UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF

Form 1221-2

(June 1969)

UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

MANUAL TRANSMITTAL SHEET

Release

1-1766

Date

03/09/2015

Subject

H-1297-1 Creating Section 508 Compliant Documents

1. Explanation of Material Transmitted: This handbook provides step-by-step instructions to

assist BLM employees in creating accessible documents compliant with Section 508 of the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d). Section 508 requires the federal

government to ensure that the electronic and information technology that it develops, procures,

maintains, or uses is accessible to persons with disabilities.

2. Reports Required: None.

3. Material Superseded: None.

4. Filing Instructions: File as directed below.

REMOVE INSERT

Total: 108 sheets

Janine Valesco

Assistant Director,

Business, Fiscal, and Information Resources Management

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Handbook

for

Creating

Section 508

Compliant

Documents

This document contains basic recommended

guidelines for development of documents and PDF

files.

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Table of Contents

............................................................................................................................ i

Chapter 1 - Introduction to 508 Compliance ............................................................................. 1-1

Chapter 2 - Microsoft Word Document Creation ...................................................................... 2-1

A. Font Group versus Style Group ................................................................................. 2-1

B. Tables ........................................................................................................................... 2-1

C. Lists ............................................................................................................................... 2-1

D. Fillable Forms .............................................................................................................. 2-1

E. Backgrounds, Fancy Borders, and Text Boxes ......................................................... 2-1

F. Symbols ........................................................................................................................ 2-2

G. Special Effects .............................................................................................................. 2-2

H. Additional “Do’s and Don’ts” .................................................................................... 2-2

Chapter 3 - Formatting your Document .................................................................................... 3-1

A. Styles ............................................................................................................................. 3-1

B. Headings ....................................................................................................................... 3-2

C. Create Your Own Style Set ........................................................................................ 3-3

D. Sharing Style Sets ........................................................................................................ 3-6

F. Table of Content .......................................................................................................... 3-7

G. Paragraph Formatting ................................................................................................ 3-7

H. Bullets and Numbered Lists ...................................................................................... 3-9

I. Captions ..................................................................................................................... 3-10

J. Automatic Footnotes ................................................................................................. 3-11

K. Headers and Footers ................................................................................................. 3-11

L. Page Numbering ........................................................................................................ 3-11

M. Avoiding Text Boxes ................................................................................................. 3-13

N. Placing Text in Shapes .............................................................................................. 3-14

O. Insert Images and Graphics ..................................................................................... 3-14

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P. Alternate Text ............................................................................................................ 3-15

Q. Optimize Images and Graphics ................................................................................ 3-16

R. Grouping Images and Graphics ............................................................................... 3-18

S. Columns ..................................................................................................................... 3-19

T. Strong Contrast with the Background Color ......................................................... 3-20

V. Tables.......................................................................................................................... 3-22

X. Tables are Only for Tabular Data ........................................................................... 3-22

Y. Label the Columns .................................................................................................... 3-23

Z. Check for Merged or Split Cells in Heading Rows ................................................ 3-23

AA. Making a Table Look Like it has a Merged Cell .................................................... 3-24

BB. Other work-arounds for Merged and Split Cell “Looks” ..................................... 3-24

CC. Indicate the Header Rows......................................................................................... 3-25

DD. Restrict the Table Cells to a Single Page ................................................................. 3-25

EE. Attaching Alternative Text to a Table in MS Word .............................................. 3-25

FF. Providing Unique Hyperlink Labels ........................................................................ 3-26

GG. Forms .......................................................................................................................... 3-28

HH. Saving as a Template and Create Editable Regions ............................................... 3-29

Chapter 4 - Is Your Document Compliant? ............................................................................... 4-1

A. Check Your Document For Accessibility .................................................................. 4-1

B. Additional Information ............................................................................................... 4-1

C. MS Word 508 Checklist .............................................................................................. 4-3

Chapter 5 – PDF File Creation in MS Word ............................................................................. 5-1

A. Converting Your Documents to Accessible PDF files .............................................. 5-1

B. Convert Your Document to a PDF File ..................................................................... 5-1

Chapter 6 - Excel Document Creation ....................................................................................... 6-1

A. Set Document Language ............................................................................................. 6-1

B. Change the Default Language for a Workbook ....................................................... 6-1

C. Provide Text Alternatives for Images and Graphical Objects ................................ 6-1

D. Tips for Writing Alternative Text .............................................................................. 6-1

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E. Tips for Writing Longer Descriptions ....................................................................... 6-1

F. Add Alternative Text to Images and Graphical Objects ........................................ 6-2

G. Format Your Cells ....................................................................................................... 6-2

H. Named Styles ................................................................................................................ 6-2

I. Format a Cell with Default Named Styles ................................................................ 6-2

J. Other Cell Characteristics .......................................................................................... 6-3

K. Define Cell Names ....................................................................................................... 6-3

L. Create Accessible Charts ............................................................................................ 6-3

M. Other Chart Considerations ....................................................................................... 6-4

N. Use Other Content Structuring Features .................................................................. 6-5

O. Avoid “Floating” Elements ......................................................................................... 6-5

P. Format of Text ............................................................................................................ 6-5

Q. To Change the Text Size for a Default Named Style ................................................ 6-5

R. Use Sufficient Contrast ............................................................................................... 6-6

S. Avoid Using Color Alone ............................................................................................ 6-6

T. Navigational Instructions ........................................................................................... 6-6

U. Accessibility Checker .................................................................................................. 6-6

V. To Evaluate PDF Accessibility in Adobe Acrobat Professional .............................. 6-7

W. Excel 508 Checklist ...................................................................................................... 6-8

Chapter 7 - Multimedia Creation ............................................................................................... 7-1

A. Multimedia 508 Checklist ........................................................................................... 7-1

Chapter 8 - PowerPoint Creation, Preparing Accessible Presentations ................................... 8-1

A. Create a New Presentation ......................................................................................... 8-1

B. Properties ..................................................................................................................... 8-1

C. Set Document Language ............................................................................................. 8-2

D. Create Accessible Templates ...................................................................................... 8-3

E. Slide Layouts ................................................................................................................ 8-4

F. Adding New Layouts and Placeholders .................................................................... 8-5

G. Use Built-In Layout and Styling Features................................................................. 8-6

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H. Use Built-In Slide Layouts .......................................................................................... 8-6

I. Customize Using Master Slides ................................................................................. 8-6

J. Columns of Text .......................................................................................................... 8-6

K. Slide Design .................................................................................................................. 8-7

L. Fonts and Font Size ..................................................................................................... 8-8

M. Use of Color and Contrast .......................................................................................... 8-8

N. Set a Logical Tab Order ............................................................................................. 8-8

O. Tips for Setting a Logical “Tab Order” for "Floating" Objects ............................ 8-9

P. Use Slide Notes ........................................................................................................... 8-9

Q. Add Alternative Text to Images and Objects ......................................................... 8-10

R. How to Group Small Graphics/Images ................................................................... 8-12

S. Header Rows on Tables ............................................................................................ 8-12

T. Specify Colum Information in Tables ..................................................................... 8-13

U. Add alt text for Tables: ............................................................................................. 8-13

