The Accessible Office: Making Your Documents More Accessible to Users with Disabilities

The Accessible Office: Making Your Documents More Accessible to

Users with DisabilitiesSharon Rosenblatt

Director of CommunicationsAccessibility Partners

July 30, 2016

Accessibility Partners (C) Accessibility Partners, 2016. Not to be reproduced without permission. 2

THANK YOUEVENT

SPONSORSWe appreciated you supporting the New York SharePoint Community!

• Diamond, Platinum, Gold, & Silver have tables scattered throughout

• Please visit them and inquire about their products & services

• To be eligible for prizes make sure to get your bingo card stamped by ALL sponsors

• Raffle at the end of the day and you must be present to win!


CONFERENCE MATERIALS

• Slides / Demo will be posted on Lanyrd.com• http://lanyrd.com/2016/spsnyc

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http://lanyrd.com/2016/spsnyc/

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https://twitter.com/spsnyc

https://twitter.com/search?q=spsnyc

http://goo.gl/7WzmPW

mailto:[email protected]


• Visit ExtaCloud’s booth for wrist bands!

Scallywag's Irish Pub

508 9th Ave, between 38th & 39th. [6 minutes walk]

Scallywags also serves food.http://www.scallywagsnyc.com/

http://www.scallywagsnyc.com/

Accessibility Partners (C) Accessibility Partners, 2016. Not to be reproduced without permission.

AgendaDisability and AccessibilityWeb Content Accessibility GuidelinesMaking Your Documents AccessibleConclusion: Moving Forward

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Defining Disability Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):

◦ a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities

◦ ADA is 26 years old

7Accessibility Partners (C) Accessibility Partners, 2016. Not to be reproduced

without permission.

https://www.ada.gov/

Disability Types Blindness and Low Vision Deafness and Hearing Loss Limited Movement Speech Disabilities Cognitive Limitations

◦ Combinations of the above



Disability Demographics

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http://www.census.gov/people/disability/

Prevalence of Disability


Disability Demographics



Almost 20 million people had difficulty lifting and grasping.

This includes, for instance grasping a glass or a pencil.

Something to think about…



Accessibility means: Equal Access

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Accessibility and Technology

Technology must be designed and developed to provide:

Equal access and usability to every member of your target audience



Assistive Technology

Technology used by people with disabilities to perform

functions that might otherwise be difficult or

impossible.

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Assistive Technology: Examples

Screen readers/magnifiers Captions/ASL translation Text-to-speech Braille Displays Videophones Large print Tactile keyboards Joysticks Augmented input

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Narrator in Action


Alternative Input: Mouth Sticks


How do I know if I’m accessible? Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

◦ World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)◦ Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Shared standard for document accessibility


https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag


Web Accessibility:

PerceivableOperable

UnderstandableRobust

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Perceivable Factoring in the senses Reliance on AT

◦ Sight◦ Sound◦ Touch


Operable Operations while browsing/interacting Factor in the mechanics

◦ Keyboard accessibility◦ Visual disabilities

Quick examples: time limits on forms


Understandable Clear terms with concise instructions Don’t ‘talk down’ to your audience

◦ Avoid unexpected or inconsistent functions


Robust Trying to make it work for everyone Accessible by third party technology (AT) Use recognizable other standards


WCAG 2.0 Compliance Levels A, AA, and AAA

◦ Priority 1 – the most basic level of web accessibility

◦ Priority 2 – addressed the biggest barriers for users with disabilities

◦ Priority 3 – significant improvements to web accessibility


Why be compliant to WCAG? Improve the lives of people with disabilities

◦ Human-centric motivation Market to a wider audience Avoid lawsuits

Web accessibility is the right thing to do

to be inclusive to people of all abilities!Accessibility Partners (C) Accessibility Partners, 2016. Not to be reproduced

without permission. 27

Tips and Tricks for Office 365

Accessibility


I see you are trying to become more accessible.

Can I help?

Accessing the interface: JAWS or Narrator

To turn Narrator on or off on a PC, in Windows, press Windows logo key+Enter.

To turn Narrator on or off on a tablet, press Windows logo button+Volume Up.

Accessibility in Office 365


Tab through links◦ Tab goes to next link◦ Shift+Tab goes to previous link◦ Enter executes the action

Keyboard Shortcuts in 365


A person with a disability can have the same experience as a similarly situated person without a disability◦ Layout and Formatting◦ Image Characteristics◦ Table Characteristics◦ Other Requirements

Breakdown of Accessible Documents



What is Alternative Text?

Textual alternative to non-text content

AccurateEquivalentSuccinct

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Creating Effective Alt Text Finding a balance How is image used?

