1. Jan Richards1, Sabrina Ruplall1, Jeroen Baldewijns2
1 Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University
2 Blindenzorg Licht en Liefde - AnySurfer
2. Introduction
Web accessibility is a frequently discussed topic.
But what about the accessibility of office documents
(word processed documents, spreadsheets,
presentations)?
Such as those created by:
Microsoft Office
LibreOffice
Google Docs
Etc.
3. Introduction (con’t)
Office documents remain a critical means of
communication in domains as diverse as commerce,
education, civic engagement and public governance.
And rather than fading away, office documents have
taken to “The Cloud” with systems such as Google Docs
and Microsoft Office 365.
4. Relevant Legislation
Accessibility regulations typically already apply, e.g..
US Section 508
UK’s Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
Ontario’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
(AODA)
But what is an “accessible office document”?
An independent resource is needed, such as the W3C
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 for
web content.
5. Web Pages vs. Office Documents
WCAG 2.0 could be used, but it is “overkill” when applied
to most office documents, which are usually less dynamic
and interactive than web content.
“Typical” office documents are:
intended to be used by people (not computer code),
text-based (with images but usually not video, etc.),
fully printable,
self-contained (no external links),
typical of office-style workflows.
7. Accessible Office Document Guidance
So in 2010, the IDRC, as part of an EnAbling Change
partnership with the Government of Ontario and
UNESCO, created the Accessible Digital Office Documents
(ADOD) project which included both an Assessment
Framework and Authoring Techniques.
http://inclusivedesign.ca/accessible-office-documents
8. ADOD Assessment Framework
The assessment framework was essentially an adaptation
of WCAG 2.0 and ATAG 1.0 to office documents and
applications. The adaptation involved:
Adjusting terminology away from terms such as “Web
Content” and “User Agent” that would not be familiar to
users of office applications.
Removing success criteria not applicable to the typical
office document use case (as previously described)
Removing Level AAA success criteria.
9. ADOD Assessment Framework (con’t)
In order to reduce the risk of being seen to be
“fragmenting” the guidance provided by W3C-WAI, ADOD
uses the W3C-WAI numbering schemes and the original
W3C-WAI wording except where vocabulary adjustments
are identified with square brackets.
Also, ADOD does not include a conformance model.
Developers seeking to make a conformance claim should
only do so to the W3C Recommendations.
10. ADOD Authoring Techniques
Of greater practical use to most people than the
framework are the authoring techniques, covering:
Suite Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentation
Microsoft Office 2003 Word 2010 Excel 2003 PowerPoint 2003
Microsoft Office 2007 Word 2010 Excel 2007 PowerPoint 2007
Microsoft Office 2008 for Word 2008 for Mac Excel 2008 for Mac PowerPoint 2008 for
Mac Mac
Microsoft Office 2010 Word 2010 Excel 2010 PowerPoint 2010
OpenOffice.org v3.2 Writer Calc Impress
Corel WordPerfect Office X5 WordPerfect X5 Quattro Pro X5 Presentations X5
Apple iWork ‘09 Pages Numbers Keynote
Google Docs Document Spreadsheet Presentation
Adobe Acrobat 9 Acrobat
11. ADOD Authoring Techniques (con’t)
Product-by-product,
providing very specific
information (an approach
that would be useful for web
content authoring tools as
well)
Step-by-step instructions
Numerous screenshots
“Desktop reference”-style
12. But Note…
Not all applications support creation of accessible content
Some lack features that enable accessible authoring
E.g. MS Office 2008 for Mac
Does not support alternative text
Some of the other features that might otherwise support
accessibility, such as extensive templates, are not as
effective
E.g. OpenOffice (v3.2) for Windows
Includes bugs in which alternative text is lost
13. The General Techniques
Technique 1. Use Accessible Templates
Technique 2. Specify Document Language
Technique 3. Provide Text Alternatives
Technique 4. Avoid “Floating” Elements/Set Logical Tab Order
Technique 5. Use Headings
Technique 6. Use Named Styles
Technique 7. Use Built-In Document Structuring Features
Technique 8. Create Accessible Charts
Technique 9. Make Content Easier to See
Technique 10. Make Content Easier to Understand
Technique 11. Check Accessibility
Technique 12. Use Accessibility Features when Saving/Exporting
14. Technique 1
Use Accessible Templates
Starting point for documents, accessibility is critical
Create an accessible template
Select an accessible template (empty templates tend to be
accessible)
15. Technique 2
Specify Document Language
Indicate natural language
Indicate if a different language is used for select text
Enables assistive technologies to accurately present content
Automatic language detection
16. Technique 3
Provide Text Alternatives for Images and Graphical
Objects
Ensure information is conveyed to people who cannot see
the object
More complex objects require longer description (e.g.