V. Avoid Using Blank Cells to Format Tables ............................................................. 8-14

W. Ensure that all Slides Have Unique Titles ............................................................... 8-14

X. Use Hyperlink Text that is Meaningful ................................................................... 8-14

Y. To Change the Text of a Hyplerink ......................................................................... 8-15

X. Include Closed Captions for any Audio or Video ................................................... 8-15

Y. Ensure that the Reading Order of Each Slide is Logical ....................................... 8-15

Z. Increase Visibility for Colorblind Viewers ............................................................. 8-16

AA. Animations and Transitions ..................................................................................... 8-16

BB. Convert PowerPoint to Other Formats ................................................................... 8-16

CC. PowerPoint 508 Checklist ......................................................................................... 8-18

Chapter 9 - PDF Checking and Problem Solving ...................................................................... 9-1

A. PDF Document Properties .......................................................................................... 9-1

B. 508 Compliance Check ............................................................................................... 9-1

C. Avoid Scanned Documents ......................................................................................... 9-3

D. Adding Tags to Your Document ................................................................................ 9-5

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E. Checking Your Document for Accessibility .............................................................. 9-6

F. Reflow .......................................................................................................................... 9-6

G. Read Aloud................................................................................................................... 9-6

H. Forms ............................................................................................................................ 9-7

Chapter 10 - Tips and Tricks on Correcting Errors in a PDF file ......................................... 10-1

A. Tables - Summaries Failed ....................................................................................... 10-1

B. Tables - Headers Failed ............................................................................................ 10-1

C. Regularity Failed ....................................................................................................... 10-1

D. Add New Tags to the Table ...................................................................................... 10-5

E. Touchup Reading Order in a PDF file .................................................................... 10-7

F. Using the Touch Up Reading Order Tool to Add Alternate Text ........................ 10-8

G. To Correct Reading Order ....................................................................................... 10-8

H. Correct Out of Order Tags ..................................................................................... 10-10

I. Setting Content to Background ............................................................................. 10-11

J. Changing Content Tags .......................................................................................... 10-11

K. List Errors ................................................................................................................ 10-11

L. Annotation Errors ................................................................................................... 10-13

M. Tagged Form Fields ................................................................................................ 10-13

N. Tab Order ................................................................................................................ 10-13

O. Encoding Errors ...................................................................................................... 10-13

P. Using the Acrobat XI Pro Accessibility Checker ................................................. 10-14

Appendix 1 - Font Index .......................................................................................................... A1-1

Appendix 2 - Symbol Shortcuts ............................................................................................... A2-1

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to 508 Compliance

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 508) requires the federal government to

ensure that the electronic and information technology that it develops, procures, maintains, or

uses is accessible to persons with disabilities. Section 508 Standards are part of the Federal

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and address access for people with physical, sensory, or

cognitive disabilities. They contain technical criteria specific to various types of technologies

and performance-based requirements, which focus on functional capabilities of covered

products. Specific criteria cover hardware, software applications and operating systems, web-

based information and applications, computers, telecommunications products, video and multi-

media, and self-contained closed products.

The BLM no longer prints many of its documents, but posts them to the internet. While

documents are now much more accessible, and it is a very cost effective and an environmentally

responsible way to distribute information, individual authors now assist in carrying out the

requirements to ensure Section 508 compliance. This handbook provides step-by-step

instructions to assist BLM employees in creating accessible documents compliant with Section

508.

Thanks to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group for all of their work on this document.

What is 508 Compliance?

508 Compliance is a web-based standard by which documents, video, multimedia, and

websites are developed to allow equal access to information for all individuals with sensory

impairments. Individuals with visual or hearing impairments can then use assistive

technology software to interpret the content and provide either screen captions or have the

content read out loud to the user.

Purpose

Section 508 requires that when any federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use

electronic information technology, any person with a disability has access to and use of

information, and data that is comparable to the access and use by federal employees who are

not individuals with disabilities.

How does this law impact my program?

 All federal agencies are required to ensure that their websites and the contents are

compliant with Section 508 of the Act.

 Video that appears on government websites must be captioned for the deaf and hard

of hearing.

 PDF documents and forms on government websites must be accessible to blind and low

vision individuals, both government employees and the general public.

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Chapter 2 - Microsoft Word Document Creation

Please Read First

Following are some of the most common mistakes made when converting documents to

PDF. Avoid these mistakes to save time and frustration:

A. Font Group versus Style Group

Figure 1 - Home Tab Ribbon Bar

Avoid using the Font Group on the Home tab of the ribbon bar to change the font, size, color,

etc. The Styles group allows the document to maintain formatting required for Adobe Acrobat

to interpret the documents structure when converting to PDF. Styles also are instrumental in

developing the Table of Contents (TOC) which allows for easy navigation in MS Word and

Bookmarks in PDF. This is probably the most important step you will take in creating

accessible MS Word documents. If you use the Font window to change a Style it will break the

formatting. For more information visit Chapter 3A, “Styles.”

B. Tables

If constructed incorrectly, tables can be very time intensive to fix in PDF. Please read the

section on tables and learn the proper way to create them. For more information visit Chapter

3V, “Tables.”

C. Lists

Lists are also very time intensive to fix in PDF. Always use the Paragraph Group List

formats when creating bulleted or numerical lists. For more information visit Chapter 3H,

“Bullets and Numbered Lists”

D. Fillable Forms

The only way to create a 508 compliant fillable PDF form is to create the fillable areas in the

Adobe Acrobat PDF. Fillable areas created in other programs will not transfer when

converted to PDF. For more information visit Chapter 3GG, “Forms.”

E. Backgrounds, Fancy Borders, and Text Boxes

Backgrounds, fancy borders, and text boxes are visually appealing, but can cause many

difficulties when trying to create a 508 compliant PDF. When converted to PDF, backgrounds,

fancy borders, and often text boxes are read as images and text in text boxes will not read.

Anything read as an image will require alt text within the PDF or have to be converted to

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backgrounds. For more information visit Chapter 3M“Avoiding Text Boxes.”

F. Symbols

Special Characters using fonts such as Wingdings are likely to fail. They throw encoding

errors which are very hard to fix in PDF. Instead, on the Insert Tab use Symbols utilizing a

standard font, or Alt + Keys to create special characters such as check boxes, etc. If you get

encoding errors in your PDF, you’ve used the wrong type of characters. For more

information visit Appendix 2, “Symbol Shortcuts.”

G. Special Effects

Remove any drop shadows, glows, bevels, etc. from any text that is not inside a shape and that

will be converted to PDF for electronic web submission. Sorry.

H. Additional “Do’s and Don’ts”

1. Include alternative text for all graphics/images. Summaries have to be done in the PDF as

they do not stay when documents are converted to PDF.

2. Include appropriate keywords, document titles, and subject under properties.

3. Number your pages using the automated ‘page numbers’ option. See “Page Numbering”

4. Use page breaks to start a new page instead of hitting return till you reach a new page.

Press Control + Enter.

