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Creating Accessible Word Documents

5 Quick Tip Best Practices

ID on the staff of the Title V Grant, within the Department of Distance and Alternative Edu.

Thank you for being here.

Presentation Intro:

We are going to take a quick dive into some key MS Word accessibility techniques to enhance the accessibility of your Word docs.
Some of the techniques may be familiar to you. Sometimes the exact version of Word we used may differ from yours, so it’s possible that our screenshots may not exactly match yours but the sequence and procedures will be very close.
The objective today is to tune you in to the possibilities and to show you how easy it is to implement some of the techniques that will go a long way to creating accessible documentation in the creation stage – rather than having to go back and remediate a document for accessibility after creation.

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Word Document �Accessibility

What are some key elements �for creating an accessible Word document?

Have you ever felt like dealing with accessibility issues was just overwhelming at times? While there are numerous considerations to attend to as we work to make our documents clearer and more inclusive for all users, there are several key attributes to pay attention to in the process of creating an accessible document.
Many of us are on a journey to create more equity and inclusiveness in our development efforts.
We hope these few tips today can help make that journey a tiny bit smoother.
In a more measurable way – incorporating these attributes in your document creation efforts will go a long way to helping meeting one of the Essential Quality Matters standards that is part of the QM certification process.
We’ll go through the tips sorta quickly to start and then we’ll go through each one in more detail and discuss the steps for implementing in your docs.

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Word Document �Accessibility 1

What are some key elements �for creating an accessible Word document?

Apply Styles (Headings) for accessible structure and navigation within the document

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Word Document �Accessibility

What are some key elements �for creating an accessible Word document?

Apply Styles (Headings) for accessible structure and navigation within the document
Create accessible images using Alt Text

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Word Document �Accessibility

What are some key elements �for creating an accessible Word document?

Apply Styles (Headings) for accessible structure and navigation within the document
Create accessible images using Alt Text
Create accessible tables using a Header Row attribute

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Word Document �Accessibility

What are some key elements �for creating an accessible Word document?

Apply Styles (Headings) for accessible structure and navigation within the document
Create accessible images using Alt Text
Create accessible tables using a Header Row attribute
Create accessible hypertext links with descriptive text

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Word Document �Accessibility

What are some key elements �for creating an accessible Word document?

Apply Styles (Headings) for accessible structure and navigation within the document
Create accessible images using Alt Text
Create accessible tables using a Header Row attribute
Create accessible hypertext links with descriptive text
Avoid using color alone for emphasis or identification

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#1 Apply Heading Styles to Your Document

In Word, there is a Styles tool located on the Home tab. These settings help you create an accessible Word document.

Apply Heading Tags Using Styles

In Word, there is a Styles tool located on the Home tab. This Styles tool help you create an accessible Word document.

But really – why use Word Styles?

Word Styles are used to format headings, for emphasized and strongly emphasized text, links, paragraphs, and lists for example.

When text is formatted with Styles in Word, and particularly headings in your document it creates a navigational structure that screen reader users can use to quickly get to the information. It’s not always so much of a visible difference but the data within and about the document creates increased ease of use for those individuals that are using assistive reading devices to gain access to the document information, and to navigate through the document effectively.

Another good basis for using heading styles to create a navigational structure is that when that document is exported to a PDF format – those headings are retained within the exported file and the PDF file is now able to be navigated by assistive reading devices. Particularly on smaller screen mobile devices the ability to get from one part of the document to another without excessive scrolling is very useful. Heading styles are also HTML compatible when a document is converted to an HTML file which eases the conversion process.

There are numerous other ”reasons” that are not specifically related to accessibility for using Word Styles. When you apply styles consistently to elements within your document you create a much more “stable” document. One thing I really like about using Styles is the ability to make global formatting changes in the document and structure rather than one-by-one changes. This is ultimately a faster and more efficient way to apply formatting to your document.

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Apply Heading Styles to Your Document

Remember –

Styles

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Heading Styles Applied

Select text.
Select a Heading Style for each successive heading level

This screenshot shows the Heading Styles from the Styles options applied to document headings.

The way you actually apply heading styles is to specify the style and type your text -- or select the text and click on the applicable style option. This example shows the different styles applied to the document text.

This is truly a quick and dirty explanation of Heading Styles application. If you think of Heading Styles the next time you are creating a document you will actually be on your way to creating a higher level of accessibility in your document. Because – if you think of using Styles, but don’t really remember the steps to application – you can click the “Tell me” tab at the far right of the Menu Bar to get Heading Styles information for just-in-time application.

Next Slide

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#2 Create Accessible Images – Use Alt Text

What is Alt Text (alternative text) and Why is it Important?

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Create Accessible Images – Use Alt Text

What is Alt Text (alternative text) and Why is it Important?

Alt Txt is text that is embedded in the digital content of the document. The alternative text describes the function and appearance of a photo or graphic that a person with a visual impairment cannot see.

What is Alt text?

Alternate text (alt text) is a piece of code embedded in digital content, like a Word document, or a web page, or PDF, that describes a photo or graphic. You’ve probably seen it pop up when you hover over an image or when an image is missing. It is sometimes referred to as an alt description.

Why Alt text?

Alt Text is critical for those with disabilities because it describes the function and appearance of a photo or graphic image they cannot see. Alt text is the information that assistive reading technology will be able to “see” and read for the user that describes the image.

Making our images, graphics, and tables accessible using alt text is reasonably straightforward and doesn’t require too much effort. MS Word makes it easy to add Alt Text to an image or graphic.

