The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, come in to effect on 23 September 2020.
This means that all public sector websites must meet certain accessibility criteria in order to ensure that their website is accessible to people with disabilities such as:
- blindness or impaired vision
- motor difficulties
- cognitive impairments or learning disabilities
- deafness or impaired hearing
Extensive work has been carried out to ensure that the Council website meets the legislative requirements and additionally accessibility accreditation is being sought from the Shaw Trust. We are now committed to ensuring that all content, documents (pdfs, word, forms etc) published to the website will meet accessibility regulations.
All services need to ensure that the documents they need to publish on the Council website are accessible. Key aspects to consider in documents are:
- Headings: Make sure appropriate headings and heading structure are used to break up the document
- Colour and contrast: Make sure that text and background can be clearly read
- Alt text: All images must have 'alt text' added so they can be read by screen readers
- Tables: These must have clearly labelled columns and rows and no merged cells
- Links: All hyperlinks must be from informative text for screen readers. Avoid 'click here' for links.
This page provides guidance and information, including external links, on how to make content and documents accessible.
For those employees who are networked and have Connections login details, you can engage with the Accessibility Connections community.
Creating accessible PDF's from Word documents
PDF’s and other attachments such as Powerpoint, Word and Excel should only be used for web content when the content cannot be added as one or two pages or a form, for example, if the document is a report with many pages you can create an accessible pdf.
To produce an accessible pdf there are a number of steps you must take when creating the initial content in Word or Excel, etc:
Heading Styles
Create a uniform heading structure through use of styles in Word. This allows screen readers to navigate a document and improves accessibility for everyone.
Start a new line to create a heading, or select text to change to a heading.
Open the Home tab, and choose the appropriate heading in the Styles panel.
Headings 1, 2, or 3 can also be assigned using Ctrl + Alt + 1, 2, or 3, respectively.
Heading structure should follow a logical, numerical order, and example of this can be seen below. It should always begin with a heading 1.
<h1>Colours
<h2>Shades of Red
<h3>Crimson
<h3>Ruby
<h2>Shades of Blue
<h3>Aqua
<h3>Aquamarine
<h2>Shades of Green
<h3>Harlequin
<h3>Olive
Adding Alternative Text
Images can be given appropriate alternative text in Word. Alt text is read by a screen reader in a Word file and should remain intact when exporting to HTML or PDF.
Right-click on the image and select Format Picture. A dialog will appear.
Select the Layout & Properties icon and choose Alt Text.
Enter appropriate Alt text only in the Description field (not the Title field).
Columns
If possible don’t use columns but if it is unavoidable always use true columns. Don’t create columns with Tab.
Select the Layout tab on the ribbon.
Select Columns in the Page Setup group.
Choose the number of columns.
Hyperlinks
Word automatically creates a hyperlink when a user pastes a full URL onto a page. These may not make sense to screen reader users, so make sure the link text is unique and meaningful.
Select a hyperlink, right click, and select Hyperlink or hit Ctrl + k.
Change the text in the Text to Display field to a more meaningful description.
Data Tables
Accessible tables need a clear table structure and table headers to help guide a screen reader user.
Select the Insert tab on the ribbon, then select Table > Insert Table.
To add table headers to the first row, select Table Tools > Layout on the ribbon, then choose the Repeat Header Rows option in the Data section. Avoid splitting or merging cells.
Options in the Design tab may be used to change appearance but will not provide the necessary accessibility information.
Accessibility Checker
Word includes an accessibility resource that identifies accessibility issues.
Select File > Info > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility.
The checker presents accessibility errors, warnings, and tips for making repairs.
Select specific issues to see Additional Information at the bottom of the task pane.
Other Principles
- Ensure that font size is sufficient, around 12 points.
- Provide sufficient contrast.
- Don’t use colour as the only way to convey meaning.
- Provide a table of contents for long documents.
- Use simple language.
- Break up your document to make it more readable. Use bullet points, numbered steps and meaningful subheadings.
Making your PDF accessible by adding a title and language
Example 1: Setting the document title in the metadata and specifying that the title be displayed in the title bar using Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
This example is shown with Adobe Acrobat Pro. There are other software tools that perform similar functions. See the list of other software tools in PDF Authoring Tools that Provide Accessibility Support.
Open the PDF document in Adobe Acrobat Pro:
- Select File > Properties
- Select the Description tab to view the metadata in the document, including the document information dictionary
- Modify the Title field to add or change the document's Title entry
Note that, with Adobe Acrobat installed, you can also enter and read the data properties information from the desktop. Access the file's context menu, choose Properties, and select the PDF tab. Any information you type or edit in this dialog box also appears in the Document Properties Description when you open the file.
To display the document title in the title bar of a user agent:
- Select File > Properties
- Select the Initial View tab
- In the Window Options section, select Document Title in the Show pull-down list.
The title is displayed in the title bar, as shown in the image below.
This example is shown in operation in the working example of displaying document title in the title bar.
Within the Advanced tab set the language to en-GB.
Accessibility Video Training
The video link takes you to a set of seven videos produced by Microsoft to support making Word documents accessible.
Word Guidance
To check accessibility of your Word document go to File > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility
The accessibility checker will appear on the right hand side of the page - select each of the issues listed and you will see Additional information that explains how to resolve the issue, or you can search this wiki for step by step guidance on how to resolve the issues.
Word - Missing alt text - table
Missing alt text table
To add alt text to a table > select the table > right click > select Table Properties…
Click on the Alt Text tab and enter a Title and Description
Word - check reading order - table
Check Reading Order - Table
Steps to take
Double click on the Table Tools icon in top left hand corner of table:
Select one of the table design options:
The inspection results will change from Tips to errors:
To add alt text to a table > select the table > right click > select Table Properties…
Click on the Alt Text tab and enter a Title and Description
Word - Repeated blank characters
Repeated Blank Characters
Spaces have been added rather than using carriage return or tabs – remove the spaces
Word - Objects not in line
Objects not in line
Steps to take
In this instance an image has been used instead of table – text on top of an image is not accessible.
Replace with an accessible table:
Word - Unclear hyperlink text
Unclear hyperlink text
Steps to take
Select the hyperlink > right click > Edit Hyperlink…
In the Text to display field enter a description of where the link will take you:
Word - Missing alt text
Missing alt text
Steps to take
Select the object > right click > select Format Object..
Click on the Layout & Properties icon:
Click on Alt Text > enter a Title and Description