Intro to Digital Accessibility For Content Owners & Editors

What We Will Cover O What Does Digital Accessibility Mean ? O Why Do We Care? O What Makes a Document/Web site Accessible? O What Do I Need to Do, as an Editor? O Resources

What does Digital Accessibility Mean? O Digital accessibility refers to the practice of making information online usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. Wikipedia O When online content is correctly designed, developed, and edited, all visitors have equal access to the information and functions.

Why Is This Important? O We post a lot of our information online as PDFs or downloadable documents or as Web pages. O We do many things online from apply for jobs to request benefits, to ask for time off to…. O We exclude some people from being able to take part in all of these things… IF the documents or pages are not accessible to them.

Limitations: O Physical O Sight, hearing, motor skills O Mental O Learning issues O Emotional O Devices We Use O Smart phone, tablet, desktop, refrigerator O Environment We’re In O Noisy room, public transit

So Really.. O Accessibility Benefits Everyone O It’s the right thing to do O It’s good business O It’s Purdue University Policy It’s Purdue University Policy

Purdue Policy O Applies to all official Web pages and associated Web-based services developed by or for a college, school, department, program, or unit of Purdue University.

It’s Everything Digital O PDFs O Office Documents O Videos O Audio Recordings O Instructional Technology O Textbooks O Learning Management Systems (Blackboard) O Other Software

Some Exclusions May Apply O Individual Web pages published by students, employees, or non-university organizations hosted by Purdue Calumet that do not conduct university related O Archived Web Pages, unless specifically requested by an individual with a disability O Archived = A Web site or page no longer in use but subject to records retention plans.

What EXACTLY Do We Mean by Accessible? O Creating content designed to be accessed by assistive technology devices and software assistive technology devices O Screen readers JAWS / NVDA O Magnifiers – ZoomText O Text to Speech – Kurzweil, Dragon O Refreshable Braille O Creating content designed to support O Different Learning Styles O Access to technology O Different Environments / devices (phones, tablets)

Accessibility is NOT On or Off O Accessibility is NOT binary, all-or-nothing, black-and-white. O We have every shade of gray in between. O How you view this point frames everything that you learn and do about accessibility Derek Featherstone, Simply Accessible Simply Accessible

Three Common Objects O All were invented to address an inability or “disability”

Give me an example O A Blind person uses screen reader software O What screen reader users hear: O PDF PDF O Untagged O Tagged

One You Need to Hear AND See O English Language Program Newsletter English Language Program Newsletter O Tagged but not right O Tagged properly

Other Examples O A person with hearing loss needs captions O This Video is not captioned – for a reason This Video is not captioned O Step away from the mouse! O Try navigating the Web using only the keyboard O Learning issues O Dyslexia for example Dyslexia for example

What do We need to do? O We ALL need to know about accessibility! O We ALL need to know how to check our work! O We ALL need to know how to tag documents O We ALL need to know the rules!

Questions to Keep In Mind: O What is missing if you can't see the page? O What is missing if you can't hear audio? O What can't be operated (done) if you can't use a mouse? O What is lost if you are using a tablet or mobile device? O Everybody skims on the Web - WANTS to skim on the Web. How does assistive technology allow for skimming?

What to focus on: O Images O Structure O Links O Color O Tables O Data tables not marked up properly O Layout tables (JUST SAY NO!!) O Documents O Multimedia O Videos – captioned for deaf viewers, transcripts for blind O Audio - transcripts

Best Practices - Images O Images Images O No Alternate text for decorative images like bullets O Create a post instead of using graphic text Create a post instead of using graphic text O Alternate text to replace, not describe Alternate text to replace, not describe O What would we say for this image?

Images - Alt Text O How do you decide? O Complicated images (like this one) O Provide a long description as a separate page O For a chart, link to a page with the table.

Best Practices - Structure O Headings Headings O Like Table of Contents for a page or newspaper article headlines O Help organize the content into major areas O Heading 2 for section heading O Heading 3 for subsection O Tips: O Use Descriptive Text O Screen Readers bring up list of headings O Keep them short O Follow a logical order / hierarchy like an outline O This is your navigation – a Roadmap through the document O Beware Tricky Text Beware Tricky Text

Best Practices – Links O Links – Like Sign Posts O Tell visitor where the link will take him/her O Make sense out of context O Screen Readers bring up list of links as navigation shortcuts

Links O Human readable text O No “Click Here”, “Read more” O No complex URLs O Listen to this: O A publication-quality image is available at man-watery.jpg man-watery.jpg O Vs This: O A publication-quality image is available.publication-quality image is available

Best Practices - Color O Use Symbols & Color together O Don’t use color as only way to convey information O Provide additional help via text O “Press the green button to stop” unless you’re color blind! O Screen readers don’t always read punctuation **(asterisk) so * means nothing

Color O Sufficient Contrast Sufficient Contrast O Two similar colors next to each other hard to read O Size matters

Stylin’ O Need larger or smaller text? O Ask yourself: O Is this really a heading? O Or do you need special styles? O Call us at University Relations and we will help!!!!

Best Practices – Tables O Data Tables Data Tables O Proper markup Proper markup O Caption O Summary O Header cells O Scope O Layout Tables O Just don’t do it!

Tables Table Properties Table Cell Properties

Table Properties

Table Header Cells

Table Header Cell Scope

Table Header Cell Update

Organization & Language O Plain language O Easy to understand O Easy on the jargon O Think about how the document will be heard

Best Practices - Accessible Documents O Same things apply O Headings, lists, paragraphs, tables, alternate text O PDFs O Tags O Reading Order O Office 2010 O Accessibility Checker O Acrobat Pro O Versions 9 through 11 have support for accessibility

Checking Your Work O Compliance Sheriff Compliance Sheriff O WAVE O Screen readers O In Browser: Web AnywhereWeb Anywhere O Free and open source: NVDANVDA O Expensive & Popular – a demo version: JAWSJAWS O Other Resources: O Evaluation Tools Evaluation Tools O Nothing Beats Manual Evaluation O Best Practices: Best Practices

Resources – SO MANY! O Our Web Accessibility Site Resources Page Our Web Accessibility Site Resources Page O Document “Cheat” Sheets Document “Cheat” Sheets O from the National Center on Disability and Access to Education O Document Guides O Adobe Best Practices Guide (94 page PDF) Adobe Best Practices Guide (94 page PDF) O Adobe PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow (50 page PDF) Adobe PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow (50 page PDF) O WebAIM PDF Accessibility Web Page WebAIM PDF Accessibility Web Page O Penn State Penn State O West Lafayette (PDF) West Lafayette (PDF) O Health & Human Services Web Page Health & Human Services Web Page O Microsoft Office – Creating Accessible Office Files Microsoft Office – Creating Accessible Office Files

Where to go for help O I Have Questions Form I Have Questions Form O Contact Us: O Lawshe 310C O – office O mobile O O Web Accessibility Mailing List Web Accessibility Mailing List

Your Questions & Feedback O Talk to me! O I’m listening!