NEXT SLIDE

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Create Accessible Images : �Use Alt Text – Steps

Right click on an image or graphic

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Create Accessible Images : �Use Alt Text – Steps

Right click on an image or graphic.
Select the Edit Alt Txt option. (Format Picture option in Windows)

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Create Accessible Images : �Use Alt Text – Steps

Right click on an image or graphic.
Select the Edit Alt Txt option. (Format Picture option in Windows)
Write your brief informative description of the image or graphic.

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#3 Create Accessible Tables – �Identify Header Row Tags

Why is it important to create and identify a header row (and/or column) in a table?

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Create Accessible Tables – �Identify Header Row Tags

Why is it important to create and identify a header row (and/or column) in a table?

Marking a table header row or column tells screen reader users how to read the table. They can navigate table cells and hear which column they are currently in. This turns random data into meaningful data.

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Create Accessible Tables - Steps

Key Concept: Don’t use tables for layout and design.

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Create Accessible Tables - Steps

1. - Select the header row.

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Create Accessible Tables - Steps

2. - Right click to bring up an options window to be able to select the Table Properties option.

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Create Accessible Tables – Steps (cont)

3. - Apply header row attributes.

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Create Accessible Tables – Steps (cont)

4. - Also provide an Alt Text description for the table.

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#4 Create Accessible Hyperlinks

Avoid URLs as the link.
Embed hyperlink within meaningful and descriptive text.
Avoid using ”click here” or “learn more” type descriptors

The next tip we will talk about is Creating Accessible Hyperlinks.

Why Create Descriptive Hyperlinks?

We often need to include URLs in their documents to point readers to files or pages on the Internet. However, including full URLs can frustrate users who rely on screen readers, because they are forced to listen to the entire URL being spelled out character by character. For example, a URL like https://www.acc.edu/ would be real aloud as Link: H-T-T-P colon forward slash forward slash W-W-W dot A-C-C dot E-D-U forward slash. This is not the most convenient way to be led to the ACC home page.

Rather than spelling out URLs, hyperlinks should instead be embedded within meaningful text which describes where the link goes. For example, if you want someone to visit the ACC home page then you could simply hyperlink some text that says "visit the ACC homepage." This provides the link while also describing where the link goes. The label or text of the link should accurately describe the purpose of the link and the destination web page or content. Descriptive link text helps users feel confident about where links will take them.

HOW to create the descriptive/embedded hyperlink

To create an embedded hyperlink, just select the text you want to add a link to, and then right click the selected text and choose Hyperlink from the context menu.

Steps shown on progressive clicks.

Select or create descriptive text for your hyperlinks.
Don’t use “click here” or “learn more” as the text in which to embed your link address. Avoid generic text embedded URL
Avoid typing URLs in your document unless it is an email address or perhaps if you know that the document will be used in a printed form then it is OK to incorporate both the online version and the long URL address.

Microsoft has a wealth of support pages and video to help you create meaningful and accessible hyperlinks.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/video-create-accessible-links-in-word-28305cc8-3be2-417c-a313-dc22082d1ee0?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

That link and other links to specific elements we’ve mentioned here will be in our presentation materials.

Possible useful video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rgI-kLvelc – Examples of descriptive (accessible) and non-descriptive (inaccessible) links from Portland Community College

Clear Labels for Links – Indiana University -- https://accessibility.iu.edu/creating-content/documents/general-guidelines/clear-labels.html

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Create Accessible Hyperlinks

Click Here

“For more information on President George Washington, click here.”

HOW to create the descriptive/embedded hyperlink.

To create an embedded hyperlink, just select the text you want to add a link to, and then right click the selected text and click Hyperlink from the context menu, then paste in the long URL address in the Hyperlink options address window.

A couple of best practices to emphasize here.

1. Don’t use “click here” or “learn more” as the text in which to embed your link address. Avoid generic text embedded URL

2. Avoid typing URLs in your document unless it is an email address or perhaps if you know that the document will be used in a printed form then it is OK to incorporate both the online version and the long URL address.

Microsoft has a wealth of support pages and video to help you create meaningful and accessible hyperlinks.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/video-create-accessible-links-in-word-28305cc8-3be2-417c-a313-dc22082d1ee0?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

That link and other links to specific elements we’ve mentioned here will be in our presentation materials.

Possible useful video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rgI-kLvelc – Examples of descriptive (accessible) and non-descriptive (inaccessible) links from Portland Community College

Clear Labels for Links – Indiana University -- https://accessibility.iu.edu/creating-content/documents/general-guidelines/clear-labels.html

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Create Accessible Hyperlinks

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Create Accessible Hyperlinks - Steps

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Create Accessible Hyperlinks

Right click selected text to bring up the text option Hyperlink option (or Insert > Link on menu)

Select Hyperlink

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Create Accessible Hyperlinks

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Create Accessible Hyperlinks

Paste the URL address in the Address: text box of the Insert Hyperlink window.

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Create Accessible Hyperlinks

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Create Accessible Hyperlinks

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#5 Accessible Color Considerations

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Accessible Color -

Key Concepts

Key Concept #1: �Avoid using color alone�for emphasis or identification.

Only 10 more days left in the semester! As a reminder, the deadline for Test 5 (the final exam) is next SATURDAY.

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Accessible Color Considerations

Key Concept #2: �Use color tone and brightness to distinguish similar elements.

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Accessible Color Considerations

Key Concept #2: �Color tone and brightness

The text in your document should be readable in a high contrast mode. For example, use high-contrast color schemes on opposite ends of the color spectrum. High contrast color schemes make it easier for people who have a color vision deficiency to distinguish text and shapes.

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Accessible Color Considerations - Examples

Use of textures and patterns and symbols/icons can be incorporated into documents and charts/graphs to make them more accessible.

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Accessible Color Considerations - Examples

You can use red and green colors together as long as you apply different saturation and lightness to increase the contrast.

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Any Questions