Accessible document design ensures that content can be easily read and understood
by everyone, including people using assistive technologies like screen readers. An
accessible document incorporates proper formatting, pre-defined styling elements,
and thoughtful use of images.
Who Benefits?
Creating accessible emails benefits all recipients, extending beyond those with disabilities.
When communication is accessible, everyone wins!
People with disabilities
Non-native English speakers
The University
You!
People with Disabilities
Clear and structured content removes barriers, ensuring everyone can access information
in the same (or similar) manner. People with disabilities should be able to read,
understand, and interact with document content equitably.
Visual Impairments: screen reader users rely on defined structures to navigate and understand content.
Motor Impairments: properly formatted documents simplify navigation for those relying on assistive technology,
such as keyboard navigation and/or speech recognition tools.
Cognitive or Learning Disabilities: documents with a clear and logical structure, "chunked" information, and descriptive
links make content easier to understand.
Non-Native English Speakers
Simplified and well-structured documents help international students and staff better
understand information when presented in a clear and logical order.
The University
By promoting accessibility, the University of North Dakota demonstrates its commitment
to inclusivity and equity. It enhances its reputation, ensures compliance with legal
standards, and helps create an environment where everyone can thrive.
You
Mastering document accessibility is a valuable professional skill that highlights
your commitment to inclusivity and distinguishes you as a forward-thinking professional.
Accessible documents not only reflect positively on you, but they also position you
for success in your current role and all future opportunities.
Action Items
Ensuring accessibility in Word is essential for creating inclusive and usable documents.
Refer to theAccessibility Checklistto verify that your file meets the needs of all readers. In addition, Word users must
complete the following action items to fully achieve accessibility standards.
All documents should have thetitle and languageset in Document Properties. The title should beconcise and meaningful, reflecting the document's purpose. The title can be used to
quickly identify the intent of a document without opening it. Meanwhile, the document
language indicates the spoken language in which the text is written. Correctly set
language properties allow screen readers and assistive technologies to accurately
read and interpret the content.
Add Metadata
A document's title and language is part of its metadata. Metadata is the descriptive
information embedded within a file that helps identify and organize the document.
This data is not visible to the eye; rather, it is contained within the code. Additional
metadata includes the author's name, a subject description, and keywords. This metadata
helps users and systems quickly locate the document in a library, database, or search
engine by matching the keywords to search queries. In Word, this additional data can
be entered in the same dialogue box as the document title.
Headings are signposts that structure text documents and allow readers to more easily navigate
their way around a document. More than simply just bolded or italicized words, headings
provide extra information about the structure of the document at the code level. To
enable screen readers to read your Word files correctly, you will need to create headings
that identify titles and major sections of your document. For more information, see
Microsoft Support's documentation on Adding Headings.
Demonstration: Creating Headings in Microsoft Word
Creating headers in Word involves more than simply bolding or emphasizing text. Instead,
headings are managed by what word calls styles, built-in formatting characteristics
that can easily be applied to text. Styles can be applied one of two ways in Word.
Using the Styles Ribbon
Select the appropriate heading level using the Styles toolbar on the Home Ribbon.
Using the Styles Pane
If you prefer, you can also open the Styles options in a pane at the side of your
screen. Select the Styles Pane at the right-hand side of the Styles Ribbon. The pane will open on the right-hand side of your document.
Modifying Styles
Word Headings are preformatted, but you can easily customize the visual appearance
of your headings across an entire document. Take Heading 1 as an example:
Set the font, color, spacing, etc., to what you would like Heading 1 to be.
Highlight the correctly formatted text.
Right-click on Heading 1 in the Ribbon (or the Styles Pane), and click Update Heading 1 to Match Selection.
Now each Heading 1 will use your preferred formatting. You should see that all Heading
1 text has changed throughout your document. (You can also click Modify for more formatting options.)
Alternative text(or alt-text) is the short written description that typically appears in place of
an image on a webpage or in a document. The purpose of alt-text is to textually describe
a visual image in such a way that someone who can't see the image can understand that
image's meaning. This is especially important for screen reader users. When screen
readers encounter images in word, they read them as images. Unless alternative text
(alt-text) describing what is in the image, chart, or graph is provided, a screen
reader will simply announce “Image” and move on.
