Creating accessible documents
The core requirements needed to create an accessible document are the same whether you are creating webpage content, a Microsoft Word document, an Adobe PDF or any other document format.
Note: For the examples used in this manual, the Microsoft Word application will be used. However, most applications have similar functionality. If using another application, check your application's documentation for how-to specifics. Also, see 'Preserving accessibility when saving in other formats' for further information on converting Word documents to PDFs.
Core requirements
- chevron_right Use correct heading hierarchy
- chevron_right Use lists where possible
- chevron_right Add alt text for images
- chevron_right Identify the document's language
- chevron_right Use simple tables and only for table data
- chevron_right Use accessible colours for fonts and graphics
- chevron_right Use meaningful hyperlink text
- chevron_right Avoid important information in footer and header
- chevron_right Preserve accessibility when exporting to PDF format
Use the application's functionality for adding the correct heading size according to your document's structure (Figure 2)
Use lists where possible
Content that is concise is more easily digestable. If possible, present content in the form of simple lists.
Content that is organized as a list should use the standard unordered (Figure 3) or ordered list (Figure 4) controls in the application software. As long as you are using the application's list format, a user using a screen reader is given helpful information: that they are entering a list and how many items are in the list.
The alt text dialogue (Figure 6) will appear on the right side of the Word document.
- If an image is used to convey information to a user, add relevant and meaningful text describing the informational content of the image in the description field.
- If an image is purely decorative, the Mark as decorative checkbox should be marked.
When creating an accessible document, it is always best to use an application's tool to create content. Only include 'images' used for charts and graphs if adequate alt text can be added to fully explain the content. Otherwise, create the necessary graph or chart in the application itself or alternatively provide an additional table displaying the data in a chart or graph, which is likely to be more accessible for the majority of users.
Even if created with the application's graph functionality, the colour and label issues above would remain.
Alternatively, Figure 8 depicts the same information as in Figure 7, but is accessible, because it was created with the MS Word chart functionality, is readable by a reader because there are clear descriptive labels for the chart information and the colours are now shades of blue with sufficient colour contrast to be distinguishable by colorblind users.
Figure 9 shows how, alternatively, a table could be used instead of the image of the chart or graph for displaying the same information. See the tables section for creating accessible tables.
Identify the document's language
Screen reader software is multilingual, but in order to correctly read a document, it must know the language. Most document software provides a means of identifying a document's language and also a way of identifying specific parts of the document if in a different language than the default language.
Depending on your system, the application menu items may differ slightly. Typically, the language setting for the Word document can be set in File > Options > Language.
To define the language of a specific paragraph in a document if in another language than the defined language of the document, one can select the specific text and use the Tools > Language menu item.
A dialogue will open to define the language of the selected text (Figure 10). Select the correct language from the dropdown and click OK.
Use simple tables and only for table data
Tables should be used to communicate table data only and never used for visual layout of information.
Tables should have clear descriptive headings for each column and/or row, have only one piece of information per cell, and have a simple table structure. Tables should have no split cells, merged cells or nested tables.
Always use the Accessibility Checker menu item in Word to check if your content and especially tables are done correctly.
Use accessible colours for fonts and graphics
Important information should never rely on colour for distinguishing and conveying information because colours are not useful for all users (blind or colourblind).
Therefore, it is important that the information be conveyed directly without the use of colour and if you wish to enhance a document with the use of colour for others, then it is important to use colours with sufficient colour contrast ratios to adhere to accessibility requirements.
Use sufficient contrast for text with the background colour. To assist with finding suitable colours, use Word's built in Accessibility Checker functionality.
To check the colour contrast ratios between colours, as well as on a background, external pageWebAIM's Link contrast checkercall_made is a good resource.
Another interesting source for choosing multiple colours for graphics to ensure enough contrast between the chosen colours is the external pageVizPalettecall_made solution online.
Avoid important information in document footer and header
Headers and footers are only visible in the print layout view and print preview. Screenreaders do not scan Header or Footer document areas. Therefore, all important information that a document is intended to convey should be in the standard content area of the document.
Preserving accessibility when exporting to PDF format
The first step in creating an accessible PDF is to be sure that the original Word document is accessible. Do not print to PDF. This method does not preserve the document's accessiblity features. For PDF documents to be accessible, they must be a "tagged" PDF, meaning they have an underlying tag structure that includes the features described above. To save the Word document to a PDF format, follow the following steps:
- Make sure that the fields for "Author" and "Title" are filled correctly in the document properties before saving the document.
- Go to File > 'Save As...' and select PDF from the choices provided in the dropdown.
- Be sure the box to export and preserve the document tag structure for accessibility is marked (this field is labeled differently depending on the system used).