Creating accessible documents for the web and elsewhere Glen Wallis Accessibility consultant April 2013

The publishing process Web publishing is part of a process It is not the beginning of the process, it is the end The process begins with the content author Accessibility needs to be considered from the start Retrofitting inaccessible documents is expensive

Stakeholders Those who commission content (clear requirements) Content authors (do what they’re told) Web managers (speak softly and carry a big stick) Web publishers (need teeth) Senior management (buy-in essential)

What goes wrong? Documents lack semantic structure (headings, lists etc.) Insufficient colour contrast Objects that are not real text Images lack appropriate text alternatives

Text alternatives Non-text content must have a text alternative that serves the equivalent purpose The key word is “equivalent” The purpose of the text alternative depends on the purpose of the image

Image purpose Purely decorative (can be ignored) Visual appeal (can be briefly described) Branding (branding) Hyperlink (describe the link) Presentation of data (present equivalent information)

Presentation of data

Describing complex images The image on the previous page cannot be adequately described in a brief sentence Separate text alternative must be supplied Content experts are best placed to provide descriptions Text alternative must serve the equivalent purpose

What to do Develop policies, guidelines and processes Develop templates Provide documentation to authors Only accept work of high quality Expert QA Utilise internal web expertise Demand compliance

Resources for more info Creating accessible word documents help/creating-accessible-word-documents- HA aspx help/creating-accessible-word-documents- HA aspx Adobe accessibility WCAG