To set the alt-text of an image, chart, or graph in Word, follow the instructions
outlined in the tutorial below.
Microsoft Office automatically generates alt-text for images, either using artificial
intelligence, or inserting the filename or URL that the image originally came from.
Automatically generated alt-text is, at best, only a guestimate. At its worst, automatic
alt-text is actually more harmful than helpful. It's important to check alt text manually
to ensure that if offers a helpful description.
Ensure that text, diagrams, charts, and other meaningful content meet acontrast ratioof at least 4.5:1 for regular text. For large text (18+ pt or 14+ pt bold), a minimum
contrast ratio of 3:1 is acceptable. Use online contrast checkers likeWebAIMto ensure compliance with accessibility standards.
Descriptive links provide users with proper context for links. In other words, they tell the user exactly
where they will go if they click on a descriptive link. This ensures all users can
easily understand and navigate your document. Descriptive link text is especially
important for people using assistive technology. Screen reader users navigate documents
by either tabbing through links or viewing a links list, which takes the link out
of the context of the surrounding text. Additionally, people using voice recognition
also rely on precise link text to navigate efficiently.
When creating tables in Word, simplicity is key. Complex table designs can confuse users of assistive
technologies. To ensure table accessibility, follow these best practices:
Build all tables in the original document. Avoid drawing, importing, or inserting
tables as an image file.
Use tables for data only, not for layout purposes.
Use a simple table structure with a clearly marked header row and first column.
Avoid using blank, merged, and split cells. These can create issues for screen reader
users, who may not be able to navigate the table in a logical reading order.
Setting Table Header Row
A table header row is the top row of a table that acts as a title for the type of
information users will find in each column. You are probably used to bolding or italicizing
information in table header rows, but this alone does not enable screen readers to
recognize and read aloud header information. Table headers must be marked at the code
level so the change is structural. You can't tell from looking at a table if it's
been manually bolded or not - but screen readers will read structural headers aloud,
aiding in ease of navigation and accuracy.
To set the Table Header Rows, you’ll need to configure settings in two places: Table
Properties and Table Design Tools. Follow the instructions outlined in the tutorial
below.
The reading order of a document or presentation determines the order that a screen reader will read
out content. Users who use screen readers can easily become confused, lost, or miss
parts of the content entirely if the reading order of a document is incorrect. Verifying
the reading order is imperative to ensuring that all students have equal access to
the materials. Even if objects in your document or presentationappearto be ordered logically, you should alwaysmanuallycheck the reading order.
Navigation Pane
In Word, the Navigation Pane can be used to check reading order, reorganize document
parts, and browse document content. The Navigation Pane displays a hierarchical list
of headings and pages that essentially serves as a visual outline of your document.
To launch the Navigation Pane, go to View and check the box beside Navigation Pane. The Navigation Pane will open on the left.
Click on any of the headings in the Navigation Pane to go to that section.
To re-order your content, drag the headings up and down in the navigation pane
For documents spanning multiple pages, include a Table of Contents via the Review
tab. Microsoft Word's Table of Contents serves as a navigational guide by using heading
structure to create internal links that allow readers to quickly jump to relevant
parts of a document. Benefits of Microsoft Word's Table of Contents include automatic
updates to format and style when heading text, sequence, or level change.
To set up Table of Contents in your documents, follow the instructions outlined below.
Run the Accessibility Checker to test for accessibility issues. This checker scans
your document for potential issues that might prevent people with disabilities from
accessing the content properly. It will highlight the issues, provide suggestions
on how to fix them, and then prompt you to fix these issues. For more information,
see Microsoft's Support documentation on Improving Accessibility with the Accessibility Checker.
There are several ways to convert Microsoft Documents to a PDF, but not all ways preserve
the accessibility of the original document in PDF form. When saving your Word document
as a PDF, avoid the Print to PDF option. This option only translates information you would see on a printed page.
It strips the document of all metadata, links, bookmarks, and heading structures.
Opt for the Save as PDF option instead.
To preserve the accessibility of the original document, follow the instructions outlined
in the tutorials below.
Use the Accessibility Checklist for Microsoft Word Documents to gauge how compliant your course resources are with Section 508 of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, Title II regulations, and WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines.
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