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VA Ahead – Kara Zirkle, IT Accessibility Coordinator,
George Mason University
Creating Accessible Documents
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Why documents should be made accessible
Types of documents How to create accessible documentsBuilt-In technology to help test documents for
accessibilityDEMOThird Party SolutionsQuestions
What will be covered:
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Law Applies to Mandates
Section 504
Federal, State and Local government, Educational agencies, Companies (Corporate – Private), any facility receiving Federal funds
No otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall, solely by reason of his/ her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity of a public entity.
Section 508
Federal entities and States that have adopted similar regulations
Requires that any electronic and information technology (EIT) procured, developed, used or maintained by Federal agencies must be accessible to employees and members of the public with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency. Section 508 was enacted to: 1) eliminate barriers in information technology, 2) make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and 3) encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals.
Rehabilitation Act
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Cliché, but correct answer: Because it’s the law!! ADA/Section 508 Helps Mason comply with Federal, State, and Local
government standards (i.e., Penn State, Arizona State, Google Apps for Education)
Penn State (settled last week) – library’s online database, Angel LMS, departmental websites, “smart” podiums, ATMs
Arizona State (settled Jan. 2010) – Kindle Reader pilot Google (initiated March 2011) Just recently
DOJ under ADA created a settlement agreement with Fairfax County, VA to ensure accessibility of both physical and online material.
Other reasons: Reaches a wider audience (i.e., captioning, older users, ESL) Search engines optimization favors accessible websites Mobile phone access
Why documents should be made accessible
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Common Mason Contract Language
As a condition of accepting this Agreement, *XX-Company-XX* agrees to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended, the Information Technology Access Act, (§§2.2-3500 through 2.2-3504 of the Code of Virginia), and all other regulations promulgated under Title II of The American with Disabilities Act which are applicable to all benefits, services, programs, and activities provided by or on behalf of the University pursuant to this Agreement. If requested, the Contractor must provide a detailed explanation of how compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is achieved and a validation of concept demonstration.
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Visual: described graphics or video; well marked-up tables or frames; keyboard support, screen reader compatibility;
Hearing: captioning for audio, supplemental illustration;
Physical, Speech: keyboard or single-switch support; alternatives for speech input on voice portals;
Cognitive, Neurological: consistent navigation, tab order, appropriate language
level; illustration; no flickering or strobing designs.
Examples of design requirements for people with different kinds of disabilities include:
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Increasing number of distance education courses…
Number of electronic documents posted on websites are not accessible E.g., PDFs scanned with no tags E.g., Word documents designed without
styles E.g., forms are inaccessible
Document Accessibility
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Accessible TextTo qualify to receive material in alternative formats,
students, staff and faculty must have a documented “print” related disability. (Referrals are made by our Office of Disability Services and our ADA Coordinator.)
Learning disabilities related to reading
Visual impairments Some mobility
impairments Some other
cognitive impairments
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The Web has become a key resource for: classroom education, distance learning; job searching, workplace interaction;civic participation, government services;news, information, commerce, entertainment
It is displacing traditional sources of information and interactionschools, libraries, print materials, discourse of the
workplace;some of the traditional resources were accessible; some not.
An accessible Web means unprecedented access to information for people with disabilities.
Impacts of the web on accessibility
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Why documents should be made accessibleTypes of documents How to create accessible documentsBuilt-In technology to help test documents for
accessibilityDEMOThird Party SolutionsQuestions
What will be covered:
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Adobe Reader and Acrobat ProfessionalAdobe LiveCycle DesignerMicrosoft Office
WordPowerPoint
Types of Documents
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There are some helpful accessibility features in the free Adobe PDF reader. For example, any PDF file open in Adobe reader can be read aloud with the "Read Out Loud" option.
Under the 'View' menu, select 'Read Out Loud', then 'Activate Read Outloud‘.
The Read Out Loud feature of Adobe Reader can be accessed with Keyboard Commands, as listed below.
Activate Read Out Loud: Shift + Ctrl + Y Read This Page Only: Shift + Ctrl + V Read To End of Document: Shift + Ctrl + B Pause/Resume: Shift + Ctrl + C Stop: Shift + Ctrl + E
Adobe Reader Accessibility Features
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Features for making PDF files accessible for readingAbility to add text to scanned pages to improve
accessibilityTools for creating accessible PDF formsConversion of untagged to tagged PDF filesTools for editing reading order and document
structureSecurity setting that allows screen readers to
access text while preventing users from copying, printing, editing, and extracting text
Action Wizard to make PDF Accessible
Adobe Acrobat Professional
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Where to find accessibility in Adobe X
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Accessibility PalettesSupport for Screen ReadersAdding Structural Navigation to FormsTabbing Order for Accessible FormsAccessible Form PropertiesAccessibility of Imported ContentAccessibility for Authors
http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/livecycle/overview.html
Adobe LiveCycle Designer
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How to include Accessibility in LiveCycle Designer
Before starting any document, Right click, scroll to Palettes and select Accessibility. This will continue to show up throughout the document.
When choosing a text box selection look to the far right of the screen to accessibility. Select “Caption” to tag the text box name.
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Including Accessibility in LiveCycle
You can check the tab/reading order and change it as needed.
Livecycle allows designers to specify the embedding of accessibility information within files that are saved in PDF.
