Document accessibility Common Problems
DOCUMENT ACCESSIBILITY
Improve Accessibility with Alt Text
Note:
Alt text can be read by screen readers, and helps people who are blind or who have low vision understand what images and other objects are in a document. You can add alt text to objects, such as pictures, clip art, charts, tables, shapes, SmartArt, embedded objects, and audio or video objects.
Video:
Adding Alt Text Links to an external site.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-improve-accessibility-with-alt-text-9c57ee44-bb48-40e3-aad4-7647fc1dba51
Step By Step:
How to add alt text to images and objects.
To add alt text to a picture
- Right-click on a picture or object and choose Format Picture.
- In the Format Picturepanel, choose Layout & Properties, and then choose Alt Text.
- Fill in both the Titleand Description boxes
How to Eliminate Repeated Blank Characters
Note:
Blank characters are a very common problem that shows up when trying to make a document appear a certain way or match the look of a business letter or formatting such as MLA. The problem occurs when the document creator repeatedly uses the enter key to skip down multiple lines or use the space key and/or the tab key to create multiple spaces between characters. Visually this creates the look desired but electronically it creates a navigation barrier. For a blind user navigating with a screen readers they encounter repeated narration saying, “blank, blank, blank, blank … This causes the screen reader user to wonder how far they have to navigate through the page to get to more information or whether or not they have reached the end of the document. This is why it’s not only important to use the built-in word formatting tools to get everything to look the way the creator wants but also create a navigable document for those users who can only access it electronically.
Video:
Repeated Blank Characters
Links to an external site.
https://youtu.be/AcuJVP1py-E
How to Delete Extra Spaces in Word
Links to an external site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSv0ZExUYco
Improve header accessibility
Note:
Headings are a great way to tell people what they need to know quickly. Using styles and headings ribbon also makes it possible for a document to be electronically navigated by a blind person using screen reader technology.
Header accessibility continued:
Video:
Missing heading levels in a Document
Unstructured Document Links to an external site.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-improve-accessibility-with-heading-styles-68f1eeff-6113-410f-8313-b5d382cc3be1?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US
Step By Step:
Improve header accessibility
To add a heading style
- Type the text you want into a Word document.
- Select a sentence tat you want to add a header to.
- Select Home> Styles (or press Alt + H, then L), and then select the heading you want, such as the Heading 1
Other Related Header and Style Resources
Adding missing Heading levels in a Document
Links to an external site.
https://youtu.be/IYiBb5MfJx4
Check Header Styles
Links to an external site.
https://youtu.be/pm2TJIKaskY
Create accessible links
Note:
Someone using a screen reader to access this link will hear one character read aloud at a time, which is difficult to understand.
Video:
Accessible Links Links to an external site.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-create-accessible-links-in-word-28305cc8-3be2-417c-a313-dc22082d1ee0?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US
Step By Step:
Create a more meaningful hyperlink
- Copy the link you want to work with into a Word document and turn it into a hyperlink.
- Select the whole URL, including the "http" at the beginning and the domain at the end.
- Right-click to open the context menu, then find and select Edit Hyperlink.
- In the dialog box, look for a text box labeled Text to display. Type in the description text you want.
- Click OK.
TABLE ACCESSIBILITY IN DOCUMENTS
Creating Accessible Tables
Notes:
Tables are very useful for displaying a large amount of data in an organized manner, such as your course schedule, office hours, etc. In order to make a table accessible for individuals who are blind, have a visual impairment, or a learning disability, provide row and column headers. The text-to-speech software by default will read the information in a table horizontally, cell by cell, row by row.
Video:
Table Accessibility Links to an external site.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/video-create-accessible-tables-in-word-cb464015-59dc-46a0-ac01-6217c62210e5?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US
Step By Step:
To add a header row to a table
- Choose Insert> Table to insert a table.
- Choose the number of boxes you want across to create columns, and then choose the number of boxes you want down to create rows for your table.
- On the Designtab, choose the Table Styles Options group, and then choose Header row. Other options include Banded Rows or Total Row.
TIP: The table now has a header row. This means that, behind the scenes, Word and any assistive technologies can communicate intelligently about the table.
Add column headings
- Place your cursor in the first box on the top row of your new table.
- Type the name for this column and then press Tab to move from one column to the next. Add additional column names as needed.
TIP: The table now has column names, which makes it easier to understand the information that the table contains. Some screen readers can be set up to read column names at any time, which can help when working with a large table.
Add alt text to tables
- Right-click a table.
- Select Table Properties.
- Select the Alt Text
- Type a description and a title.
TIP: Include the most important information in the first line, and be as concise as possible.
OTHER ACCESSIBLE TABLE REFERENCES
Missing Heading levels in a Table
Links to an external site.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7lr_7qqkc
Table Reading Order
Links to an external site.
https://youtu.be/DAup3SUXa5o
Missing Alternative Text for Table
Links to an external site.
https://youtu.be/V2ojLTX5cNw?t=75
No Header Row Table
Links to an external site.
https://youtu.be/DAdA56Ch61c
Word 2016 - Formatting Tables
Links to an external site.
https://youtu.be/nxOx228e5xk