Website Accessibility Guidance

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.
   

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:

1. Select File > Properties
2. Select the Description tab to view the metadata in the document, including the document information dictionary
3. 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:

1. Select File > Properties
2. Select the Initial View tab
3. 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.

The video link takes you to a set of seven videos produced by Microsoft to support making Word documents accessible.  

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.

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

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

Repeated Blank Characters

Spaces have been added rather than using carriage return or tabs – remove the spaces

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:

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:

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