5. Put periods or commas at the end of each list item. This may not be grammatically

correct, but assistive technology needs the period or comma to recognize and pause at

the end of a line of text. Otherwise, all list text would read in a continuous, non-stop

string.

6. Optimize and reduce graphic file size and dimensions in MS Word. See “Optimize

Images and Graphics.”

7. Use an Underscore or Dash between words in a filename, never spaces. Spaces show

up as %20 symbols when uploaded to a website.

Don’t

1. Write-protect the document.

2. Put any personal information in the document.

3. Use a period, slash, or other special characters (!, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, etc.) when creating

filenames. Periods are reserved for file extensions and are automatically appended to the

end of a filename. Slashes indicate directory structure.

4. Underline text – it can make reading difficult for some.

5. Use all caps in body text.

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I. New Document Set-up

Document properties, also known as metadata, are details about a file that describe or identify

it. Document properties include details such as title, author name, subject, and keywords that

identify the document’s topic or contents.

This information can be viewed without opening the document and helps users decide

whether or not to open it. Properties are also important for documents that are posted on

websites. Search engines use this information to identify documents that users might want to

look at more closely.

1. In MS Word 2010 open your document.

2. Click on FILE (new screen will appear).

3. On the right side click on word PROPERTIES

4. Click on ADVANCED PROPERTIES – Summary screen will appear.

Figure 2 - Properties Dialog Box

File: Displays the name of the file. Try to use short descriptive names with a date.

Title: Actual title of the document.

Subject: Brief identification of the subject of the document.

Author: Your Committee name.

Company: Branch name. Example: “National Wildfire Coordinating Group.”

Keywords: The keywords are associated with the document during a search and will

effectively rank the document for relevance. The closer the search words match your

keywords, the higher the document will be ranked in the search. When using multiple

keywords, separate them with a comma.

Be sure to choose words that are relevant to the content

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Set a default language for the document.

Select the File tab and then Options.

Select Language in the navigation panel. Be sure U.S. English is chosen as the

default language. If it isn’t, locate it in the drop-down menu and choose Add.

Select OK when you’re finished.

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Chapter 3 - Formatting your Document

Properly formatting your document is essential. It will help your document maintain a clean

and consistent look, save you time when editing, and be much more accessible.

A. Styles

Styles are so important to document creation that roughly half of that toolbar is taken up with

the styles. Styles not only affect the look of text, but they also embed hidden structure codes

which help screen readers to better navigate the document as well as create bookmarks for

PDFs.

Rather than changing font size, color, and font-face from the Font Group on the ribbon bar,

you need to use the built-in headings in the Styles Group – so that the structure of your

document becomes screen-readable and navigable.

In Word 2010, the Styles tools appear on the Home tab of the ribbon bar.

Ideally, you should have no more than 10 to 20 styles in use. The fewer the number of styles,

the cleaner your document is and the easier it is for Assistive Technology to understand the

document structure and hierarchy.

From the Styles Group, select the double down button at the bottom right corner or press

(ALT+ CTRL + SHIFT + S) to show the Styles window.

Figure 3 - Styles Group Button

1. From the bottom of the Styles window select OPTIONS to bring up the Style Pane

Option Window.

2. Go to the “select styles to show” drop down option and select “IN USE” to see the

current styles in use within the document. You can choose the default, or select another.

If you want to modify the Styles, you can save them as a new template for later use.

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*There is more information below for assistance creating your own Style Set.

More information on creating styles (paragraph styles such as text alignment or tabs) is

available on the Microsoft website at: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/style-

basics-in-word- HA102647012.aspx.

B. Headings

A good heading structure is probably the most important accessibility consideration in most

Word documents. Headings will allow screen readers to navigate through the page easily and

will make the page more usable for everyone. Heading structure also provides the bookmark

formatting for PDFs.

Headings should be used to convey structural information about a document — indicating

main points and sub-points.

Figure 4 - Heading Hierarchy

Headings create the necessary hierarchy for navigation in both MS Word, and bookmarks in

PDFs. Try to use only three heading levels to keep the table of contents easy to navigate.

Figure 5 - "Built-in" Styles Panel Group

Use “built-in”, predefined styles to create titles, section headings, captions, etc.:

•

Title: used only for the document’s title page (to be used only on the cover, or at the

top of the document).

•

Heading 1: used for major headings in the document.

•

Heading 2: used for sub-headings of H1 in the document.

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•

Heading 3: used for sub-sub headings of H2 in the document.

•

The body of text in your document should use the style “Normal.”

•

Captions: use captions for figures and tables. It will automatically renumber

each element if you have to insert more at a later time.

If you want to change the appearance of a style, simply right-mouse-click on its name

and select MODIFY.

“Strong vs Bold” We previously said that you should not use the font group on the ribbon

bar to change font features. However, there are exceptions. Use Strong from the Styles panel

if you want a screen reader to pronounce STRONGLY a word ─ for example someone

yelling FIRE, and use bold when the word simply needs to visually be pronounced.

C. Create Your Own Style Set

You can create your own Style Set to be saved and used on other documents or shared

with others so documents maintain a consistent theme.

To set up or alter a Style Set:

1. From the Change Styles Group, select Style Sets.

Figure 6 - Style Sets drop down options

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2. From the fly out menu choose Default, or choose a style with elements that you like,

which you won’t have to edit much.

3. Use the double down arrows, or press ALT + CTRL + SHIFT to bring up the styles

pane.

Figure 7 - Styles Pane

4. In the Styles Pane, change font, size, color, etc. by selecting a style element and using

the arrow down button or right clicking, and then select “Modify.”

5. If you don’t see a style in the panel (i.e.; caption, TOC, etc.), you can check to see if it

is hidden, or add a new style by selecting the appropriate button at the bottom of the

Styles Panel (new style, style inspector, or manage styles).

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Figure 8 - Styles Options Buttons

Note: It is suggested you limit your document to two fonts, and reserve one color for

headlines or text you want to bring special attention to. Too much variety can cause

the document to look busy and unprofessional, causing it to be hard to read.

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6. After you have made your style changes, click on the Change Styles button, highlight

Style Set, and choose Save as a Quick Style Set in the fly out menu.

Figure 9 - Save Quick Style Set Menu

7. Save with a new File Name that clearly identifies this new style set. You now have a

Style Set that you can use each time you open MS Word

DO NOT create a second set of headings or other elements in a Style Set. Acrobat will only

recognize one of each.

D. Sharing Style Sets

You can share a template of the document with your new style set and then upload to your

Google Drive or email to colleagues. They can then open the file and save the style as a

QuickStyle set that will be saved to their computer.

The Style set is saved to: C:/users/user name/Appdata/Roaming/Microsoft/Quickstyles.

To delete a Quickstyle Set go to: C:/Program files/Microsoft Office/Office14/1033/QuickStyles.

E. Recommended Fonts

Not all fonts are compatible with screen readers, and unfortunately, Section 508 of the

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Rehabilitation Act does not specify which fonts are compatible. As a general rule, Times New

Roman and Arial are two of the most common fonts with the greatest readability, and have the

greatest cross-platform compatibility with Microsoft, Macintosh, and UNIX based systems.

