Web and document accessibility for SERC

Document accessibility (Word/PPT/PDF etc)

Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Adobe Acrobat files can all be made accessible using the features and attributes covered in this module. Alt text can be added to images, headings and reading order assigned, links can be included, and more. These programs also have built-in accessibility checkers that you can use to make sure you are making your files as accessible as possible.

• Built-in Accessibility checkers
  • Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat have accessibility checkers built in. Adobe Acrobat has a more robust checker that will highlight the inaccessible parts of a pdf (e.g., incorrectly formatted tables, missing alt text) and note things that you need to check manually (e.g., color contrast). It's best practice and faster to ensure that you're following accessibility measures while creating the document rather than trying to fix everything at the end.
• Reading Order
  • Reading order is the order in which a screen reader will read different elements (e..g, text boxes, image alt text) on a page or slide. This isn't something you can adjust in Microsoft Word.
  • Adobe Acrobat's accessibility checker will check the reading order of pages in PDFs and also has a built-in element to allow you to adjust the reading order of each page.
  • PowerPoint's reading order can be adjusted for each slide using the Selection pane, which can be accessed through the Arrange tab in the Home ribbon. The reading order in the selection pane is shown with the first element read at the bottom and the last element read at the top. The reading order in a PowerPoint slide if you do not adjust anything (e.g., using the selection pane or sending an element forward or backward), will be the order in which elements are placed on the page.
• Line spacing
  • Creating space between elements in Microsoft Word should be done by adjusting the line space using the Line Spacing Options tool rather than using the return key. Screen readers may read each return that you do aloud, distracting from your actual content.