Accessible Electronic Documents

Per TAC §206.70, having trouble loading a page or document is now a success criterion for accessible content, and it makes sense. Broadband internet is not available everywhere. Rural areas are commonly slow for internet access. You (or your device) will more than likely give up if the content does not load quickly enough. You will be unable to "access" the content.

Per TAC §206.70, being unable to review documents in a manner that makes sense on any device screen size can be the difference between accessing the content or not.

Consider the inability to follow along on a table's rows and columns on a PDF document or having to scroll back and forth, up and down to get the full meaning of a message before forgetting how the content lines up to scroll again.

This is why PDFs are less preferable to webpages for reading materials.

What about busy looking webpages? If a webpage is built in conformance with WCAG 2.1 AA technical accessibility standards, you get some benefits:

• Screen reader and keyboard users can take advantage of block bypassing features. Towards the top of any webpage, it would display options for skipping the navigation. This allows you to review the main content more quickly.
• Several browsers have reading mode options. They scan the webpage for the main content and display it in a reading view. Some reading modes have color, size, and font options for making the reading experience better. Some will read the text aloud for you.

We do not typically talk about reading order or preferred language of documents because most of that is pre-defined on our website templates. That is not the case with documents, especially when they are more than textual content or contain complex content like tables.

Reading order allows screen readers to determine which content to read out loud next, as opposed to reading it top-down, left-to-right. Some software allows you to change the numbering on your content to redefine that reading order.

Example issues:

• if your content is displayed in a circular order on the page, or some other non-traditional order
• a badge is placed over or near some some content, interrupting the reading of the content for the content on the badge

We do not typically talk about reading order or preferred language of documents because most of that is pre-defined on our website templates. That is not the case with documents, especially when they are more than textual content or contain complex content like tables.

Language is as simple as defining the document's main language and identifying any foreign languages (e.g., Latin, French) used in words and phrases.

Language allows individuals more familiar with a foreign language to adapt your content to something they understand. It also allows them to read it correctly from their screen readers, since the pronunciation can change on a similarly spelled word (in addition to the definition of the word).

The title of the document is announced to assistive technology to let people know immediately which document they are looking at, or what content they are about to view. Providing the title of a document is a very simple solution in most applications.

• In Cascade CMS, it is filling in the Title field on the web page.
• In Microsoft files, it is going to File then Info for the properties of the document.
• In Adobe Acrobat, it is going to File then Properties to review the Description tab options.

Basic document properties often include title, author, and keywords.

Most of the time, we are designing documents for print purposes, so providing alternative text for imagery is not an obvious step in our process. However, it is an important one when adding documents to websites or converting them to PDF. It is preferred that the alternative text be added in the native software before converting to PDF, etc.

But what needs alternative text on a document?

• Graphs/Charts: identify the points on a graph and/or summarize the results
• Photography: convey the message a visual user received (who, what, when, where, why, how, and/or emotion desired from viewing)
• Graphics: convey the message a visual user received (who, what, when, where, why, how, and/or emotion desired from viewing) if the graphic has valuable information to the reader

Most of the time, we are designing documents for print purposes, so providing appropriate color contrast within the design is not an obvious step in our process. As digital document, though, these issues must be considered:

• Color choice for text against background color and/or photography
• Readability and color choice of graphs/charts against background color and/or photography

There are a number of issues to look at regarding links. This includes creating unique link text that explains where a link is going to someone without context from the paragraph it appears in. However, broken links are often the biggest problem for accessibility.

For example, if you are linking to an Excel file in your documents folder from within your Word document, you will note the link does not appear broken for you when you test it. Once you send the Word document to anyone else, they will find the link inaccessible. That is because they do not have access to your documents folder. You need to make sure links are essentially "publicly" available. Or that the audience you want to have access to the content has permission to access those links.

• Onix: PDF vs HTML: Which is the Best Route to Reach WCAG Compliance
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
  • Tutorials
    • Page Structure
    • Images
    • Tables
    • Forms
  • Designing and Developing
    
    • Use headings to convey meaning and structure
    • Make link text meaningful
    • Write meaningful text alternatives for images
    • Provide clear instructions
    • Keep content clear and concise
    • Provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background
    • Don’t use color alone to convey information
    • Ensure that interactive elements are easy to identify
    • Ensure that form elements include clearly associated labels
    • Include image and media alternatives in your design
    • Include alternative text for images
    • Identify page language and language changes
    • Use mark-up to convey meaning and structure
    • Reflect the reading order in the code order
• Nielsen Norman Group
  • Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design
  • Can Hated Design Elements Be Made to Work?