III.Creating Downloadable Files: Word, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint A Web Accessibility Primer: Usability for Everyone Office of Web Communications

Word – Headings and Lists Organize the text with headed sections and lists. Use real headings and real bullet list “styles”. –So machines (screen readers) can recognize them. –Many other advantages too.

Word – heading exercise Open Word and create a new document. Either type or copy and paste 6 lines of text into the document, with hard returns after each (i.e., hit enter). Gibberish or random words are OK. Then make the first line into the built-in Heading 1 style. Make the third line Heading 2 style. And make the fifth line Heading 3 style.

As discussed… Use the simplest layout possible. –Simplify (don’t span, use one level) –Label rows and columns clearly –Define column/row width/height with percentages, not fixed with inches or centimeters. Word – tables

Word – describe images As discussed… describe all images. –Unless they are only for decoration. –Either describe the image in the regular document content… –… or add alternative text to the image.

Word – image exercise 1.Insert an image into a Word document (Insert > Picture > clip art > search for and select a “chart” image”). 2.Highlight the image. 3.Right click on image and select “Format Picture.” 4.Select the “Web” tab and enter your alternative text. (Maybe pretend you are describing a real chart.)

PDFs To PDF or to HTML: that is the question Makes PDF easierMakes PDF harder few or one author(s)multiple authors having advanced technical skillshaving limited technical skills creating a new fileworking with existing PDF having original source filehaving only the PDF file simple layoutcomplex layout

PDF Strategies Needs to be text, not scanned image of text. Follow accessibility guidelines for source file. Keep layout simple. E.g., maximum 2 columns. In Acrobat, before converting from source file, go to Settings, and check “Enable accessibility”. Tag the PDF content. Evaluate your PDF using Acrobat tools.

Excel Challenging to make Excel spreadsheets accessible Keep tables simple. Explain formulas. –Save as image and add alt-text –Or provide text description Describe charts. –No alt-text option for charts in Excel, so need to explain within spreadsheet.

PowerPoint Options for making content accessible include: Post.ppt file as is. Post text content of file: –Save as Rich Text and copy/paste to make HTML. –Or copy/paste Outline view into HTML. Save.ppt as a Web page: –With PowerPoint, though then need to upgrade the HTML. –Use commercial conversion tool. Make HTML-based presentations.

PowerPoint - strategies Use existing slide layout boxes. Provide slide notes for slides that have more than text. If converting to HTML, add charts or tables using PowerPoint’s “Insert” tool, rather than copying and pasting in from other sources. Group related images so can provide one alt-text.