Accessibility and Office DocumentsAccessibility and Office DocumentsThis is the first in a series of articles about accessibility and office documents. In this first set of articles we will discuss the use of standard office documents such as word processor documents, spreadsheets and presentational applications. In the articles that follow, we’ll discuss the usage of Adobe Acrobat - Portable Document Format (PDF) files, web site development, web applications and accessibility.
Perhaps the most commonly used desktop application - next to your e-mail client - is the word processor. In the relatively short history of these ubiquitous applications, we have seen a broad expansion in their usage as well as in their functionality, with many features most people hardly ever use. While the typewriter was the dominate office equipment twenty years ago, the word processor has become the dominate office application today.
Generally, most word processed documents are simply printed out and then shared with others in paper format. However, increasingly word processed documents are being shared as attachments to e-mails, posted on websites for clients or colleagues to download, or converted to other formats. While this contributes to the ease at which information can be shared, it also increases the chance that clients, customers or colleagues will be “left out” if the document does not adhere to some basic accessibility “guidelines.”
By accessibility “guidelines” we mean a group of rules and procedures designed to ensure that persons using various assistive technology devices can access the information contained in the document. I should note that at this time, there are no specific laws which require the use of these guidelines; however, if our mission is to communicate to the broadest audience, it simply makes logical sense to use these rules and procedures.
For most word processed documents, the accessibility guidelines are rather simple and easy to accomplish. There are four principal areas of concern: images, styles and headings, tabled information and general presentational issues.
Images present the most difficulty to persons using screen reader technology. These devices convert the written text into spoken text so that persons who have vision limitations can “read” the document presented on their computer screen. The same rules apply to making documents accessible to another class of Assistive Technology, Braille readers, which similarly convert text into Braille for people who read Braille.
When a document contains an image that is vital to the understanding of the document, the screen reader generally will alert the reader that there is an image but cannot communicate anything else unless the image has been assigned an “alternative description.” All of the major word processors have the capacity to add this alternative description to an image.
Microsoft Word 2003
The step by step directions for Microsoft Word 2003 are:
Microsoft Word 2007
Here is a link to a screencapture of how to do this in Microsoft Word 2007.
The step-by-step directions for Microsoft Word 2007 are a bit different:
Note: The procedure for MS Office is much more complex and though there are keystroke alternatives to all of these steps, they are rather complex. Please contact the writer for assistance with this feature.
It should be noted that when a word processed document is converted into another format such as a PDF file or HTML document, the alternate description will often be converted along with the image. However, this is not always the case – this will be discussed in other articles in this series.
For our purposes here, the “alternate description” should be kept as simple as possible; the exception is when the image is a chart or graph. In this case, it makes sense to generally provide the description of the chart/graph in the body of the document and then refer to the chart/graph as a “figure” (i.e., Figure 1, Figure A, etc.). Since charts and graphs are by their nature visual amenities, they rarely have use for many users with complete blindness. For users with visual impairment, it makes sense to provide the chart/graph is a size that can be readily viewed perhaps providing this on its own page or as a separate attachment.
Styles and Headings are one of the most overlooked tools that have been included in the modern word processor. All word processor applications contain this tool but few people get into the habit of using them.
Using styles and headings can make your documents easier to navigate by persons using a screen reader. The reason is that certain screen reading technologies (not all) allow the user to navigate or “scan” through the document by jumping or skipping from heading to heading. In much the same way a person without visual impairments may quickly scan down the length of a document to determine its content and intent, the screen reader user, by skipping from heading to heading can accomplish the same.
The use of tables in documents is a common practice and for the display of data and certain information, tables are a vital component. The chief concern about tabled information is order in which the content will be read by the screen reader. Care must be taken to ensure that when the content is read by a screen reader, it is communicated in a way that makes sense.
Screen readers read the information on the screen in the standard left-to-right and top-to-bottom fashion and thus will read the content cell by cell until it reaches the end of the table. The default setting for most tables is that the top row of information provides a descriptive “heading” for the information contained in the column below. Care must therefore also be taken that the information is lined up in the correct column.
While tabled information will always present challenges to persons using screen readers, they can be particularly problematic if the data within in presented in an order that is illogical or confusing. Once again, care must be taken to review the tabled data to determine it makes sense to a person using a screen reader.
Tables in word processor documents should only be used to present data and not used for layout purposes. If your document requires special layout (e.g., information with sidebars and text boxes) you should use a different application (i.e., desktop publishing software like Adobe InDesign or MS Publisher) to prepare these documents. We will discuss these applications in a separate article.
Last but not least, the preparation of word processed documents should take into consideration the needs of people who have vision problems. First, font size and style should be taken into consideration. Generally speaking, font sizes below a 12 are more difficult to read; thus, smaller font size should be avoided.
The use of background images in either electronic or print documents should always be avoided. Equally you should take care to ensure that your documents provide sufficient contrast between the text and the background. The use of color text can often be problematic for persons with color blindness and should be avoided. These colorful features have become somewhat popular in some e-mail applications (often referred to as “stationary”). It’s generally a good idea to refrain from using these features altogether.
Maine CITE provides additional resources that can help you with your goal of creating accessible documents. http://www.mainecite.org/awd/accdocs.html
John Brandt is a web designer and consultant who works with the Maine CITE Program in the area of accessibility and universal design. He may be reached at jeb@jebswebs.com
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