1. Top Tips for Building Inclusive Electronic Content
CHHS Web Content Managers
May 18, 2017
Allison Kidd
Assistive Technology Resource Center

2. Assistive Technology Resource Center (ATRC)
Ensuring equal access:
1. Direct Services: AT assessment, accommodation, training, equipment loans, and resources
Consultation and Education on campus regarding electronic accessibility, universal design, and ergonomics
Our Mission: Ensuring equal access to technology and electronic information for CSU students and employees with disabilities as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

3. Website Audiences Are Diverse
Nontraditional Students
Learning / Cognitive Styles
Non-Native English Speakers
Ethnicity, Culture, Gender
Disabilities

4. Apparent vs non-apparent disabilities
When we look at students with disabilities we see about 1/3 have apparent disabilities: things like mobility, visual and hearing impairments. The other 2/3 have a non-apparent disability: So this includes things like ADHD, Learning disabilities, Autism, TBI, PTSD.
People often equate electronic accessibility with readability by screen readers (used by people with visual impairments) but most of the students seeking accommodations follow under non-apparent disabilities.

5. Consider Diversity of Technology and Audience
How do people access your websites?
What kind of devices or technology do they use?
What kind of content do you have? (Text, images, videos?)
What file types do you post?
Who is accessing your websites?
How might a visitor with an apparent disability read your website?
How about a visitor with a non-apparent disability?
What problems could they encounter?

6. Flexible Documents - Electronic Accessibility
Content must be designed to interact well with diverse technologies.
Documents that work are Accessible
Inclusive / Universal Design
Create with accessibility up front instead of fixing it later.
Test as you go.
Shannon

7. Universal Design – Physical and Digital Worlds
Include accessibility as part of your work flow instead of retrofitting
UDL is the same concept for electronic accessibility
Designing digital content to work for students with disabilities benefits all students

8. CSU Policy: Accessibility of Electronic Information & Technologies
Campus-Wide Priorities
Public-Facing Content (e.g. Websites)
Must pass WCAG 2.0 AA standards
Student Need – Accommodation Requests
Other Considerations
Timeliness is key
Benefits to all students
CSU Accessibility Policy:

9. Top Tips for Inclusive Electronic Materials
Make Scanned PDFs Searchable
Use Headings in Word
Use Slide Layouts in PPT
Make Links Descriptive
Add Alternative Text to Images
Use Accessibility Checkers
Add Captions to Videos
Allison

10. Make PDFs Searchable Scanned PDFs are images, not text
Use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) Software
Software that converts the image to text
Creates a PDF with text that is:
Selectable – Copy and Paste
Searchable
Text-to-Speech Capable
Shannon

11. Use Headings in Word Headings are not just for looks!
Generates a Table of Contents / Outline
Provides Structure
Indicates Level of Importance
Adds visual emphasis to a section
Benefits Both Visual and Non-Visual Readers

12. Headings on the Web
Format text using the provided styles for headings, lists, and paragraph text
These choices are common in many html editors, including WordPress
Start with the biggest (lowest #) heading available, and don’t skip levels

13. PPT Slide Titles Give Every Slide a Unique Title
Check Your Outline View

14. Slide Layouts in PowerPoint
Use Slide Layouts instead of drawing text boxes
This helps with reading order

15. PPT Reading Order Home > Arrange > Selection Pane
To check the reading order of a slide:
Home > Arrange > Selection Pane
Content will read from the bottom to top in the selection pane

16. Descriptive Links Do you see a problem with this link?
Link addresses:
Can be long and full of random characters
Clutter up the page
Are difficult to read

17. Links Examples Bad Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyA5mkhCzRA
Good Link – Change the display text to be descriptive:
Good, Bad, and Ugly: Closed Captioning and Video Description
Good Link for Print Materials – Include the address in parentheses:
Good, Bad, and Ugly: Closed Captioning and Video Description ( A)

18. Adding Display Text to Links (Microsoft Office)

19. Writing Alt Text for Images: Context is Key
Consider the picture. How would the alt text change if the image is used for…
Ice Cream Manufacturer
Girl Scouts of America
Diversity Website
Source: Jesse Hausler, ATRC & The ACCESS Project

20. Adding Alt Text (Microsoft Office)
Right-Click on Image to Format Picture or Format Shape
Click on Layout & Properties in the Sidebar
Expand the Alt Text menu
Add the text in the Description field

21. Converting from Office to PDF
Start with an Accessible Source Document
Using Acrobat Professional Plugin
“Enable Accessibility and Reflow with Tagged Adobe PDF” in Plugin Preferences
Use “Save As PDF” or “Create PDF”
Avoid Printing to Adobe PDF in the Printers List!
Using Microsoft Built-in Converter
“Document structure tags for accessibility” in “Save as” Options

22. Fixing PDFs (Advanced)
Both Scanned and Converted PDFs need to be manually checked for accessibility within Acrobat
Check “Tags” for Correct Reading Order
Images will be out of order on converted PDFs
Scanned PDFs need to have tags, headings and alt text added manually

23. Add Captions to Videos Captions are required on public-facing videos
Prioritize high-traffic videos
Captions benefit many website visitors, including those who:
Have Hearing Impairments
Have a Learning Disability or other non-apparent disability
Don’t have speakers / headphones
Are in a loud or quiet workspace
Are learning English / have difficulty with accents
Want to search and jump to a specific point in the video

24. YouTube Auto-Caption Failure
Source: Funniest YouTube Captions Fails (CLONED) ( youtube-caption-fai_n_ html)

25. Captioning Options at CSU
YouTube Auto-Captions
A good place to start, but must edit for accuracy
Amara DIY Captions
Manually add transcript to video
Outsource Captioning
3PlayMedia – approx. $2/min – potential CSU vendor
CHHS is working on a subscription with Rev.com
Cost is on the department (at least for now)

26. Check Your Microsoft Office Documents
File > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility
Manually check images, since the checker will not realize when the alt text is ‘junk’

27. Check Your PDFs
Use the “Make Accessible” Action Wizard in Acrobat

28. Check Your Web Content
Use the WAVE Tool to check webpages for accessibility.

29. Campus Resources and Supports
ATRC Resources on Universal Design and Accessibility
Tips and Guides at Accessibility By Design (
– Accessibility Specialist
Services for CSU students and employees with disabilities
ATRC Website (
(970)
Allison