Writing Accessible Submissions for Microsoft® Word 2003
Introduction
Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), DEEWR has an obligation to make sure that the documents we publish on our website areable to be used by everyone regardless of ability.We call these accessible documents.
People with disabilities often rely on assistive technologies to help them access information online, from navigating websites to downloading and reading documents. Some software based examples include screen readers, screen magnifiers and voice to text or voice command applications. There are also hardware based assistive technologies including special keyboards, refreshable braille displays and mouse replacements ranging from trackballs to systems that track eye movements.
Accessible documents are documents that are made to be compatible with these assistive technologies. Documents are normally not that complex, and most accessibility barriers for them mainly relate to the use of screen readers. Other types of assistive technologies are more likely to have issues with web pages than documents,
Two of the most important elements of accessible documents are the use of structure and the provision of text alternatives for images and graphs.Structured text allows applications like screen readers and some web browsers to understand how text is supposed to be treated, while alternate text provides a text version of things like pictures, graphs and charts, which can then be read out in place of an image.
By following the advice below, you will assist DEEWR in ensuring that published submissions are as accessible as possible to everyone in the wider community.
Using Structure
How to use headings is possibly the most important thing you must know about when making accessible documents. If you don’t do them properly, then people relying on assistive technologies won’t be able to move around your document to get the information they are looking for.
Common Approach
When people are trying to find specific information in a large document they will usually scan the table of contents, jump to the page where the relevant section starts and begin skimming until they find what they are looking for.
Assistive Technology Approach
People who use screen readers navigate differently. Generally they will use their assistive technology to bring up a list of all of the headings in the document (This is similar to the navigation pane in Microsoft Word 2010).
Accessibility Barriers
Most of us have been conditioned from a very early age to be able to identify headings just by looking at them. They are usually big, bold and often a different colour. Chapter headings start really big, then get smaller as you go down to various sub-headings, etc.
Making something look like a heading will not tell a screen reader that it is a heading, and this is one of the biggest accessibility barriers that exist in documents.
Solution
Most word processors have a way of turning text in to proper headings. Accessibility aside, this will often also help you keep a consistent look and feel for your document and allow you to use other features like automatic tables of contents.
Instructions
The section below has instructions for how to create proper accessible headings in Microsoft Word 2003. If the application you are using is not included in the documentation, you can find instructions for a much wider variety on the Accessible Digital Office Document Project website.
To make text in to a heading:
- Highlight the text you want to turn in to a heading
- Select the menu item: Format > Styles and Formatting
- To the right under the Styles and Formatting section, headins are found under Pick formatting to apply and select the appropriate heading needed.
To change how headings look:
- Select the menu item: Format > Styles and Formatting
- To the right under the Styles and Formatting section, headins are found under Pick formatting to apply and right click the appropriate heading and select Modify
- Make the appropriate changes in the Modify Style dialogue and click OK.
Images
Nearly three quarters of human sensory receptors are in the eyes. It’s natural then that we will often rely on images to impart information. We were drawing pictures on cave walls long before we invented writing after all.
Common Approach
It is not uncommon to see photos, diagrams and graphs included in books and documents. We even have things like legends, captions and other labels to help us understand information being imparted through images.
Not all images include relevant information though. Sometimes they are just there for decoration.Maybe it's to make the page look pretty, maybe it's to maintain a particular style associated with branding, and sometimes it's just there to break up large blocks of information. When we read a page, we usually know intuitively what is decorative and what adds context.
Assistive Technology Approach
Screen readers aren't intuitive and they can’t actually look at an image. They don’t know what’s in them unless they are told. If an image doesn’t have a description or a caption, they will just identify that it is an image and continue reading out the text. This can mean that crucial information is missed.
Most formats have a way of putting an invisible description inside the image. This is usually called a text alternative or alt text.
Images are also only able to be found reliably if they are sequential or 'in line' with the text. Often you can 'float' an image in front of or behind text, or set the text to wrap around it, but this means most screen readers will not be able to find the image.
Accessibility Barriers
If the alt text is not filled out, then a number of things can get in the way. Assistive technologies may just announce that there is an image there and move on, leaving the reader to wonder whether there is information they are missing.
Flowcharts in particular can be a nightmare for assistive technologies. They are often used to try to simplify the presentation of complex processes but often there is just a flowchart. Screen readers cannot interpret the boxes, diamonds and arrows. Sometimes they can’t even find the words.
Sometimes people will float an image with important information in it to make it easier to place in a particular position on the page. This means that most screen readers will not be able to find the image even if it has a text alternative – it will just never be read out.
Solution
Typically, you will have a reason for including an image. You need to use the alt text to achieve the same purpose. Think of how you would describe it over the phone. You don’t need excessive detail—a sentence or two is enough.
Images should never be the only source for that information. This will often influence the use of graphs and flowcharts.
With a graph, you can discuss the point you are trying to make in the body of the document, in which case the alt text simply says something like ‘visual representation of the results as discussed above’. Another way of including the information is to enter a small table beneath the graph with the same information like averages.
With flowcharts, a structured English version is always required. This will often be too big for alt text, so you should always put the text version of the process in the document itself.
Images that contain important information should always be in line with text. You should never 'float' a meaningful image.
Instructions
The section below has instructions for how to apply text alternatives to images in Microsoft Word 2003. If the application you are using is not included in the documentation, you can find instructions for a much wider variety on the Accessible Digital Office Document Project website.
To add text alternatives to images:
- Select the image and select the menu item: Format > Picture > Web
- Fill in the alt text ing the Alternateive text field.
To set images containing important information to in-line with text:
- Select the image and select the menu item: Format > Autoshape or Object
- Select the Layout tab and under Wrapping style select In Line With Text.