Creating Accessible Instructional Materials Mike Splane BT260 San José State University Email: splane_m@cob.sjsu.edu Office: (408) 924-3533

What Faculty are Responsible For Syllabi Handouts Readings Exams PowerPoint or other electronic presentations PDFs Faculty Web Pages Podcasts and A / V presentations

Types of Disabilities – What to do Dyslexia – Use large, san-serif fonts. Make material available in digital format. Color Blindness – Avoid greens, reds, and some color combinations. Greensheets = ok Impaired Hearing – Include Transcripts Impaired Vision – Format material so it can be used with assistive technology – text to speech readers. Label all graphics. Epilepsy – Avoid flashing text

Universal Design for Learning When creating instructional materials, design your materials so that accessibility is built in. Digital copies of all instructional material are required. Access to the digital copies can be restricted. The Disabilities Resource Center can distribute, restrict, monitor, and control access.

Using UDL creates a similar look The Fox The quick brown fox jumped over the fence. He was red with a big brown bushy tail. The Fox The quick brown fox jumped over the fence. He was red with a big brown bushy tail. The one on the left is accessible. The next slide shows the underlying formatting. Press Ctrl, Shift, and the 8 to show/hide formatting marks.

What Assistive Technology Sees The Fox The quick brown fox jumped over the fence. He was red with a big brown bushy tail. MS Word Text Sample A Using Built-In Styles ¶ The Fox¶ The quick brown fox¶ jumped over the fence.¶ He was red with a big¶ brown bushy tail.¶ MS Word Text Sample A Using Returns The one on the left is accessible. The next slide shows the underlying formatting. Use the pilcrow icon, ¶, or Press Ctrl, Shift, and the 8 to show/hide formatting marks.

Part Two - Accessible Word Checklist Some color combinations need to be avoided Use large, sans-serif fonts Avoid underlining and italics Add labels to graphics Use Heading Styles Spacing: Don’t use the Enter key Tables should contain a header row Links contain both a description and a URL Avoid Textboxes

Colors Do not rely on color alone to provide information or for emphasis. Always include additional changes in shape or text. Safest colors to use, in order: black, white, gray, blue, yellow. Avoid low contrast – dark on dark, light on light Avoid using textures or patterns as backgrounds to text.

Colors to avoid: red and green Color combinations to avoid: red with black red with green blue with orange green with magenta yellow with cyan

Fonts - Dyslexia & Epilepsy Text size - Use 12 points or larger Font style - Use a sans-serif style font Backgrounds - Avoid graphics, patterns, and textures. Use solid light colors. D o n ’ t j u s t i f y t e x t Avoid Italics Don’t use moving or flashing text or graphics Strongly textured backgrounds should be avoided since they make text harder to read

Describe Graphics Images need a descriptive label. You can add alternative text, this is the recommended method Or you can add a caption. You can hide the caption by giving it a font color matching the background

Add Descriptions to Images For Office 2003. Double-click on the image. The Format Picture window appears. Select the Web tab. Enter a short description. For Office 2007. Right-click on the image and choose Size. Select the Alt Text tab. Enter a short description.

Image With Alt Text

Diagrams with Multiple Images If you use multiple graphics to create a diagram it doesn’t make sense to add a label to each graphic. You can group them into a larger image and add a label, or You can do a print screen and paste them as a single image and add a label, or You can add a description to one image describing the diagram

Example: Group Similar Drawings Select all the drawing elements. Right click and select group. Enter the alternative text.

Add Captions to Images Instead of using alternative text, you can add a caption to an image. Word 2003. Insert Menu, References Submenu, Captions. Word 2007 References Tab, Insert Caption. Enter the caption in the first row of the dialog box. Word for Macs lacks the alternative text option, so you will need to add captions.

Use Heading Styles It’s easy for sighted people to scan a document and find the section they want to read. How would you do that if you were blind? A text reader reads from beginning to end. The text reader software can create a list of section headings for the blind person to select from, if the document contains headings. Headings are a type of style – predefined formats built into Word. Styles are found on the Home Tab in Word 2007 and on the Formatting Toolbar in earlier Word versions Heading Styles can also be used to create a Table of Contents, hyperlinks, and a document outline.