artwork, flowcharts)
17. Should I Avoid Using Graphics?
Accessible documents should not be equated with text-
only documents.
In fact some people with disabilities will find it easier to
understand graphics than dense text.
18. Technique 4
Word processors/spreadsheets: avoid “Floating”
Elements
Ensure objects remain with text that references it
Presentation/PDF software: set a reading tab order
19. Technique 5
Use Headings
Documents require structuring to make them
more straightforward for readers to
understand
“True Headings” create logical divisions
20. Technique 6
Use Named Styles
Similar to “True Headings”
Helps to understand why something was formatted in a
given way
21. Technique 7
Use Built-In Document Structuring Features
Tables
Lists
Columns
Page Breaks
Table of Contents
Page Numbering
Document Title
22. Technique 8
Create Accessible Charts
Same basic accessibility considerations as rest of document
Ensure contents are clear and labeled
Consider providing the data in tabular form as well
23. Technique 9
Use font sizes between 12 and 18 points for body text.
Use fonts of normal weight, rather than bold or light weight
fonts. If you do choose to use bold fonts for emphasis, use
them sparingly.
Use standard fonts with clear spacing and easily recognized
upper and lower case characters. Sans serif fonts (e.g., Arial,
Verdana) may sometimes be easier to read than serif fonts
(e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond).
Avoid large amounts of text set all in caps, italic or underlined.
Use normal or expanded character spacing, rather than
condensed spacing.
Avoid animated or scrolling text.
24. Technique 9 (con’t)
Use Sufficient Contrast
Avoid Using Color Alone
Avoid Relying on Sensory Characteristics
Avoid Using Images of Text
25. Technique 10
Write Clearly
Whenever possible, write clearly with short sentences.
Introduce acronyms and spell out abbreviations.
Avoid making the document too “busy” by using lots of
whitespace and by avoiding too many different colors, fonts
and images.
If content is repeated on multiple pages within a document
or within a set of documents (e.g., headings, footings, etc.),
it should occur consistently each time it is repeated.
26. Technique 11
Check Accessibility
Similar to spelling and grammar checking
Identifies potential accessibility errors
Describes how to address those errors
Evaluate HTML accessibility
Evaluate PDF accessibility
28. Technique 12
Use Accessibility Features when Saving/Exporting to
Other Formats
Saving as PDF
Saving as HTML
29. Partnerships and Next Steps
The ADOD material underwent an initial public review in
October 2010 (with 11 external reviewers sending
comments).
As new office software is released (e.g. the new
accessibility checker for LibreOffice) we would like to
keep the techniques updated.
For that we need partners.
AnySurfer was the first additional organization to
contribute translations (Dutch) and techniques.
30. Conclusion
Office documents can be made accessible and by their
nature, this is often simpler than for Web content.
Office document authoring techniques are available at:
http://inclusivedesign.ca/accessible-office-documents
Partnerships are being sought to translate and maintain
the documents.
32. Acknowledgements
ADOD was developed in partnership between:
Government of Ontario
Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) at OCAD University
UNESCO
Inclusive Design
Research Centre
(OCAD University)