There is a list of Microsoft tested fonts at the end of this document.

For more information visit

Appendix 1,

“Font Index.”

F. Table of Content

Setting up the Table of Content (TOC) in MS Word is as simple as pushing one button.

TOC uses the Heading Styles to determine the content structure of your document. In fact,

Table of Contents, or TOC’s, are so simple and easy to update. NEVER again will you

manually type a TOC.

1. Go to the first page of your document and place your cursor on the line just under

the Title and before any paragraph text. You may have to create a hard return to

create a space to place your cursor.

2. Go to the Insert Tab and select Page Break.

3. Next go to the Reference tab and click on the Table of Contents button.

4. Select one of the preset styles.

5. Presto. You have a Table of Contents.

6. You can place your cursor right under the table of contents and add another page break

if you want your table of contents on its own page.

7. As you add new sections with headings to your document, you will want to place your

cursor in the TOC, go back to the Reference tab, select Update Table next to the TOC

button and select Update Entire Table. The updated table will have your new sections

as long as you used Headings Styles.

8. To alter the number of levels within your TOC, click on the Table of Contents button,

select Insert Table of Contents, and set the number desired.

9. Click Okay and say Yes when it asks you if you want to replace the current Table of

Contents.

10. DO NOT make manual changes to your TOC within your document or it will not work

afterwards. If you do, you will need to go to the Reference tab, click on table of

contents and Remove the TOC. You will then have to insert a new TOC following the

steps previously mentioned.

11. If you want the TOC to be seen in the navigation pane, use Heading 1. If not, use

TOC Heading found farther down in the Styles panel.

G. Paragraph Formatting

Paragraph formatting will help your document maintain the correct document structure. Using

the space bar instead of setting up the ”Indent Text” in paragraph styles, or using the tab key

instead of the “Center Text” option in the Paragraph Group are two very common mistakes that

can break Styles formatting and make updating a document very time consuming.

Paragraph formatting should be done when setting up your Styles from the Styles Group panel.

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Figure 10 - Styles Panel Formatting

1. Use the double down arrow to open the Styles panel.

2. Right click on the Style and choose “Modify.”

3. In the bottom left corner open Format and select Paragraph.

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Figure 11 - Paragraph Formatting Window

4. Set your paragraph options in the paragraph window; indents, spacing before and after

paragraph, line spacing, alignment, etc.

H. Bullets and Numbered Lists

Avoid using graphical (or non-standard) bullets because they may not be recognized by

some Assistive Technology. For a document to be fully compliant with section 508, bullets

and numbers must be created automatically, not inserted manually:

1. From the Home tab, click the Bullets or Numbering icons in the Paragraph group.

2. If you are selecting a bullet, choose a bullet style from the drop-down list.

3. If you are selecting a number, choose a number style from the drop-down list.

4. The bullet or number will appear in the text as you type.

Figure 12 - Bullets and Numbered Lists Buttons

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Group items as numbered lists (if they are sequential) or bulleted (if they are related) so they

will be announced as lists by screen readers.

I. Captions

Use captions when inserting images or tables. If you need to insert more elements later on, it

will automatically renumber all other elements. We suggest inserting your caption above the

graphic or table so the user is aware of what will be read next.

Figure 13 - Insert

caption

1. You may either use menu bar References>Insert Caption or right click mouse “Insert

Caption.”

2. Under “Label” choose whether it is a figure or table.

3. Type a short description.

4. Create a new label style or set numbering preference. Example: Figure 1, or Figure

1.1 (chapter 1, section 1), Figure 2.1 (chapter 2, section 1), etc.

Figure 14 - Caption menu

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J. Automatic Footnotes

When creating a footnote, using automatic footnotes instead of typing them in manually will

make a document 508 compliant. You should number continuously if you are putting the notes

at the end of the document, by page if you will put your notes at the bottom of your page:

1. At the place in the text where the footnote is to appear, click Insert Footnote from the

Footnotes group on the References tab.

2. The footnote number will be added next to the text and the cursor will be placed at

the bottom of the page.

3. Type the footnote text next to the footnote number. When finished, click back on

the paragraph and continue typing.

K. Headers and Footers

Do not place vital content in the header or footer. Screen readers do not read content located

in the header or footer. Use the header or footer area for repetitious content such as page

numbers, document numbers, etc. – things that don’t need to be read for every page.

Insert a Header or Footer by going to Insert tab, Header & Footer and choose a style in the

drop down. Or simply double click at the top or bottom of a page. To leave the header and

footer area, double click in the main body of the document.

L. Page Numbering

There are two ways to insert Page Numbers, either directly on the page or in the footer area.

First, use the automatic Page Number found in the Header & Footer group under the Insert

tab, and place your number at the top or bottom of the page. Second, double click in the

Footer area and insert a Page Number from the Header and Footer Group. Both are correct.

Inserting the Page Number in a Footer keeps the page number from being read on every page.

We suggest placing your page numbers in the Footer.

Figure 15 - Page Number Drop-down Options

Start numbering on a different page

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If you will be using a title page and possibly a preface, you may want to start the numbering on

a different page. To start numbering on a different page, instead of on the first page of the

document, you need to add a section break before the page where you want the numbering to

begin.

1. Click at the beginning of the page where you want the numbering to begin.

2. You can press HOME to make sure that you're at the start of the page.

3. On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Breaks.

4. Under Section Breaks, click Next Page.

Figure 16 - Page Breaks

5. Double-click in the Footer area of the same page (near the bottom of the page).

6. This opens the Header & Footer Tools tab in the ribbon bar.

7. In the now visible Header & Footer Tools>Navigation group, click Link to Previous

to un-highlight, which turns it off.

8. With your cursor still in the Footer area, click on Page Number in the Header &

Footer group on the ribbon bar and add page number to bottom (footer area).

9. To start numbering with 1, click Page Number in the Header & Footer group, then

click Format Page Numbers, click Start at, and enter 1.

Figure 17 - Format Page Numbers

10. Double click in the body of your document leave the footer area, or click Close Header

and Footer on the Design tab (under Header & Footer Tools).

11. Note: you may need to manually delete numbers from pages prior to the page break if

your document already had numbers.

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M. Avoiding Text Boxes

Text boxes provide a means to add text to a document, and locate it anywhere on the page.

Unfortunately, text boxes work more like images than text. Because of this, text boxes only

show up in the 'print layout' view, and Screen Reading technology is unable to access the

information in a text box.

Instead of using text boxes, style formatting can be used to locate the text in the desired area

on the page. Style (paragraph-level) formatting may take a few more steps to achieve than

using text-boxes, but style formatting is much more accessible for Screen Readers.

Text Boxes Alternatives

In-Line text, using borders (simply a paragraph of text with borders around it), is another

alternative to text boxes. However, use ONLY solid borders as several of the fancy borders

will throw 508 compliancy errors.

1. From the Home Tab, open Borders and Shading.

Figure 18 - Borders and Shading

2. Set the style of a solid line you want (dashed lines will throw errors). Use shading to

make it really stand out.