Heading Styles KEYBOARD MAGIC To apply a Heading style, click in the text. Press Ctrl Alt 1 to apply a Heading 1 style Press Ctrl Alt 2 to apply a Heading 2 style Press Ctrl Alt 3 to apply a Heading 3 style Note: The number keypad keys do not work with these shortcuts. These shortcuts may not work with laptops

Use the pilcrow icon ¶ to view formatting Spacing Don’t use the Enter key to create spacing. Text-to-speech readers read these as “break” Use the “format paragraph” dialog box to add spacing before and/or after each paragraph. 6 points = 1/2 line 12 points = 1 line 24 points = 2 lines Use the pilcrow icon ¶ to view formatting

Spacing KEYBOARD MAGIC Use Ctrl A to select the entire document To quickly open the paragraph formatting dialog box – Double click on an indent icon on the ruler To see (or hide) the formatting marks in the document - Press Ctrl Shift+8 Note: The number keypad keys do not work with these shortcuts. Some shortcuts may not work with laptops Note: Use the numbers above the letters. The numbers on the number keypad won’t work with these shortcuts.

Tables should use repeating header rows Select the Table. Right Click and choose Table properties Click on the Row tab in the dialog box. Select the “Repeat as header row” option.

Use hypertext that makes contextual sense Labels – Hyperlinks Use hypertext that makes contextual sense Describe the purpose or target of the link Avoid using just a description Avoid using “Click Here” Avoid using the URL without a description Good Example: Go to www.google.com to search for images. Avoid changing the default color on links KEYBOARD MAGIC Use Ctrl-K to open the hyperlink dialog box

Part Three - Accessible PowerPoint Use built-in slide layout styles. Avoid the blank and untitled layouts. Provide “alternative text” or captions for all images Avoid “text boxes” Accessible text will be visible in outline view X X X

Labels – Adding a Label to a Graphic PowerPoint 2003 Right-click on the image Select Format Picture Select the Web tab Type in explanatory text Click OK PowerPoint 2007 Right-click on the image Select Size and Position Select the Alt Text tab Type in explanatory text Click the Close button

Labels – Adding a Label to Multiple Graphics Option 1 – add a alternative text label to one of the graphics describing all the graphics Option 2 – Group the graphics. Add alternative text Option 3 – Use print screen to create a single graphic. Add alternative text Option 4 – Use a Title and Content slide. Put the description in the title. Change the title’s font color to match the slide background.

Colors and Fonts Background & Text Colors Avoid Italics and Underlining Text Font and Size Recommendation 18 Point or Larger Arial, Calibri, or Lucinda Sans Text 18 Point Good Avoid Sans Serif Font Serif Font Fancy Good Avoid

Labels - Audio Add the transcript of the audio to the “Notes” section Put transcript of Audio here. 27

Part Four - Accessible PDF The PDF file should contain editable text, and not be an image file You can scan PDF files to convert images to editable text If a Word document is accessible, it will be accessible when you save it as PDF.

Conversion to PDF preserves accessibility features in Word Word to Accessible PDF Conversion to PDF preserves accessibility features in Word Check using Adobe’s accessibility check utility, Advanced menu -> Accessibility If unlucky, then Check tags (yes or no) in File menu -> Properties. If no tags, then Advanced menu -> Accessibility -> Add Tags Check Language Add Alt text after adding tags;

Universal Design for Learning Principles Summary Universal Design for Learning Principles When creating instructional materials, design your materials so that accessibility is built in. Digital copies of all instructional material are required. Access to the digital copies can be restricted. The Disabilities Resource Center can distribute, restrict, monitor, and control access.

Getting Help Help in creating new material is available from Mike Splane, Faculty in Residence for Accessibility Help is available to convert existing material through Mike Splane or his student assistant, Kevin Kyu. Email Mike if you have materials to convert.

Contact Mike Name: Mike Splane Office: BT260 Phone: (408) 924-3533 Email: splane_m@cob.sjsu.edu