◦ to convey important content◦ to provide visual

enhancements ◦ to link to other areas

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Alternative Text Example Bad alt text: A painting Good alt text: Mona Lisa Better alt text: The “Mona Lisa” painting by

Leonardo da Vinci

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Adding Alternative Text


Right Click: Format

Do your images contain text

What to do with ‘textual’ images


Consider an outline If not, write out all text

Creating Alt Text for a Flow Chart


An illustration created from several smaller images must be grouped.

Understand full meaning.

Grouped Images


A screen reader will not read labels◦ Avoid scans

Built-in captions are not enough Once saved as an image, text is not

readable

A picture with words?


Summarize the trend Example Don’t forget the source and notes

◦ if necessary

Alt Text for Charts and Graphs


Right click on table Select Alt Text tab Add descriptive text

◦ Summary ◦ Type of data analyzed

Tables need alt text, too!


Define headers in your table No way to add row headers

◦ Keep table structure simple Avoid using empty cells for decoration Add alternative text to your table

Accessible Tables


Click on any or all cells of first row in table Locate Table tools

◦ Click Layout Tab Or, right click on table Select “Repeat Header Rows”

Adding Table Headers



Color Usage Color should never be used to convey

information◦ Read means error: best to use Track Changes

Some users cannot distinguish colors May lose meaning if viewed in high contrast

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Not for emphasis◦Font styles

Color contrast◦Black/white is ideal

Colors


Color Contrast



Provide Descriptive Links Links are most basic element

of HTML Links work with all assistive

technologies Accessible from the keyboard

◦ Descriptive

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Create Accessible Links


Increased navigation by assistive technology

Usability through:◦ Document structure variety◦ Promoting readability

Changes must be done programmatically◦ Aesthetic changes are not announced, like font

size, color, bold, italics, etc.

Use Headings for Document Structure


Select text and click correct style◦ Heading 1, 2, Title, etc

Consider your formatting options: bold, italics, larger font◦ Make changes here◦ Can Update to Match Selection to keep fonts

consistent Make all changes through styles, do not just

change the font.

Apply Headings Styles


Headings


View heading structure in Navigation Pane Ensure that it is outlined correctly If it visually looks like a heading, but doesn’t

appear, then it is not formatted correctly!

Check Your Headings


Not always accessible to screen readers Text should be placed in main body Can use style formatting to differentiate

◦ Copy text from text box◦ Delete text box◦ Paste text into main document

Say Goodbye to Textboxes


Use the Accessibility Checker!

Uh oh—what if I forget!?


Use true columns, not tables or columns created by hand with the Tab key.

Provide a table of contents, especially for long documents. ◦ This can be created automatically when using

heading styles Use ‘broken down’ language

◦ Introduce acronyms◦ Spell out abbreviations

Other Considerations


Use true numbered and bulleted lists.◦ Created in the Styles. Don’t manually type

bullets using punctuation, or manually number. Ensure that font size is sufficient, usually

around 12 points or more. Provide sufficient color contrast. Don't use color as the only way to convey

content

Other Accessibility Considerations



Additional Accessibility Benefits Generate a positive media

response Use as a differentiator and be more

inclusive Increase loyalty Support corporate social

responsibility Attract not only those people with

disabilities, but: ◦ Families, friends, co-workers, and more!

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Conclusion: Accessibility Benefits Maximize reach, number of visitors,

revenues and ultimately profits Accessibility statements and roadmaps Tap into a wider demographic Increase productivity for all

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Additional Accessibility Benefits Generate a positive media response Use as a differentiator and be more inclusive Increase loyalty Support corporate social responsibility Attract not only those people with disabilities:

◦ Families, friends, co-workers, and more!

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Contact InformationSharon Rosenblatt:

[email protected]

www.AccessibilityPartners.com301-717-7177

◦ www.facebook.com/AccessibilityPartners

◦ @Access_Partners

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Screen Reader Example (Art Education for the Blind)◦ YouTube video of a screen reader interacting with a website.

United States Census Bureau: Disability◦ 2010 Census statistics and research about disability

WebAIM◦ Great resource to diver deeper into technical accessibility

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)◦ Information from the W3C and the push for web accessibility on

a global level (links to more about WCAG) Cornell University: Disability Statistics

◦ Clearinghouse for all disability statistics with American Community Survey (ACS)

Accessibility in Office 365◦ Information from Microsoft about more accessibility features

Resources


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK97XMibEws


http://webaim.org/

http://www.w3.org/WAI/

https://www.disabilitystatistics.org/

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Accessibility-in-Office-365-aca7accf-58a0-4467-be5c-24a7e7933a9d

The Accessible Office: Making Your Documents More Accessible to Users with Disabilities

Technology

Transcript of The Accessible Office: Making Your Documents More Accessible to Users with Disabilities