 Accessible Content That Looks Great Too: Best Practices for Creating User-friendly Presentations and Documents Presented by Kelli Ham, MLIS Midday at the Oasis November 18, 2015

 Objectives By the end of webinar, participants will: Understand online accessibility issues Know about Section 508 See best practices and creative solutions in action Know how to use built-in tools in Microsoft Office products to create accessible documents Be equipped to create compliant and visually compelling content

 Topics & Techniques Accessibility checkers (that includes you!) Importance of structure Techniques in Word and PowerPoint Best practices Alt text Text boxes Reading order Grouping images Hiding elements Shortcuts & much more!

 Just so you know… 90 minutes will just scratch the surface Lots of differing opinions; the one that matters most is the user Multiple methods to get same result Resources in handout will take you further

 A Few Acronyms and Terms Organizations WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) CIOC (U.S. Chief Information Officer Council) NCDAE (National Center on Disability and Access to Education ) WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) Section 508 (law)

 Making Content Accessible (Groan) It’s too hard Takes too much time Training is expensive or unavailable Dozens of guidelines to sort through It’s recommended, but not required where you work Accessible means boring and dull!

 Why You Must Not that hard, once you know how Lots of free resources and training materials It’s required for federally-funded & many other institutions Proper techniques make content accessible, usable, and interesting – for everyone! It’s the right thing to do

 What is Section 508? Federally-funded organizations must comply with the law Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L ), August 7,

 In a Nutshell When seeking information or services from a Federal department or agency, people with disabilities must have access and use of information that is comparable to that of people without disabilities.

 Not Just Federal Many public agencies, including libraries, may have to follow state statutes requiring accessible content. In the United States: 20.6 million people have a visual disability (8.8%) 37.6 million people have a hearing disability (16%) 35.2 million people have physical functioning difficulty (15%) Cognitive disabilities and other types of limitations present additional concerns and challenges. Millions of people in the United States have at least one disability that will benefit from these efforts.

 The Physical Library

 The Library’s Virtual Presence: Is it User Friendly?

 The Reality for Some Users Low vision or blindness Hearing loss or deafness Mobility issues Other issues

 A Modern Challenge Recent trends in presentation design tools Image heavy with little to no text or bullets Animations and special effects Very problematic for accessibility Depends on users’ ability to SEE, HEAR & NAVIGATE SEE, HEAR & NAVIGATE Screen Readers need built-in structure to work Can be problematic for other users too

 Accessibility: The Concept A few examples (there are many more!) Images – need textual description Video – need captioning and video description Audio – need transcript Text boxes – screen readers ignore completely Hyperlinks – need to be meaningful Color – special formatting that conveys meaning needs an explanation

 Accessibility = Usability? Related concepts, but not exactly the same. When interacting with electronic or web-based content: Usability refers to an effective, enjoyable, and easy- to-do user experience Accessibility refers to an equivalent user experience for people with disabilities

 Consider the User Experience (Walk a Mile in Their Shoes)

 Example – Usability Issue

 Accessibility: Technologies + Practices Technologies Screen readers Video captions Text-to-voice Assistive devices A keyboard Practices Awareness Good design practices Administrative policies Staff training Commitment

 Web Content vs. Other Content Many elements required in webpages are also required in documents and other files. Learn the common concepts; apply across all content Make accessibility a natural part of the workflow Accessibility doesn’t happen by chance – build it in to all online content

 Some Specifics for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint Screen readers take advantage of order and rely on built-in structure Word: Use styles indicating title, headings, body PowerPoint: Use pre-defined layouts

 MS Office Accessibility Checkers Microsoft Office 2007 or later Files must be created (or saved) as.docx or.pptx to use built-in checker Inspection Results panel lists problems and gives suggestions for fixing Important: the checker can find and flag some problems; the human needs to do the rest!

 Checking WORD Documents File > Info > Check for Issues > Accessibility It looks for things like headings that indicate structure Alt text for images and objects Hyperlinks In line text and objects

 Microsoft Word 2010 Checker

 MS WORD 2013 Checker

 Errors, Warnings, and Tips

 Required Elements: Alt Text

 The Art of Writing Alt Text Include all meaningful text in Description field Explain meaning, not just literal description Limit repetition (photo of x, photo of y, photo of z) Goal is to provide the equivalent experience Meaningless objects can be ignored (screen readers ignore double quotes in description field)

 What Is This?

 Meaningful Hyperlinks – Many Options

 Changing Text Display and Adding Screen Tips

 Text to Display

 Screen Tips

 Table Formatting Note: Be sure to use “insert” function; don’t copy and paste!

 Notes About Tables Accessible tables need row and column headers, no blank cells, logical order when navigating based on table content (left to right, top to bottom). In documents, use the Insert Table function rather than copying and pasting. Use Tab to check order. Or, consider inserting table as an image, with all of the information in the description.

 WebAim Guide for Word

 Techniques Unique to PowerPoint Start building slides using Outline view Each slide needs a title (which can be hidden from view if necessary) Reading order is important for keyboard use Avoid using text boxes – screen readers can’t “see” the content. Use the layout and content boxes instead

 Start in Outline View

 Always Use Layouts

 Resize and Reposition Content Boxes

 One Example Join us for the Library Book Club! Sign up at:

 Another Example Join us for the Library Book Club! Sign up at:

 Upon Inspection Errors are mostly missing alt text and missing titles Warnings – hyperlinks, duplicate titles Reading order – take note!

 Each element needs to be in order Using the built-in layouts and “insert” function insures proper reading order Copying and pasting triggers the “Check Reading Order” tip in the Accessibility Checker What About Reading Order?

 Check Reading Order with the Selection and Visibility Pane

 Reading Order Oddity: From Bottom Up

 Content Visibility: Toggle On and Off

 Multiple Images

 WebAIM Guide - PowerPoint

 Shortcuts: One-click Access to Important Tools (2010) Add shortcuts to Quick Access toolbar: Right click in Quick Access toolbar Choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar In dropdown under “Choose Commands From” choose “Commands Not in the Ribbon” Add Accessibility Checker, Alt Text and Selection Pane (PowerPoint)

 Shortcuts: Quick Access for Commands in Ribbon (2013) Example – Selection Pane Under home, look for Arrange. Open menu below by clicking on down arrow Find and right-click on Selection Pane for options Choose “Add to Quick Access Toolbar”

 Better to Create Than Remediate Break your old habits Create proper workflow Save time and effort

 Since You Asked What about workarounds? Can’t we just provide a text version as an alternative? NO No one wants to read pages of text. Images and other objects can convey meaning and be more interesting for all users Plan for equivalent experience to extent possible It will be boring if I just use bullet points and can’t include animations or lots of images! What can I do? Learn which techniques work for in-person sessions and use good accessible design practices for electronic versions

 Form and Function We can have our cake and eat it too Content that is accessible User-friendly design Better communication Better experience for all!

 A Drop in the Bucket

 Any requests? Technique Demos

 Use insert tool rather than copy & paste Images and objects need alt text (or need to be “ignored”) Hyperlinks need to be meaningful Create from scratch when you can; remediate when you must A Few Best Practices - Recap

 Takeways Just because it passes the test… Ask for feedback from your users with disabilities to identify problem areas Build accessibility techniques into the workflow Find solutions, not workarounds Improving accessibility improves usability for all It’s the right thing to do

 Thank You! Kelli Ham, MLIS NN/LM Pacific Southwest Region UCLA Biomedical Library This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, under Contract No. HHS-N C with the UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library.