The document provides guidance on creating accessible information in Word, PowerPoint, and PDF formats. It discusses using sans serif fonts, left-aligned text, and built-in heading styles to improve accessibility. Adding alternative text descriptions to images and ensuring hyperlinks make sense out of context are also covered. The document demonstrates how to check accessibility using tools in Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader, and provides tips for creating audio versions of documents and captioning videos.

1. Creating Accessible Information
Margaret McKay, Subject Specialist: Accessibility and Inclusion

2. Creating accessible information
Supporting Inclusive Approaches
2

3. Creating accessible information
Overview
»Word,
»PowerPoint,
»PDF,
»Making the most of Microsoft’s built-in features,
»Creating information in alternative or additional formats,

4. Creating accessible information
Can you think of the barriers that might prevent
students accessing your information?
A group of typical 1st year students were asked about difficulties that they
experienced accessing information/course material on a day to day basis.
What did they say?

5. Students self reported barriers/issues
» Headaches/discomfort if text is too small
or too close together.
» The information on the screen is too small
to see.
» Strong/bold print leaves a shadow when I
try to read it.
» Because of my dyslexia the words keep
jumping around the screen.
» I lose my place on the line when reading
lots of text.
» Not all of the content can be seen on my
screen if magnified.
» Vocabulary difficult/unfamiliar.
» Long documents difficult to follow.
» I forget the information if sentences are too
long.
» I can’t adjust the font and colour
backgrounds to suit my personal
preferences.
» I find it difficult to navigate.
» Information not accessible with my assistive
technology.
» I can’t hear the audio and don’t know what’s
being said.

6. 6
Blind /VI – favoured media
Text
Images
AudioVideo
Interactivity
Text
AudioVideo
Interactivity
© Alistair McNaught Jisc
Creating accessible information

7. 7
Dyslexic
Images
Text
AudioVideo
Interactivity
© Alistair McNaught Jisc
Creating accessible information

8. 8
Deaf
Images
Text
AudioVideo
Interactivity
© Alistair McNaught Jisc
Creating accessible information

9. 9
All together now…
Images
Text
AudioVideo
Interactivity
© Alistair McNaught Jisc
Creating accessible information

10. 10
Triangle of barriers…..or web of life…?
Listen to a
lecture
Read printed
information
Take notes,
understand
or remember
Get feedback
Get tested
Now
Later
Replay it
Pause it
Complete it
On phone
On tablet
Listen to text
Critique it
Collaborate
on responses
Create video In audio
As a visual
representation
Contribute to new
learning resource
Adapted from © Alistair McNaught Jisc

11. A critical mass of ingredients…
»Paper
»Pens
»Mindmap
»Audio
»Image
»Video
»screen capture
»Text to speech
11

12. Creating accessible information 12
What can I do?
Creating accessible information
Lets start with ‘accessibility without trying’

13. Serif Font Styles are less accessible
Times New Roman (abc DEF)
Sans Serif Fonts Styles are more accessible
Trebuchet (abc DEF)
Comic Sans (abc DEF)
Arial (abc DEF)
Verdana (abc DEF)
Helvetica (abc DEF)
Geneva (abc DEF)
Calibri (acb DEF)

14. Creating accessible information
Ensure all text is left aligned, not justified

15. Creating accessible information
Use Heading Styles
Microsoft ® Word has an inbuilt structuring system for heading styles which should
be used when creating any document
Using built in headingstyles

16. Creating accessible information
What do you think are the accessibility
benefits of using built in heading styles?

17. Creating accessible information
Using built in heading styles
http://tiny.cc/Navigation
17

18. Creating accessible information
Avoiding unreasonable practice
“As a screen
reader user it is
important for me
to have heading
structure in a Word
document.“
“very time consuming
scrolling down
continuously not
knowing and
listening to
information you don’t
want to know about. “
Listen to a student who uses
screen reading technology
http://tiny.cc/Headings
“Without heading
styles in electronic
documents, it is
difficult for me to
read & often I am the
one spending time
making my course
work accessible “
18

19. Adding alt text to images provides information for assistive technology users
» Right click your
image and select
format.
» Choose the format
picture/alt text.
» Add an alt text
that describes the
image.
19

20. Creating accessible information
AltText Descriptions
“It’s important to have
description of images
to help a visually
impaired person
imagine what that
image could be“
“Alt text gives me the
idea of what the image,
is not just a massive
gap when the screen
reader is reading back.“
Listen to Jennifer - screen reader user
20

21. Creating accessible information
Activity
• In your activity folder, open the document called
‘unstructured document’,
• Add an alt text description to the image on the first
page,
• Identify the headings within the document and add
heading structures to them (heading 1, 2 or 3),
• View your document using the document map,
• If you have time feel free to add a table of contents.

22. Creating accessible information
Accessible Hyperlinks
http://www1.ayrshire.ac.uk/students/inclusive-learning/inclusive-
learning-support-available/
You could use a tinyurl or tiny.cc to create a bespoke link e.g.
http://tiny.cc/Inclusivelearning
You could also integrate the link into the sentence e.g.
Find out more about Ayrshire College Inclusive Learning Service

23. Creating accessible information
Hyperlinks should make sense out of context
Especially important for screen reader
users who can opt to listen to
hyperlinks as a summary of
information.
The links need to make sense out of
context.
» Click here forTopic List.
» Click here forTopic List.
» Click here forTopic List.