3. Use the Margins to set indents, left or right, to give the appearance of a call out text box.

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Figure 19 - Alternative Text Boxes

Figure 20 - Set Margins

KEY POINT: Here is text set with a fancy border above and below. You

can adjust line and paragraph spacing to create greater impact, as well.

This paragraph also has its left margin set to 1.5” to offset the look.

KEY POINT

The text has been set to Copperplate gothic to give even greater visual impact, with

line spacing adjusted to 1.5. A fancy border adds flair.

KEY POINT

this looks very much like a text box

by setting the border to all four sides and giving it

a colored background. The margins have been set

to 1.5” left, and 1.5” right to create a centered box.

Another alternative to text boxes is to insert a picture, “Wrap” text, and add alternative text

(Alt text). This will allow a screen reader to “see” the picture and communicate the content

and continue on with the text.

Do not use a text box to insert a picture or graphic.

N. Placing Text in Shapes

Using shapes can provide you with a little more creative flexibility. Because a shape does

not use formatted paragraph text, and is not associated with a style, you can use the font

group to customize the font, AND you can add Text Effects as long as your text is in a

shape! A shape looks like a text box, but doesn’t act like one. However, you will have to set

the Wrap, add Alt Text, and fix the reading order when saved to PDF just like images.

O. Insert Images and Graphics

While images and graphics will always need to be double checked for reading order after

saving to PDF, they have a better chance of maintaining the format when converted if “Wrap

in-line with text” is used.

To “Wrap In-Line”:

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1. Insert image or graphic.

2. Right click image or graphic and select “Wrap in-line with text”.

Figure 21 - Wrap In-Line with Text

P. Alt Text

All photos, images, charts, diagrams, and other graphics which convey information must

have an embedded alternate text label. This allows users who cannot see the image to

understand what they are missing from the document. It is important that each image have a

unique description in the alternative text label – even if the same image is used in more than

one location in a document.

Without alternative text, screen readers say “picture” for each image. If you have several

images in a row, the screen reader says “picture, picture, picture, picture, picture …” – which

can be frustrating (not knowing what information is missing).

Any complex images, charts, tables, or other complex items should have a text-caption prior

to the item which explains what ideas the item is meant to communicate. The caption should

communicate the ideas rather than a spatial narrative.

How to insert Alt Text in all Microsoft Office 2010 applications:

1. Open any Microsoft Office document and select an image so that square anchors

are visible (note the small circles at the corners of the image).

2. Right click the mouse and select Format Picture.

3. In the Format Picture window, select the Alt Text tab on the right, then insert the Alt

text into the Description field. Click the Close icon to finalize Alt text.

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Figure 22 - Insert Alt Text

Example: The Alt text for the image above might read, “Heavy smoke with burning

ponderosa pine and underbrush during the Rattlesnake Complex fire, Idaho 2010.”

Use Long Description for Charts and Graphs

In some instances, an image is too complex to describe in a few words. Charts and graphs are

primary examples of such images. Although there does not appear to be any limit to the length

of text in an “alt” attribute, “alt text” is meant to be relatively brief and to the point.

If you have a detailed explanation for the image, you should present it in your caption, for

example: “Figure 10 - Venn diagram of student access to fire training, explained below”.

Then use a style such as “Emphasis” to bring attention to the special text.

By including the long description below the graphic you will add information that can be

used by all readers, not just those with disabilities.

Q. Optimize Images and Graphics

Reducing graphic file size creates smaller documents for posting on the internet. Depending

on your abilities and software, there are a few ways to optimize or reduce the file size of your

graphics: on the ribbon bar in MS Word, via File>Options>Advance menu in MS Word, or

in a graphics program,

From MS Word:

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1. To optimize graphics you must select the image to see the Picture Tools > Format

tab at the top of the ribbon bar.

2. Select Compress Pictures in the Adjust Group on left side of ribbon bar.

You will be prompted with these options:

Figure 23 - Compress Pictures

3. Check “Apply only to this picture”, or uncheck if you want to do all graphics in your

document at once.

4. Check Delete cropped areas of pictures. *Note you will not be able to recover any of

the cropped area after this, so you should have original copies saved elsewhere.

5. While 220 ppi is selected here, we suggest Screen 150ppi for documents that will

be posted to the internet. Do not use less than 220 if the document will be printed

on a commercial press.

From the File tab:

1. Select File>Options>Advanced and scroll down to Image Size and Quality.

2. Set default target output to: 150 ppi. This will compress all images in the document

at once.

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Figure 24 - Advanced Compress Pictures Option

From a graphics program:

•

Photos should be optimized (reduce file size) in a graphics type program, prior

to including them in documents that will be posted to the internet.

•

Use Only GIF, JPEG, and PNG file formats.

•

Index colors at 256 or lower for GIFs.

•

Turn off interlacing (it adds to the file size).

•

Using transparency (transparent backgrounds) for GIFs and PNGs adds to the size of

the file, so gauge the use of these against the importance of download time.

•

Resolution for graphics on the web should be no more than 96 dpi and 200 dpi for print.

Graphic dimensions should be no larger than 576 pixels wide by 736 pixels in height

(equal to 8”X10” - using graphics that may be 72 dpi but over 1,000 pixels wide results in

a file size of almost 14MB).

•

When saving JPEGs:

o Compress file at no lower than setting 6 (high). Compressing a JPEG more

than that can cause the quality of the graphic to degrade.

o Note that using "Progressive Scan" will add bytes to the file size.

o Use either "Baseline Standard" or "Optimized" under "Format Options.”

•

Be aware that graphic images, when converted to PDF, may not read in correct order and

will still need to be manually checked in your final PDF document, and adjusted for 508

Compliancy. (See “Touchup Reading Order in a PDF file” under PDF section).

R. Grouping Images and Graphics

There is no way to group text, objects and photos/ images in MS Word. So, if you want to put

text, arrows and/or boxes on your photos/images, you may want to group them in a graphics

program or in PowerPoint and then copy those back to MS Word so the objects will stay

linked with the photos/images. A graphics program will flatten the layers when saved as a GIF,

PNG or JPEG (making it one graphic), but PowerPoint will group the individual elements. If

you use PowerPoint, each element will still require Alt text before being grouped and saved

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back to MS Word. After copying back to word, you will need to add the Alt Text and

Summary AGAIN for the group. If you ungroup the image after placing in MS Word, you will

break the Alt text format of the group and have to start over.

S. Columns

Use the Columns command in Word to create columns

•

Columns in your document? Do not use tabs to make space between your columns.

Use the “Column” commands to create column styling within the document.

•

All text you type in Word 2010 is already formatted in columns — if it's only one

column of text per page, it still counts as a column. Clicking Columns command button

(in the Page Setup Group on the Page Layout tab) displays a menu of handy column-

formatting options. Splitting your text into columns is as easy as choosing a column

format from that list.

•

To be more specific with the number of columns or their layout, choose the MORE

COLUMNS command, and then use the Columns dialog box that appears to create

and design multiple columns for your document.

Figure 25 - Columns Drop Down

Figure 26 - More Columns command

•

Mixing column formats

o Your whole document doesn't have to sport just one column format. You can

split things up so that part of the document is in one column and another part is

in two columns, and then maybe another part goes back to just one column.

The secret is to use the Columns dialog box.

Warning: Mixing columns creates editing difficulties and can break formatting,

which can become very time consuming to fix during editing. If you have a large

document, or one that will go through the editing process many times…avoid

columns.

o When you’re choosing a new column format, be sure to select the

appropriate

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“Apply To” drop-down list. When you choose Whole Document, the format

applies to the entire document.

Figure 27 - Columns Dialog Window

•

Going back to one column

o The easiest way to undo a multi-column document is to return it to a single

column. From the COLUMNS button in the Page Layout tab, choose the

item One. That restores your document back to single column mode, which

is how Word naturally creates documents.

o When a document is split into sections, or when you have multiple column

formats sprinkled throughout a document, the process is a little more involved:

From the Page Setup area on the Page Layout tab, choose

Columns→More Columns.

The Columns dialog box is displayed.

Choose One from the Presets area.

From the Apply To drop-down list, select Whole Document.

Click OK.

•

For more directions on columns visit: http://www.dummies.com/how-

to/content/how-to- insert-columns-in-a-word-2010-document.html

T. Strong Contrast with the Background Color

Individuals who have low-vision or color-blindness may have difficulty reading your

documents if the text color does not strongly contrast with the background color. Over 5% of

people have partial color blindness (either having difficulty distinguishing red from green, or

distinguishing blue from yellow), and choosing poor color combinations can make reading a

struggle.

Readers with macular degeneration, glaucoma, or other eye diseases may have great

difficulty reading text which is small or which does not contrast strongly with the

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background.

The problem with colored text also arises in printing out documents on a black-and-white

printer. If there is not enough contrast between the foreground and background colors, the

words become extremely hard to read.

•

Use text and page background color combinations of significant brightness and contrast.

•

Word does not provide an option for testing high-contrast. Use the Operating

System display settings instead. Turn on High Contrast before starting Word. The

Windows shortcut for switching to high-contrast mode is ALT+Left SHIFT+Print

Screen.

•

To produce multiple access/high-contrast documents, create a Word template that uses

a high contrast foreground/background color combination.

To check high contrast combinations:

•

Print the document in grayscale and/or turn down the color on the computer monitor

•

Examine items to ensure that there is sufficiently high contrast for elements,

e.g.:

o Table headers (text versus background fill).

o Text in foreground versus background colors or images.

o Text in images.

o Watermarks versus text in foreground (the watermark should not interfere with

the

foreground text, as can happen when there is too little contrast).

Figure 28 - Contrast Comparison

U. Avoiding Colored Text

“All the requirements for this project are in red.”

What is wrong with this?

Well, for one, if you are red-green color blind, you can’t tell which text is red and which is not.

Worse still, if you are blind, you don’t see any colors. Color alone should never be used alone

to indicate a condition or category. Make sure that text or other notation accompanies the color

in order to communicate the category or condition the color is meant to represent.

For example:

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All the requirements for this project are in red.

Requirement: documents need to follow established formats.

Requirement: the file format for your paper must be in Word 2010 or newer.

Requirement: the paper must be 2000 to 2500 words including a cover

page.

You should avoid the use of colored text in these circumstances. This will lead to your

document being more usable and accessible for all readers.

V. Tables

Microsoft Word does not provide an easy method for creating accessible tables. If you have

complex tables it is highly recommended that a description or explanation of the table

contents be included in the text of the document. If at all possible, construct the table so it

will read logically from left to right, top to bottom order.

W. Creating Tables

Tables that are properly inserted and labeled, including specified row and column headers: Use

the “INSERT TABLE” command to create properly formatted tables.

Figure 29 - Insert Table

X. Tables are Only for Tabular Data

Screen readers expect a table structure to contain spreadsheet-like information (tabular data).

It can become very confusing for users of screen readers if a table structure is used for page

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layout and design. It is important to restrict the use of tables to the purpose of presenting

tabular data.

Y. Label the Columns

When data must be displayed, it is important to provide appropriate column labels. Whenever

possible, tables should be organized so that they can be read from left-to-right a single row at

a time. Always include appropriate column headers to describe the contents of each column.

Tables should be described in the body text of the document, just above the table, to provide

an introduction (so that blind users know what the structure is before they start hearing the

information from the table)

Z. Check for Merged or Split Cells in Heading Rows

When merged cells are used, the number of columns or rows may not be uniform and

screen readers will likely announce the wrong column header text with the data.

Microsoft Word does not provide the support for header and data cell association with

row and column spans that assistive technology needs to properly announce header cell

text. The author should ensure data tables have a one-to-one association between data and

header cells.

Table should be absent of merged cells. When creating a PDF, if there are merged cells it

will fail the 508 compliancy test.

It’s best to place captions above tables, introducing the number and title of the

table.

Table 1.1 1 - Table with merged cells (X in FY 2011 and FY 2010 represents there should be no merged cells).

Key

Outcome

FY 2012

Target

FY 2011

FY 2010

FY 2009

Target

Actual

Target

Actual

$’s left

Baseline

Base Line

$4,650.00

Base Line

$8500.00

Baseline

Table 1.1 2 - Table Fixed – no merged cells.

Key

Outcome

FY 2012

Target

FY 2011

Target

FY 2011

Actual

FY 2010

Target

FY 2010

Actual

FY 2009

Target

$’s left

Baseline

Base Line

$4,650.00

Base Line

$8500.00

Baseline

The following table shows how a table should look. Table number, title “Fires per Region”

and then listed below: State, Fire Name, Acres Burned, and Ongoing. The name of the

Table is outside the Table in the Caption area and the table is arranged with a column

representing each state and rows representing the fire name, acres burned, and if the fire is

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ongoing or not. To pass the accessibility “Check” you need to have the same number of

columns as you do rows.

Table 1.1 3 - : Fires per Region

State

Fire Name

Acres Burned

Ongoing

Idaho

Little Dino

500

yes

Texas

Big Red

1,300

California

Red Tree

yes

AA. Making a Table Look Like it has a Merged Cell

Above your table insert a new paragraph. If you can’t get your cursor before the table add a page

break, type the Heading, then press the delete button to bring your table back to that page.

1. With your cursor in the new heading, click on Borders in the Paragraph menu bar.

2. Select OUTSIDE BORDERS from the drop-down menu.

3. Adjust your margins to the same width as your table (it will be off just a bit,

but that is okay).

4. Click on Line and Paragraph Spacing in the Paragraph menu bar drop down and

select remove space after paragraph, or select Line Spacing Options and do the next

step.

5. Set line spacing to “0 pts” after paragraph so the paragraph will butt to the table

You now have an area that looks like a merged cell and will pass the accessibility test. If

you need to make it look like you have two or more merged cells all you have to do is set

a BAR tab and place it on your ruler to appear in your paragraph.

Sample: Even though the lines are not exactly lined up it appears to be a merged cell. You

can drag the small circle at the bottom right of the table to line up the new box above the

table or use the margins on the ruler bar.

Fires per State

Fire Name, Acres Burned, Ongoing

Montana

Little Fire

590

yes

Idaho

Little Dino

500

yes

Texas

Big Red

1,300

Table 1.1 4 - Fire Information (must put caption below to work with this table

style)

BB. Other work-arounds for Merged and Split Cell “Looks”

The table below still has three columns and 4 rows, even though it looks like one cell is

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split and the other is merged. It’s a trick. Use the BAR tab to split a cell, or remove the

BORDER of a cell to appear merged.

Table 1.1 5 - Merged Cell "look"

Header

Data

Use BAR Ta

to give split ce

However, tex

lines.

b within the cell

ll appearance.

t will cross the

Data

To give the appearance of a However, text will not type

merged cell, use BORDERS across the invisible cell

drop down menu and delete boarder giving you a two

the middle line. column appearance.

CC. Indicate the Header Rows

A must when creating an accessible data table is to designate Column and/or Row

headers. Identify the header row:

1. Select just the top row of your table, right click, and choose Table Properties.

2. Select the Row tab.

3. Check the box labeled “Repeat as header row at the top of each page”.

Note: Alternate method is to select first row of table, select the table, go to Layout tab

on menu bar and click on “Repeat as Header Rows” button.

DD. Restrict the Table Cells to a Single Page

To do this:

1. Select the entire table and right click, and choose Table Properties.

2. Then, select the Row tab.

3. Finally, uncheck the box labeled “Allow rows to break across pages.” Be sure there

are no marks inside the box.

EE. Attaching Alternative Text to a Table in MS Word

As with most objects in MS Word, you need to add alternate text to a table. MS Word allows

you to add “title” text and “description” text. However, when converting the file to a PDF the

description text is not always transferred. Best practice is to enter both, but double check the

summary field in PDF.

1. Place the cursor in the table, left click to highlight.

2. Right click and select “Table Properties…” from the pop-up menu.

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3. The table properties dialog box has 5 tabs – Table, Row, Column, Cell, Alt Text –

click the “Alt Text” tab. Enter the table summary in the “description” field and

click OK.

Figure 30 - Insert Alt Text to Table

See the Microsoft video on adding alternative text to tables and other objects in MS Word

2010 on the Microsoft website at: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/add-

alternative- text-to-a-shape-picture-chart-table-smartart-graphic-or-other-object-

HA010354748.aspx?CTT=1#BM14

Things You Should Not Do

•

Do not create your table using the Draw Table tool, which is available only with the

Table tools on the Insert ribbon.

•

Do not create page layouts with tables.

•

Do not merge cells, and do not split cells.

•

Do not control spacing in your table with blank rows or columns. Adjust line

spacing instead.

FF. Providing Unique Hyperlink Labels

One of the features of screen readers is that they can allow the user to hear just the hyperlinks

on a page. This aids in navigation, since the user does not have to hear the entire page in order

to locate the links.

There are many varying opinions on how to display them. Some URL’s, also known as a web

address, are very long. These can quickly clutter up a document with ugly strings of letters,

backslashes, dots and other characters. So what’s the answer? First, always make sure the URL

is identified. Don’t just type “Click Here”, with the link hidden.

The problem with typing just the words like “Go to NWCG” or “Click Here,” is that assistive

technology won’t identify the actual web address, and if the document is printed, it won’t

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identify the web address either. So what we suggest is:

•

For a document with just one or two web addresses, go ahead and type the

whole address.

•

For documents with more than two web addresses or just really ugly, long strings,

you can type the landing page web address, such as www.nwcg.gov, and in the

hyperlink context box put in the full address that will show in Alt Text as well. At the

bottom, in the footer, or at the back of the document you can place the complete

string for printing purposes. This keeps your document much cleaner, it is 508

compliant, and the actual address is printable.

To create a hyperlink:

1. Type the URL. It automatically creates the link, but you’ll want to adjust the text.

2. Click on the hyperlink text and go to the Insert Tab on the ribbon bar and under Links

click on the Hyperlink button.

3. The Text to display box displays what is going to be seen on the page.

4. In the address box make sure it has the full address with the http:// included, which is

the complete address that you want the link to take people to.

5. On the top right of this window is a button called Screen Tip. Click on it.

6. This is the Alt Text that the assistive technology will read and should say something

like: “This link goes to …. at:” and place the complete web address here as well. You

can copy and paste from the address window. Click OK to leave both of these windows.

You will now see the URL in blue with an underline indicating it is a link. If you hover over the

link, it will show the Screen Tip text with the complete address. Then remember to place the full

URL address in the footer or at the back of your document for a printable version, if necessary.

The following table provides some poor examples contrasted with some good examples

of proper hyperlink links.

Table 1.1 6 - Hyperlinks

Poor Examples

Problem

Good Example

Google search

engine, click here

Ask search

engine, click

here

Dog Pile search

engine, click

here

The link titles are

not unique.

Search Engines to use:

Google.com Ask.com

DogPile.com

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NWCG provides

consistent and

uniform guidance

to the National

Wildfire

Coordinating

Group (NWCG)

organization…

More information

on the fire

website at NW

CG.

When materials

are printed on a

photocopier, the

URL cannot be

followed if its

full string is not

visible.

NWCG provides consistent and uniform guidance to

the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG)

organization… More information is available

at:

http://www.nwcg.gov.

Link 1

Link titles are no

descriptive of the

underlying

content.

NWCG Mission Statement at:

http://www.nwcg.gov/nwcg_admin/organize.htm#Missi

GG. Forms

According to Section 508 Guidelines, when electronic forms are designed to be

completed online, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the

information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of

the form, including all directions and cues.

Form layouts are typically created in Word first, then often saved as a PDF but, to be

compliant, they must have tooltips associated with a field. Tooltips can be created within the

originating document, but can also be added to the completed PDF.

Note; MS Word document form fields will not transfer to PDF. Form fields must be set in

Adobe Acrobat for fillable PDF forms.

From MS Word, first make sure the Developer Options is turned on by selecting

File>Options>Customize the Ribbon. In the right hand column drop-down titled “Main

Tabs” check the box next to Developer. Click OK.

1. Open the form in Word as you normally would.

2. Highlight the field you want to use as a form field.

3. Select the Rich Text Content Control button. A properly tagged field will be

added to the document. Repeat the process for each remaining field.

From Adobe Acrobat, first save the Word document as a PDF.

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.

2. Choose Tools>Forms and “Create.”

3. Choose “Create from Existing Document.”

4. Select each fillable box and right click Properties and add Title and Tooltip. The

Tooltip should match the Title.

5. See PDF Checking and Problem Solving>Forms for how to fine tune your Acrobat

PDF

Fillable Form.

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HH. Saving as a Template and Create Editable Regions

Templates are a huge time saver, especially if you have repetitious documents that need

to maintain a standard look regardless of who prepares them. There’s no need to reinvent

the wheel every time.

1. Save the document as a template first.

2. Go to the File Tab and Save As, choose Word Template in the drop down and select

the folder location where you want to store your documents. Think about creating a

Template folder. We also suggest adding the word Template to the end of your

document name and keep an original separate, especially if you will be adding a

password to protect the template document from being edited. If you lose the password,

you will not be able to open the document. We suggest you keep your original unlocked.