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WordAdd alt text to images and objectsSpecify column headers in tablesUse styles in long documentsUse short titles in headingsEnsure all heading styles are in the correct orderUse hyperlink text that is meaningfulUse simple table structureAvoid using blank cells for formattingStructure layout tables for easy navigationAvoid using repeated blank charactersAvoid using floating objectsAvoid image watermarks Include closed captions for any audio
Microsoft Office 2010
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Document layout Keep lots of white space between columns of text this help’s people with
low vision and users of screen reading software. People with sensory or cognitive disabilities will benefit from documents
with lots of white space. Make hyperlinks descriptive. Don’t use Click here or More. Format documents with high contrast. Black text on white provides the
highest contrast. Make font sizes 12 point or larger. Use fonts consistently. Use sans-serif fonts such as Verdana, Arial or
Helvetica. Avoid decorative or serif fonts such as Brush Script. Use bulleted or numbered lists.
Document structure Add structure to a Word document with heading styles. Heading 1 comes
before Heading 2 then Heading 3 and so forth. Don’t skip heading levels. In other words, don’t jump from Heading 1 to a
Heading 3. Change the heading styles to fit your document rather than skip a heading
level because you don’t like the preset appearance.
Word Document Accessibility
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Graphics and images Avoid lots of graphics on one page. A simple page is easier to read. If the document contains graphic elements such as images, diagrams or charts, be
sure to convey information about those graphics in the text of the document. Add descriptive text to images known as "alt text". Also add a caption below the
image. Use text to convey information. Do not use WordArt or create graphics that contain
text. Do not convey information or directions with color exclusively. “Press the red button.” Avoid flashing or blinking elements. Flashing or blinking can cause seizures in people
with photosensitive epilepsy. If you must include animated text then warn your readers so they can avoid it and
supply the information in another format such as plain text.
Tables Screen readers and Braille displays read tables row by row across the columns which
may not make sense to someone using a screen reader or Braille display. When possible, use lists to convey information.
HTML provides techniques to code tables that screen readers and Braille displays can read allowing the information to be accessible.
Indicate the Heading Row on data tables in Microsoft Word.
Word Document Accessibility
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PowerPointAdd alternative text to images and objectsSpecify column header information in tablesEnsure that all slides have unique titlesUse hyperlink text that is meaningfulUse simple table structureAvoid using blank cells for formattingInclude closed captions for any audio or videoEnsure that the reading order of each slide is
logicalIncrease visibility for colorblind viewers
Microsoft Office 2010
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Slide Layout PowerPoint provides many pre-defined slide layouts. It is best to use these layouts
for slide creation so that the slide content is accessible to someone using assistive technology or if you plan to convert the presentation to HTML or a PDF document.
One method for ensuring that the presentation has the right structure is start with a blank presentation and build slides using the Outline view. With this approach each slide will use the correct slide layout and will include a slide title. This is especially important for proper text flow.
Text Boxes and Images Avoid using Text Boxes on slides as they appear as graphic elements to assistive
technology software and the content within them may not be accessible. Text Boxes also appear as graphic elements when the presentation is converted to HTML or PDF using specialized conversion tools.
When images are placed in a presentation you need to include a description of the image so that someone using assistive technology can understand what the image is. This descriptive text known as "alt text" is retained if the document is converted to HTML or PDF. Also adding a caption below the image will help all users understand the purpose of the image.
PowerPoint Document Accessibility
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Tables and ChartsTables may be used in PowerPoint slides but their use should
be limited to the presentation of data as opposed to slide layout. Data tables can be inserted using the slide layout that contains a table or by selecting Table from the Insert menu.
Charts and graphs are often used on a presentation slide. Just like tables, charts or graphs should be added using the appropriate slide layout or by selecting Chart from the Insert menu.
Audio If you include audio in the presentation then you must
include an area at the bottom of each slide for text captions. The captions must be synchronized with the audio.
PowerPoint Document Accessibility
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Why documents should be made accessibleTypes of documents How to create accessible documentsBuilt-In technology to help test
documents for accessibilityDEMOThird Party SolutionsQuestions
What will be covered:
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When you go to file, you’ll see on the left side a “Check for Issues” and when selecting that you’ll find “Check Accessibility”
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/office2010/default.aspx
Microsoft Built-In Accessibility Checker
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How to use the Built –in Accessibility Checker to make sure your document is accessible.
Example of a Bad Document
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Why documents should be made accessibleTypes of documents How to create accessible documentsBuilt-In technology to help test documents for
accessibilityDEMOThird Party SolutionsQuestions
What will be covered:
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PDF Accessibility Wizard (PAW) Plug-in installs directly into MS Office 2007
and 2010 Allows document creators to convert a
scanned PDF document into a tagged, accessible PDF document
Accessible Wizard for MS Office Plug-in installs directly into any MS Office
app (2007 - i.e., Word, PPT) Walks document creator through issues
within document and how to make them accessible
Third Party Solutions
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Demonstration of PAW
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Web and Software Accessibility and other E&IT: Kara Zirkle, IT Accessibility Coordinator, phone:
703-993-9815 or [email protected]
http://webaccessibility.gmu.edu
George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MSN 6A11,
Aquia Building, Room 238, Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 703-993-4329 Fax: 703-993-4743 [email protected] Website: http://ati.gmu.edu
Questions