Accessibility with Office and Acrobat Andrew Arch Online Accessibility Consulting

Topics Creating accessible non-HTML content Word:  Best practices PowerPoint:  Best practices Acrobat (PDF):  Access issues  Accessibility

Word best practices Use Word’s style sheets Apply Headings and Lists from the toolbar Select fonts and text styles carefully Always left-justify Spell check and grammar check Use single column layouts

Word best practices cont. Add line and paragraph spacing Use footnotes, not endnotes Never add text-boxes Add images, but position them carefully Avoid Word’s forms

Word’s style sheets

Structure - headings Apply via Word’s styles, not large/bold text

Check headings via the document map

Structure - lists

Font choices Use 12pt Arial or another sans serif font  Avoid fancy fonts such as freestyle script  Avoid light fonts such as Courier New  Minimise the use of italics  Avoid the use of ALL CAPITALS  Avoid the use of underline Avoid patterned backgrounds Don’t use colour alone for emphasis  Ensure sufficient contrast

Justified text Left-justified text meets people’s expectations and reading skills… Right-justified text is harder for people to read and requires a greater cognitive load… Centre-justified text lacks any vertical visual line to follow making it hard to read and sometimes easy to miss a line or two…

Spelling and grammar Always spell-check your documents Consider doing a grammar-check as well

Columns Use a single column layout If multiple columns are required:  Restrict the number to two  Use Word’s column option  Add a divider  Make sure they flow continuously

Spacing White space is good  Add it to lines and paragraphs via the style options

Footnotes Always use footnotes in preference to endnotes  Much easier to navigate to/from

Text Boxes Use ‘borders’ to add borders to text  Tables may be necessary sometimes Never add text boxes

Images Assists some readers to understand the material Add captions with the Caption option Position images relative to the text, not the page, so they can move as readers resize the document

Forms Cannot be made accessible to screen reader users in Word! Alternatives:  HTML  PDF If it must be in Word, talk to me afterwards.

PowerPoint best practices Use slide titles Beware of slide layout Fonts and colours Animated text Images Tables and org charts

Slide Titles Add a title to each slide  The title should show up in the Outline pane

Slide layout Use a Microsoft template  Beware of custom-built templates, they are often just a series of text-boxes Avoid adding text boxes to your slide  If needed, then add a ‘hidden’ slide with the text-box material

Fonts and colours Ensure sufficient contrast between foreground and background  Some templates have poor contrast and patterned or moving backgrounds Use a sans serif font Do not use a text size smaller than 20pt Minimize italics, caps, underline, etc

Animation effects Use sparingly

Images Use to complement your points Have them ‘looking in’ Add explanations on a ‘hidden’ slide for informational images

Tables and Org Charts Avoid Tables and Org Charts  No information is placed in the outline view  If required, add a ‘hidden’ slide with an alternative representation

PDF access issues Minimise the use of non essential graphics Publish the PDF in logical sections (as well as the full document) Optimise the PDF for on-screen viewing Offer an alternative delivery for people who can download, open or read PDF files Does the user have the Acrobat Reader?

Non-essential graphics Treasury reduce file size from 1.6MB to 223KB

Offering the report in sections Provides manageable download junks

PDF Accessibility issues PDF file structure and tagging Assistive technology Security

Word as the starting point  Use Word’s styles to create headings, lists and paragraphs  Use Word’s Table > Insert > Table to create tables  Add alternative text to images  Use Word’s Format > Column to create columns  Ensure suitable contrast ? Avoid complex tables if at all possible  Avoid the use of text-boxes  Avoid background images behind text or tables

Converting to PDF Ensure all settings are enabling accessibility Use the Convert to Adobe PDF option from the Adobe PDF  Do not print to the Adobe PDF print from the print menu

Testing for accessibility Accessibility full check Listen to the document with ‘Read out loud’ Get some users to test for you

Thank you Questions? Contact: