#4: Accessible Documents and Presentations

Making all of your documents accessible is important so that all users are able to access your information—no matter its format. Not only is making your content accessible a best practice, but universities are also required to maintain accessibility and follow standards from Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as amended in 1998.

With that, let's get into some commonly used documents and go over how to make them accessible. It may seem like a lot, but consider this alternative: a Canvas page! Yes, create a page in Canvas instead of uploading a doc. A good place to start would be your syllabus. There are examples of what it looks like to use a Canvas page for your syllabus back in Canvas design concept #2: Navigation.

 

Re-evaluate your reliance on uploaded documents

It may be tempting to scan that document you got from the library and upload it into your course, but that may mean that document is no longer accessible because it is now just a scanned image with no descriptive text. Problem!

So, before you consider uploading a document to your course or building a PowerPower presentation, ask yourself:

  • Do you really need it, or is there a better alternative?
  • Is it accessible?
  • Check the library! ILL, scanning, and other services can get you what you need.
  • Could it just be a Canvas page?
  • What is it like on a mobile device?

 

Canvas Pages and the Rich Content Editor

The Rich Content Editor has built-in features that allow you to incorporate accessibility into Canvas pages. Use the tools in the top menu for the best results for readability, including screen readers' ability to read the text. The built-in features provide a navigational structure for those students using screen readers. These features include:

  • Headings, as previously mentioned
  • Bulleted and numbered lists

Be mindful of link descriptions

  • Always use a label for link text; never post only the link unless there is sufficient context or the link itself is short and provides the context
  • Use descriptive labels for link text. Avoid using "click here" or "link to" as labels.

PowerPoint

What about PowerPoint makes it most suited to accomplishing your instructional goal?

Without the content of the live presentations, PowerPoint slides would not be very meaningful. One way to overcome this is to incorporate the spoken word with the slides in some way - either as recorded audio, video, or text. Screen readers can also read PowerPoint text when the content is formatted accessibly. However, keep in mind that not all content is best suited for PowerPoint, and consider other options that are easier for students to access.

PowerPoint has a built-in accessibility checker. See how to use it, as well as Microsoft's best practices for accessibility, on their PowerPoint accessibility guide. Links to an external site.

 (Links to an external site.)

Word

  • Use formatting tools correctly.
    • When you create a word processing document using the formatting tools correctly, you are one step closer to having an accessible web page.
    • Another advantage of this feature is that you can immediately create a table of contents for your document.

Word also has a built-in accessibility checker. See how to use it, as well as best practices, on Microsoft's Word accessibility guide. Links to an external site.

PDF Documents

  • PDF files are only as accessible as the document from which they were created.
    • PDF files created before Acrobat 4.0 are totally inaccessible as they are simply images of the original document.
    • Some PDF files created more recently are also only images because they have been created by scanning the original document as an image.
    • Because of the many problems with the accessibility of PDFs, it is still recommended that an alternate file format be posted along with the PDF—preferably HTML.
    • If you have a PDF document and do not have it in another format, you can get it converted to text by using the Online Conversion Tools provided by Adobe Links to an external site.

Adobe Acrobat Pro has a built-in accessibility checker. Learn how to use it in the accessibility guide. Links to an external site.

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