24. Creating accessible information
Saving a Word document to PDF

25. Creating accessible information
Adobe Reader-free software that will read back your PDF File
From a user's viewpoint the following functionalities in Adobe
Reader offers the following benefits:
» The ability to navigate via bookmarks.
» The ability to magnify text.
» The ability to reflow text
» The ability to change the text and background colours.
» The ability to automatically scroll through the document and
therefore read it without mouse interaction.

26. Read Out Loud
» Adobe Reader has an inbuilt Read Out Loud
function.
» To access this function, navigate to View > Read
Out Loud > Activate Read Out Loud
» Once the Read Out Loud function has been
activated, the user has a number of options.
» In order to read short paragraphs of content, use
the cursor to select a block of text and have the
contents read out.
» To read a single page of text navigate to View >
Read Out Loud > ReadThis Page Only
» To read the entire document navigate to View >
Read Out Loud > ReadTo End of Document

27. Enlarging theText Size
» Adobe® Reader allows the user to enlarge
the text using the zoom function.
» Navigate toView > Zoom > Reflow.
» Then select the appropriate
magnification value from the dialogue
box
» Using the Reflow function will mean that
all the magnified text can be seen on the
screen.

28. Ref Alistair McNaught
Images courtesy of Alistair McNaught Jisc Techdis
Magnify Reflow Recolour

29. Creating accessible information
Format shift Navigate Interoperate
Images courtesy of Alistair McNaught Jisc Techdis

30. Creating accessible information
Accessible PowerPoint
»Where possible use slide layout/templates or use
Slide Master.
»Use the Notes Field to include text from the PPT
slide and/or add additional text to augment
information.
»Six points per slide.
»Six words per point.
»Don’t overload slides (use more, simple slides).
30

31. Built in Accessibility Checker
»File>
»Info>
»Inspect document>
»Check for issues>
»Check accessibility >
»Errors, warnings and
tips
31

32. Making the most of Microsoft
» Text to speech sits in the Quick AccessToolbar
» (works with Word, PowerPoint and Outlook)
32
» Providing text to speech on computers
http://tiny.cc/SpeakFeatureOffice
*

33. Activity: Add speak to your quick access toolbar
•Next to the QuickAccess
Toolbar, click Customize
Quick AccessToolbar.
•Click More Commands.
•In the Choose commands
from list, select All
Commands.
•Scroll down to the Speak
command, select it, and
then click Add.
•Click add and the feature
will be added.
33

34. Creating accessible information
Free and easy to use technologies such as Balabolka will
produce mp3/audio versions of text based information
e.g. ’this information is also available as an audio file’
http://tiny.cc/Balabolka
Provide Information in Alternative Formats
34

35. Creating accessible information
Activity
• Run’ MyStudyBar’,
• Select the writing icon and open up Balabolka,
• Paste text into Balabolka and press the green button to
have it read back to you (ensure you have your mouse icon
at the start of the text)
• Save as mp3 by clicking file > save audio file > save as mp3.

36. Provide Information in Alternative Formats
Use free resources such as
Audacity to create audio
based information to add
value to written text
http://tiny.cc/UsingAudacity
36

37. Creating accessible information
Ensure that any audio/visual information is provided with
captioning (or at least a text based alternative) to describe what is
being said to those who might have difficulty hearing it.
http://tiny.cc/CaptionYouTube
Provide Information in Alternative Formats
37

38. Provide Information in Alternative Formats
Xerte accessible
content creation tool
http://tiny.cc/XerteAccessibleContent
38

39. Creating accessible information
Accessible web content
» Growing awareness of the need to anticipate “product liabilities”
› Maximum font size? Does text re-flow when font enlarged?
› Can a user change background/foreground colours or contrasts? How?
› Are there keyboard-only equivalents for all mouse actions? Can I access this information
by using my keyboard only?
› Is text marked up so it can be navigated in a meaningful way (for example by heading
level)?
› Can text be selected and read by text-to-speech tools?
› Are text descriptions available for all relevant graphics and images?
› Where can I find guidance for all these features?
39

40. What about websites?
You could use the
HeadingsMap add-on
for Firefox and
Google Chrome to
check how well your
website is structured.
40
http://tiny.cc/HeadingsMapInfo

41. Accessible by Design Competition
http://tiny.cc/JiscAccessiblebDesign

42. Why Inclusive Practice is important
» Getting Started with Accessibility and Inclusion
» Using assistive and accessible technology in teaching and learning
» Enhancing Staff Support for Learners with Disabilities
» Meeting the requirements of all students
» Delivering an Inclusive Digital experience
» JiscTechDisYouTube video playlists
Guides and resources
Jisc: Supporting accessibility and inclusion

43. Creating accessible information
» Text to speech for productivity and inclusion
» Inclusive mobile learning
» Accessibility on the run: how accessibility cuts across different roles.
» Load2Learn - http://tiny.cc/load2learn
» Accessible eBooks - http://tiny.cc/Access_eBooks
» Using free software to read eBooks - http://tiny.cc/reading_eBooks
» MyStudyBar (a suite of free productivity software tools) - http://eduapps.org/
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Jisc: Supporting accessibility and inclusion