Using Click Here or Visit are not sufficient ways to describe a link 2

Data arranged in rows and columns creates and easy way to organize content Always try to construct simple tables Only use one row in the Header Never Merge or Split cells Try not to leave any cells, rows or columns blank Tables

Tables To create a table, select the Insert tab, and click on the Table menu Select the number or rows and columns by using your cursor and dragging the number of boxes or by selecting Insert Table in the options below the visual In the Insert Table dialog box, enter the number or rows and columns 1 It is recommended that a description or explanation of the table contents be included in the text of the document Format a table correctly to allow screen readers to jump from column or row in the correct order 2 3

Tables - Continued After a table has been created and populated with data, a Header Row needs to be identified to allow the heading text to be distinguished from the data area of the table. Identifying a Header row is also important if the table spans more than one page. To identify the Header Row. Select the first row of the table, Right Click, and select Table Properties, Row tab Ensure the options “Allow row to break across pages” and “Repeat as header row at the top of each page” are check and then select OK to close the dialog box. Avoid blank cells. Using blank cells can mislead someone using a screen reader Structure layout tables for easy navigation 2

Tables – Continued 2 In addition to adding to specifying the Header Row, Alt text should be added to explain the table. Give the Table a name and description. Select the table, Right Click, and select Table Properties, Alt Text tab In the Alt Text tab, add the title and description. Lastly, check the table for easy navigation by checking the reading order to be sure it makes sense. Verify the reading order by tabbing through the cells to check that the information is presented in a logical order. 2 Avoid blank cells. Using blank cells can mislead someone using a screen reader Structure layout tables for easy navigation

Accessibility Checker When your document is complete, use the Accessibility Checker Like the spelling checker, the Accessibility Checker will show if errors are present Fix errors before publishing your document Accessibility Checker

Accessibility Checker Like the spelling checker tells you about possible spelling errors, Accessibility Checker in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint tells you about possible accessibility issues in your Office file so you can fix these issues so someone with a disability can read and get to your content. Click File and then Info Select the Check for Issues button and select Check Accessibility to check for issues If the Accessibility Checker finds errors, your Word file will reappear and the Accessibility Checker task pane shows the inspection results. Click a specific issues to see Additional Information and steps you can take to change the content. The Accessibility Checker is a built into Microsoft Word Documents should be checked each time a document is created Using the Accessibility Checker can save the user with a screen reader a lot of time when navigating your document 2 3