Whether you’re a publisher or comic book creator or independent author, accessibility is a critical aspect of digital content creation. ePubs, PDFs, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel can all be checked using their own integrated accessibility validation tools. Whether you choose to remediate your document(s) in-house, or want to learn more about converting it to an accessible ePub, our accessibility experts will help you understand the issues reported within products, the application of industry standards, plus conduct a deep dive into the content that requires a level of human review. Below is a roadmap to all the possibilities.
Accessible ePub Conversion and Creation
All Digital documents (e.g., PDFs, InDesign & Word) can all be converted to accessible ePubs.
Why an ePub? First, ePubs are reflowable, resizable to conform to device displays, and more reader-friendly. ePubs are built using HTML and CSS. Authors have more control over content and ensures that the content is accessible to a wider range of users.
Export an ePub from InDesign? You absolutely can, but is it fully accessible? Depends on if you used the programs options for making the content accessible along the way.
Convert fixed ePub to reflowable accessible ePub: A fixed ePub is not resizable on device displays and the text may be embedded into the image resulting in a failure for any screen reader to read the text. You absolutely can make fixed ePubs accessible using alternative text, but you still are faced with the display challenge between devices. A reflowable accessible ePub is advantageous because content is properly tagged, alternative text is placed and screen reader users will be able to experience the whole package.
PDF Conversion or Remediation
Occasionally, PDFs can appear as one giant image with no structured content. Sometimes a PDF lacks necessary tagging to be fully accessible. Proper tagging provides the semantics that screen readers need to understand and organize the content including headings or lists. Despite the Adobe Acrobat accessibility report stating the document passes accessibility standards, it may not be fully accessible to all users of Assistive Technology. Remediating PDFs for accessibility means complying with current WCAG Level AA standards:
- Convert source file to PDF.
- Cross-reference link creation (if applicable).
- Tag heads, paragraphs, lists, footnotes, tables, figures, captions, formulas/equations.
- Add links for URL contents and assign attributes for link elements
- Add alternative text
- Create form fields
- Remediate tables
- Ensure reading order
- Plus more …
PowerPoint Remediation
PowerPoint includes an accessibility checker listing what errors may be present in the document. It is in the organization’s best interest to confirm, and if required, remediate PowerPoints to be made accessible and comply with current WCAG Level AA standards. Included in making PowerPoints accessible may include the following:
- Set standard accessible font & font size within document.
- Text and image content to be placed in accessible placeholder boxes.
- Setting correct reading order for each slide.
- Alternative text creation (alternative text is intended to be a functional alternative to the image).
- Long description is created when alternative text exceeds requires an extended image description. The longer description is inserted in the Notes Pane.
- Hyperlinks – embed using descriptive linked text and place raw URL in Notes Pane or when appropriate, use the raw URL within the slide.
- Set document/presentation properties including title metadata.
- Plus more…
Recommendations: Create an accessible template to be reused with repeatable images and content.
Word Remediation
Word includes an accessibility checker listing what errors may be present in the document. What makes a word document accessible is similar to PDFs & PowerPoint: document structure, hyperlinks, lists, and images.