WR 227 Erwert: Accessible design
Universal design and accessible formatting
Universal design is the process for making documents and other accessible to a wide range of people, including those with disabilities. Technical writers use universal design when they are aware of the barriers that some users might encounter when accessing a document, and design their documents to eliminate those barriers. Designing for accessibility is widely recognized to improve the usability of documents and other items for everyone.
Learn more from PCC's Accessible Ed and Disabilities Resources page on Universal Design
Accessible headings (3 minutes)
Accessible lists (4 minutes)
Basics of Accessible Formatting
There are some fundamental formatting techniques that are simple to do and make a huge difference for your audience. Take a moment to learn about what they are and why they are important. See PCC's webpage Basics of Accessible Formatting
- HeadingsHeadings in a document or web page make a page look well-organized, give an at-a-glance view of the topics covered, help people navigate to various sections easily, and can auto-generate a table of contents for you. If you create your headings by enlarging the font, changing the font style and color, the text is still tagged in the app as “Normal” text. Using the one-click formatting options for Headings from your app’s toolbar, tags the text as a Heading.
- ListsWhen making a list, use the built-in list tool instead of typing 1 enter, 2 enter, 3 enter, etc. Doing this will format your list with the bullets of your choice, indents, and spacing. When formatted using the list tool, the list is tagged correctly and assistive technology will notify a user that there is a list with “x” number of items and let the user know what list item they are on.
- Meaningful linksIf you link to a website, article, or document, then instead of simply copy/pasting the URL, insert the link using an “insert link” tool and give the link a title, preferably the name of the website, article, or document. Having a long web address in the middle of your content is not the most pleasant sight. Giving your link a title, not only makes your document look more professional and organized, but it allows users of assistive technology to search a page for certain links more effectively.
- Alternative textImages need some sort of alternative text for individuals who have visual impairments, including color-blindness.
- ColorBecause of color blindness, it is important to not use color alone to convey information.
- TablesUsing column/row headers also allows those using assistive technology to know where they are at in the table.
- CaptioningClosed captioning is essential for those who are deaf and hard of hearing, but they also help non-native English speakers, those who are unfamiliar with vocabulary, viewers with some learning disabilities, or those in a noisy environment
- EquationsMath and science notation is not accessible to screen reader users unless it is written in MathML or MathType (in MS Word)
Accessibility in Word and other other Microsoft tools
- Word Document AccessibilityFrom PCC's Office of Instructional Support, learn about accessible ways to use text, headings, lists, images, links, tables, buttons, the built-in checker and more in Microsoft Word
- Cheat sheetsFrom the National Center on Disability and Access to Education, find one page cheat sheets for a number of Microsoft and other software programs.
Google docs
- Google doc accessibilityFrom PCC's Office of Instructional Support, learn the basics for making Google docs as accessible as possible.
- Make your document or presentation more accessibleFrom Google Doc Editors Help