Creating Accessible Content

It is important to keep in mind that accessibility is not a feature to be added after the design of your content. It is a set of principles to be considered throughout the design process.

When creating content, there are a few basic steps that should be followed in order to assure your content is accessible. The core steps needed for accessibility are the same regardless of whether your document is in Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe PDF, or another document format:

Use headings
Use lists
Use meaningful hyperlinks
Add alternate text to images
Identify document language
Use tables wisely
Understand how to export from one format to another

For more information, please read the Overview of Accessible Documents

You can also view the guides below for students and instructors.

Accessibility Guide for Students

Accessibility Guide for Making Content Accessible

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights is proud to announce a video series covering a variety of topics on digital access in education, including how people with disabilities use technology, applicable Federal regulations, and identifying and remediating barriers to access. Whether you are in the educational field or not, these videos have wide ranging coverage for those who want to know: What makes technology accessibile for individuals with disabilities? And how can I make my side or platform more accessible?

See the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Video Series webpage for a list of the videos.

Creating Accessible Digital Content

Creating Accessible Documents in Word

Microsoft Word is a commonly-used application among individuals with a variety of disabilities, and is reasonably accessible. The text within Word documents can be read by assistive technologies such as screen readers and Braille devices. However, in order for Word documents to be fully accessible, authors must follow several core principles. Please see the Creating Accessible Documents in Microsoft Word for basic steps to implement these core accessibility principles.

Resources for Microsoft Word

Microsoft Accessibility Support for Word website
Word and PowerPoint Accessibility Evaluation Checklist from WebAIM
Color Contract Checker from WebAIM
Please see the Google Docs website for tips on making these documents more accessible. *Please note Google Docs is not a UND supported product.

Creating Accessible Presentations in PowerPoint

When creating a PowerPoint file it is important to consider things like color contrast, text size, and alternative text for images, charts and graphs. Please see the Creating Accessible Presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint for steps to make your presentation accessible.

Resources for Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Accessibility Support for PowerPoint website
Word and PowerPoint Accessibility Evaluation Checklist from WebAIM
PowerPoint Accessibility Guide.
Please see the Google Slides website for tips on making these documents more accessible. *Please note Google Slides is not a UND supported product.

Creating Accessible Spreadsheets in Excel

Creating Excel workbooks and charts with accessibility in mind allows for content that is accessible to all users and more readily understandable to those using assistive technology such as screen readers. Please see Creating Accessible Excel Documents for steps to make your spreadsheets accessible.

Please see the Accessibility Support for Excel website for additional information on how to make your Excel documents accessible.

Creating High Quality Scans

Sometimes it is necessary to scan a document for an instructional need. When documents are in electronic form, they are easier to distribute and can be more accessible than print documents for students with disabilities. However, in order to be fully accessible, certain steps must be followed to be sure the scanned document is of high quality. Even if a document is not needed for a person with disability, a poor scan often negatively impacts the end user’s experience. See the Creating High Quality Scans document for details.

Creating an Accessible Syllabus using Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat

This section covers how to create an accessible syllabus using Microsoft® Word and Adobe® Acrobat® Pro. Users will be shown how to format, check, and convert their document in order to maintain accessibility for all learners. Although the example we use is a course syllabus, the skills you learn are transferable to other types of documents.

Topics include:

Proper formatting in Word
Adding alt text
Converting a document to PDF
Ensuring PDF accessibility

The video tutorials below are within Infobase/Infobase and will require users to login with your NDUS.Identifier and password.

Please see the Accessibility Support for Word website for additional information on how to make your Word document accessible.

Creating Accessible Audio/Video

Videos should be produced and delivered in ways that ensure that all members of the audience can access their content. An accessible video includes captions, a transcript, and audio description and is delivered in an accessible media player. See below for more details about each of these features.

Captions

Captions are text versions of the audio content, synchronized with the video. They are essential for ensuring your video is accessible to students, employees, and members of the public who are deaf or hard of hearing. They also help non-native English speakers to understand the video, make it possible to search for content within the video, and help all students learn the spelling of technical terms spoken in the video. How you add captions, and the types of caption file supported, depends on where your video is hosted. Please note some products provide automatic captioning but they are not 100% accurate and sure be edited.

For specific instructions on adding and/or editing captions, select one of the following options:

Audio Descriptions

Audio description is a separate narrative audio track that describes important visual content, making it accessible to people who are unable to see the video. Individuals who are blind can understand much of a video’s content by listening to its audio. However, if a video includes content that is only presented visually (e.g., on-screen text or key actions that are not obvious from the audio) this visual information must be described in order to be accessible to people who are unable to see it. For assistance with audio descriptions please contact Disability Services for Students.

Using Screen Readers to Evaluate Content Accessibility

If you are uncertain how your content will be read by a screen reader, we recommend using one of the free screen readers listed below to hear how the content will be read.

NVDA for Windows
Voiceover for Mac