Creating accessible publications is not only the right thing to do, but it can be good for your bottom line. Now, with EPUB accessibility specifications and guidelines, publishers have a baseline for accessibility that is clear, achievable, and easier than ever to integrate into current publishing workflows. This presentation was originally given by Bill Kasdorf, VP and Principal Consultant at Apex Content & Media Solutions and Member of IDPF Board, EPUB 3 WG, W3C DPUB IG, at the Association of American Publishers 2017 PSP Pre-Conference in February 2017.

1. Bill Kasdorf
VP and Principal Consultant, Apex Content Solutions
Member of IDPF Board, EPUB 3 WG, W3C DPUB IG
Accessibility
It’s Never Been Easier toAchieve—
and Never More Important

2. Spoiler Alert!
Here are the takeaways.

3. Spoiler Alert!
Here are the takeaways.
Accessible publications are better publications.
Period.

4. Spoiler Alert!
Here are the takeaways.
Accessible publications are better publications.
Period.
Accessibility is not just the right thing to do,
it can be good for your bottom line.

5. Spoiler Alert!
Here are the takeaways.
Accessible publications are better publications.
Period.
Accessibility is not just the right thing to do,
it can be good for your bottom line.
Accessibility has gotten easier to accomplish—
and easier to know when you’ve got it right.

6. Spoiler Alert!
Here are the takeaways.
Accessible publications are better publications.
Period.
Accessibility is not just the right thing to do,
it can be good for your bottom line.
Accessibility has gotten easier to accomplish—
and easier to know when you’ve got it right.
Accessible publications should be the same ones
everybody gets, not special versions.

7. Accessibility has gotten
easier to accomplish—and easier to know
when you’ve got it right.
EPUB 3
Web Accessibility
Baseline Specifications
Certification
Helpful Resources

8. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems.

9. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems.
Accessibility
It’s the format for interchange of accessible content.

10. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems.
Accessibility
It’s the format for interchange of accessible content.
Education
Platforms are built on the EPUB for Education profile.

11. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems.
Accessibility
It’s the format for interchange of accessible content.
Education
Platforms are built on the EPUB for Education profile.
Not Just Books
It’s used for all kinds of publications.

12. EPUB 3 has become essential
to the publishing ecosystem
E-Readers
It’s the “master format” for virtually all systems.
Accessibility
It’s the format for interchange of accessible content.
Education
Platforms are built on the EPUB for Education profile.
Not Just Books
It’s used for all kinds of publications.
Global
Widely adopted in US, EU, Far East, Israel.

13. What makes an EPUB 3
a properly accessible EPUB 3?
the basics:
HTML5 and EPUB 3 Structural Semantics
Navigation, logical reading order
HTML tables and MathML
Page break markers
Image descriptions
Accessibility metadata

14. Baseline spec for accessible publications.
Clear guidelines to enable certification of accessibility
and discovery of accessible features in an EPUB.
Based on Web accessibility recommendations.
Adds publication-specific requirements.
Requires accessibility-specific metadata.
Techniques document provides “how to do it” advice.
Applicable and referenceable by
any version of EPUB and other specs too.
EPUB Accessibility 1.0

15. Categories of compliance.
“Discovery-Enabled”: Just metadata.
“Accessible”: MD + WCAG 2.0 + EPUB requirements.
“Optimized”: Metadata + specific features.
Metadata aligned with schema.org.
accessMode (textual, visual, auditory, tactile).
accessibilityFeature (what features does it have).
accessibilityHazard (e.g., flashing can cause seizures).
accessibilitySummary (human-readable explanation).
accessModeSufficient (e.g. text + alt text = textual).
EPUB Accessibility 1.0

16. WCAG
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
WCAG 2.0 (2008) is widely adopted internationally.
Very rich suite of documentation and resources.
WAI-ARIA
Accessible Rich Internet Applications
Adds semantics via @role and @aria-*.
Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.0 will add
publishing-specific doc-* values to @role.
Web Accessibility

17. Benetech / Diagram Center
POET for help with image descriptions.
MathML Cloud for formats and descriptions.
EPUB Accessibility Conformance Certification.
MathJax / Accessibility Extensions
Adds semantics to Presentation MathML
essential for assistive technology.
On-the-fly speech-text for math.
BISG / Quick Start Guide to Accessible Publishing
Help With the Hard Parts

18. Accessible publications
are better publications.
Period.
Logical structure and navigation
Predictable, reflowable, responsive
Useful image descriptions
Text-to-speech, closed captioning
Synchronized text & audio
Page break markers

19. Accessibility is not just
the right thing to do,
it can be good for your bottom line.
Legal requirements
Procurement requirements
Competitive advantage
Expanded market
“Born Accessible”:
no “special version” required

20. Accessible publications
should be the same ones
everybody gets.

21. HTML 5.1
https://www.w3.org/TR/html/
EPUB 3.1
http://www.idpf.org/epub/31/spec/epub-spec.html
EPUB ACCESSIBILITY
EPUB Accessibility 1.0: http://www.idpf.org/epub/a11y/
EPUB Accessibility Techniques: http://www.idpf.org/epub/a11y/techniques/techniques.html
W3C WCAG & WAI-ARIA
WCAG: https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php
WAI-ARIA: https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria
DPUB WAI-ARIA Module 1.0: https://www.w3.org/TR/dpub-aria-1.0/
BENETECH
http://www.benetech.org/our-programs/literacy/
MATHJAX
http://docs.mathjax.org/en/latest/misc/accessibility-features.html
BISG QUICK START GUIDE TO ACCESSIBILITY
https://bisg.site-ym.com/store/ViewProduct.aspx?id=6972996
Resources

22. Thanks!
Bill Kasdorf
bkasdorf@apexcovantage.com
+1 734 904 6252
@BillKasdorf