Creating Accessible Documents By Jeffrey Dell Assistive Technology Specialist - PowerPoint Presentation

Creating Accessible Documents By Jeffrey Dell Assistive Technology Specialist Mary Theobald Graduate Assistant Alt Text Office of Disability Services Cleveland State University

What will We Discuss? What characteristics will an Accessible Document possess ? Checking for Document Accessibility Creating an Accessible Document in: Word PowerPoint Adobe Acrobat Additional Resources Alternative Textbooks

What characteristics will an Accessible Document possess? The text in the document can be selected by character or word. The selectable text is accurate and matches what is visible in the document The text in the document can be enlarged without compromising the quality of the text Graphical information can be interpreted with a text description

Checking for Document Accessibility

The text in the document can be selected by character or word Text in some documents is embedded in images Text embedded in images cannot be read by TTS or reformatted Most frequently in PDF’s or Publisher Provided PPT Check by attempting to Highlight a single Character or Word

The Selectable text matches what is visible on the document . This issue usually happens in PDF documents Save the file as Plain Text and compare Activate Read Outloud in Adobe’s View menu and read Current Page Fix by running Find OCR Suspects

Document can be enlarged without compromising quality of the text Check by using the program to Zoom in to the image or enlarge it to 200% and 400% If grainy and distorted: rescan the image from which it came at a higher resolution render a new graphic from the original document using a higher resolution recreate the graphic using scalable vector graphics.

Good vs. Bad Image Bad Scan at 400X Good Scan at 400X

Text descriptions for graphics containing necessary information To Check for Alt Tags: Hold your mouse over the graphic’ Right-click on the image and look under Properties or Format Picture What should an Alt Tag say? Describes all important info derived from the graphic with text

Creating Accessible Documents in Microsoft Word

Apply an Alt Tag to an image in MS Word Right Click on the image. Click on Size. Select the Alt Tag tab. Type a description of the graphic in the Alt Tag edit field.

Images representing Symbols in Word If using symbols like μ, 98.6°, or € please use the Unicode character, in the Symbol Finder, instead of an image For Math Expressions please use Equasion Editor or MathType to create the expression

Using WordArt or SmartArt Good because it is scalable and does not degrade when magnifying No simple way to creat an Alt Tag. If necessary type a description of the graphic before or after the WordArt

Using Headings in Word Important for Screen Reader navigation Headings should be nested Especially important if the document is very long or if it will be converted into a PDF.

Creating an Accessible PowerPoint Presentation

Using Proper Slide Templates Slide templates built into PPT use elements properly Include Headings, bulleted lists, image placeholders Style schemes can be applied that make the text eisier to read

Using the Notes Panel Used for descriptions too long for Alt Tags Describe WordArt or SmartArt Adding info not included on the slide Describe purpose of data presented Located below the Slide Layout usually says “Click here to Add Notes”

Creating Accessible PDF Files

Creating a PDF with Word or PowerPoint If document is .doc or ppt Office should be used to creat the PDF Automatically transfers over accessible elements like lists, headings, and alt tags Turns SmartArt and Word Art into images Does not include Notes Panel info from PPT Office Button and Save As PDF

Creating an Accessible PDF with Adobe Acrobat If scanning a document to creat a PDF use Adobe Acrobat It automatically starts to process of making a document accessible PDF’s should be scanned at 300 dpi If scanning from a book grayscale can impeed OCR

Text Recognition with Adobe Acrobat Image PDF files can have Text Recognized with Adobe Acrobat View > Tools > Recognize Text Click In This File on the Recognize Text Panel to the right Runs basic text recognition which is the beginning of making a PDF accessible

Fixing OCR Mistakes OCR suspects are errors in text recognition that Adobe finds In the Recognize Text Panel click on Find Next OCR Suspect Works like a spell check Options for Not Text, Find Next (Ignore), and Accept and Find Next

Tagging the Documents Structure Accessible PDF’s identify elements like Headings, Paragraphs, Images, and Table Structure This is done with the TouchUp Reading Order tool Highlight object and click on the appropriate button Images are called Figures and Paragraphs are called Text

Create Alternate Text for Figures An image Tag for Adobe Acrobat is called a Figure To give it an Alt Tag to describe the image. 1. Turn on the TouchUp Reading Order Tool 2. Double-click the Figure 3. Type the description in the Alternate Text dialog and click OK

Alternative Textbook Request Process

The Process Student Purchases a copy of the Textbook Student Brings in the Alt Text Request Form with the Receipt for the Book and a copy of the syllabus We check sources including the Publisher to get an accessible copy If not available we scan and create a copy of the Accessible book

Alt Textbook Formats DAISY (LearningAlly or BookShare.org) PDF HTML Word or RTF Plain Text Braille

How Can Professors and Staff Help? Submit Textbooks to the Bookstore at least a month in advance Have the book information Title, Author, and Edition available if a student calls before the beginning of a semester Over break leave a generic syllabus with Textbooks and general outline of materials needed with your department office If these materials are not available before a semester please understand the student may not have access to the book for the first week.