Creating ADA Compliant Resources Mastery Level Training Workshop

Purpose provide information on designing ADA (Americans for Disabilities Act) compliant content for online courses demonstrate simple ways on how you can transform your courses to be more ADA compliant explore areas such as creating accessible PDF documents, appropriate font, style, and color choices, video captioning, and graphics considerations 9/20/2018

What is Accessibility? how users with disabilities access electronic information how web content designers and developers enable web pages to function with assistive devices used by individuals with disabilities. 9/20/2018

Why We Need to Design for Accessibility It is the right thing to do It’s the smart thing to do It’s the law 9/20/2018

Application to Higher Education The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act apply to almost all colleges, universities, and trade schools Web accessibility is one of the most critical issues facing higher education 9/20/2018

What is ADA Compliance? Section 508 of the Rehabilitation act of 1973 ensures that millions of Americans with disabilities have equivalent access to information regardless of how they access it. Vision Impairment Hearing Impairment Motor Impairment Physical Impairment Psychological Impairment 9/20/2018

Webpages & ADA Compliance The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 are becoming the industry standard for accessible websites. It outlines standards to be met but organizes them according to 4 main principles of accessibility 4 Principles of Accessibility Perceivable Operable Understandable Robust 9/20/2018

Guidelines for Accessibility Keep page layout simple and consistent Keep backgrounds simple Use standard HTML: Hypertext Markup Language is the code used to create web pages 9/20/2018

Audio/Video The goal is that all new produced videos need to include close captions that are synchronized to appear when the audio is heard. If a video has visual content that cannot be understood through audio alone, an audio description will make your video accessible to users who are visually impaired. Transcripts of videos are helpful for making the them accessible to people who have disabilities 9/20/2018

Documents Use sans-serif fonts designed for legibility on the computer screen (e.g., Arial, Verdana, Helvetica). Use bold or italic text to display emphasis. Don’t underline words since on a web page this indicates hyperlinks. Avoid using colored text (such as red) for emphasis since screen readers will not indicate it is there. Avoid writing whole sentences in CAPITAL letters. Lengthy segments of capitalized text are more difficult to read for everyone, not only for individuals who are visually impaired. Avoid including moving or blinking text. Keep the number of fonts used in a document to a minimum 9/20/2018

Navigation and Links Best example: Please visit the WilmU Admissions web page. Fair example: Here is the WilmU Admissions web page. Worst example: Click here to view the WilmU Admissions web page. 9/20/2018

Links Links should be accessible for users not using a mouse Link text should use words that briefly convey what the person will get if they click the link. Don’t use “Click Here,” “More” or the URL as link text Always fill out the Title field for each link you create Content from Title field will hover above link when moused over. 9/20/2018

Images Alt tags provide text to describe images on your web page Make sure to convey any meaning in the alt tag that the picture would provide for a sighted user. 9/20/2018

Images and Graphics Adding a text equivalent to every image An alt text description Captions for images that describe the image Try not to use only images and/or graphics to convey important content. 9/20/2018

Tables Tables that present data in a column and row format must be appropriately marked up in the CMS. Include a Caption Tag for the whole table Insert/Edit Table > Select Table Caption check box Insert Caption on New Table 9/20/2018

Tables, again Tables are read from left to right and line by line Any column or row headers must be marked so the content is read correctly Right-click in the header Select Cell > Table Cell Properties Set Cell Type to Header Set Scope to Either Column or Row 9/20/2018

Backgrounds and Color Choose solid-colored, rather than textured backgrounds. Choose color combinations with high contrast so the image still makes sense when viewed without color. Do not use color alone to convey meaning; e.g., use and asterisk (*) or other symbol; and if color is used, use it very sparingly. Not sure, check http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/ 9/20/2018

Working with Microsoft 9/20/2018

Heading Styles Create a uniform heading structure through use of styles in Word. Adding and Editing Headings 9/20/2018

Alternative Text for Images Images can be given appropriate alternative text in Word. 9/20/2018

Columns and Lists 9/20/2018

Adding Hyperlinks Word automatically creates a hyperlink when a user pastes a full URL onto a page 9/20/2018

Checking Accessibility in Word, Excel, & PPT All 2010 and above Microsoft Office programs have an accessibility checker Click the File tab in top Ribbon Check for Issues > Check Accessibility 9/20/2018

Evaluating Your Document & What to Do Next Take a look at the results Use the Inspection Results dialog to click through all the issues 9/20/2018

Tips for Creating Accessible Documents Create proper file names Fill out Document Properties 9/20/2018

Tips for Creating Accessible Word Documents Templates solve most problems Create headers to organize content Automatic Bullet lists Utilize tabs instead of repeat spacing Page Breaks instead of returns Insert images in-line with text Rules Use built in headers to organize content All Images Need Alt Text All Links Need Descriptive Tables Need Captions Tables Need Column and Row Headers Designated 9/20/2018

Creating Accessible PDFs Start with a document (Word, Powerpoint) that is already accessible File > Save As > Select Location In the Save as type dropdown select PDF Click Save 9/20/2018

Creating Accessible Excel & PowerPoint files Follow recommendations for creating accessible Word Docs Avoid blank rows for formatting Give all sheet tabs unique names that describe what is in the sheet PowerPoint Follow recommendations for creating accessible Word Docs Use slide layouts Place proper titles in proper places Don’t insert text boxes Use arrange tool to order elements 9/20/2018

Evaluating Your Document & What to Do Next Take a look at the results Use the Inspection Results dialog to click through all the issues 9/20/2018

Questions 9/20/2018