3. If you think some people are still working in older versions of Word you can save it as a

Word 97-2003 Template.

That is how to save a basic template. However, you may want to add content controls or

restrict editing of certain areas. All these can be found on the Developer Tab on the Ribbon

bar.

1. Go to the Developer Tab on the ribbon bar. If you don’t see the Developer Tab, go to

the File Tab, select Options, and under Customize Ribbon check the developer box

on the right panel, and click OK.

2. The Controls Group has several options. The colored double Aa is Rich Text. The

plain double Aa is of course Plain Text. Next to that is the Picture Content control.

There’s a Building Block, a Combo Box, a Dropdown Menu, a Date Picker, a

Checkbox, and a group of legacy tools if you are editing an older document that used

Controls. There is also a Design Mode, a Properties, and Group option.

3. Select the text or images you want to protect or you can add a text control box.

4. Now on the Developer Tab in the Controls Group select the colored double Aa to

add a Rich Text Control. This places a text box on your document – these don’t appear

to cause 508 errors. If you want to add instructions on how to fill out the content of the

text box, select the Text Box and in the Control Group on the ribbon bar select

Design Mode. You should now see new chevron boxes on each side of the text inside

the textbox. Highlight the current text and replace it with whatever you want to say.

Now click the design mode button to unhighlight.

5. If you want the placeholder text to disappear when the user types, click inside the Text

Box, and on the ribbon bar click on the Properties button in the Control Group and

select “Remove content control when contents are edited.” And click OK.

6. To restrict editing to only the areas you want users to be able to change, go to the

Developer Tab on the ribbon bar, and under the Protect Group select Restrict

Editing, which opens a new panel on the right side of the window. By holding our

control key down, we can select individual areas from anywhere on the page.

7. On the right side of our screen Under Step 2 in the restrict formatting panel put a

check in the “Allow only this type of editing in the document,” then choose “No

changes (read only)” in the drop down. Now, under the exceptions, put a check in the

box next to “Everyone.” In step 3 say “yes, start enforcing protection” and add a

password.

8. If you click anywhere on the screen to unselect our items, you’ll see the editable areas

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are highlighted in yellow. Editable regions can be anything on the page: headings,

body text, tables, images, etcetera.

9. Go to File and Save As, make sure it is a Word Template format, and make sure you

add the word “template” to the end of the file name.

Tada, you now have a document you can share with others that you can be confident will only

be edited in the areas you have specified. Remember though, if you are sending PDFs that you

need assistance with making 508 compliant you must provide us with the password. We can’t

do anything with locked documents.

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Chapter 4 - Is Your Document Compliant?

MS Word has a feature that checks to see if your document has been formatted properly for

508 compliance. However, it’s a good idea to use the MS Word 508 Checklist at the end of

this chapter to double check your document against the list, and fix those items you may have

missed before running the following checks.

A. Check Your Document For Accessibility:

1. Click on File.

2. In the middle column under “Information about Procedures & Guidelines”

click on Check for Issues Icon

3. Click on “Check for Accessibility.”

4. A screen will appear on the right side of the screen.

5. This will list your Inspection results for the document you have created.

Troubleshooting Tip: If you receive the error message: "unable to run the accessibility checker

cannot check the current file type for accessibility issues" you may need open the document in a

more recent version of Word and save the document before running the Accessibility Checker.

If there are errors click on each error and see what you need to do to correct the error.

B. Additional Information

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The following link offers full directions on making your MS Word compliant: Creating

Accessible documents using MS Word http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/creating-

accessible-word- documents-HA101999993.aspx

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C. MS Word 508 Checklist

Requirements for all Documents

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

1.1

Does the document file name not contain

spaces and/or special characters?

1.2

Is the document file name concise,

generally limited to 20-30 characters, and

does it make the contents of the file clear?

1.3

Have the Document Properties for Title,

Author, Subject (AKA Description),

Keywords, Language, and Copyright

Status been applied?

1.4

Does the document utilize recommended

fonts (i.e., Times New Roman, Verdana,

Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, or Calibri)?

1.5

Have track changes been accepted or

rejected and turned off?

1.6

Have comments been removed and

formatting marks been turned off?

1.7

Is the document free of background

images or watermarks?

1.8

Do all images, grouped images, and non-

text elements that convey information

have meaningful alternative-text

descriptions?

1.9

Do complex images (i.e., charts and

graphs) have descriptive text near the

image (perhaps as a caption)?

1.10

Are all URLs spelled out and linked to

correct Web destinations?

1.11

Are e-mail links accessible?

1.12

Has a separate accessible version of the

document been provided when there is no

other way to make the content accessible?

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Requirements for all Documents

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

1.13

If there are tables, are blank cells

avoided?

1.14

Is all of the text easy to read in

comparison to the background of the

document (i.e., has a color-contrast ratio

of 4.5:1)?

1.15

Has the document been reviewed in Print

Preview for a final visual check?

2.0. General Layout and

Formatting Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

2.1

Has the document been formatted

using Style elements (Heading 1,

Heading 2) and/or Outline in a

hierarchical manner (i.e. Heading 1

to Heading 2 to Body Text)?

2.3

Are page numbering codes used as

opposed to manually typed page

numbers?

2.4

If footnotes are present, have they

been created through Word

Footnote linking?

2.5

If color is used to emphasize the

importance of selected text, is there

an alternate method also used?

2.6

Is the list style being used as

opposed to manually typed

characters (e.g. Hyphens, numbers,

or graphics)?

2.7

Is the document free of text boxes?

2.8

If the document contains a Table of

Contents (TOC), was it created

using the TOC field (e.g., created

using the TOC Command in MS

Word)?

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2.0. General Layout and

Formatting Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

2.9

Does the document avoid using

underscores (using the space bar or

tab feature to create a line) to create

lines?

3.0. Document Image Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

3.1

Are images set to “Wrap in line” with

text flush left?

3.2

Are multiple associated images on the same

page (e.g., boxes in an organizational chart)

grouped as one object?

3.3

Have all multilayered objects been flattened

into one image and does that image use one

alternative text description for the image?

3.4

Do images/graphics appear crisp and

legible?

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4.0. Document Table Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

4.1

If the document has a tabular appearance,

is that tabular structure made using the

table option (as opposed to manual tabs

and/or spaces)?

4.2

Do all tables have a logical reading order

from left to right, top to bottom?

4.3

Do data tables have the entire first row

designated as a ‘Header Row’ in table

properties?

4.4

Is the table free of Merged Cells?

4.5

Are all tables described and labeled (where

appropriate

4.6

In table properties, is “Allow row to

break across pages” unchecked?

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Chapter 5 – PDF File Creation in MS Word

A. Converting your documents to accessible PDF files

You should have Adobe Acrobat X or XI Pro software installed to continue on with making

your 508 compliant PDF file.

Now that the document has a structure, alternative text for images, formatted columns, and

correctly styled tables, it is ready to be converted to the PDF file format. These general steps

will help get your document to an accessible, 508 Compliant PDF.

1. Click on Review Tab on the menu bar.

2. Turn Track Changes Off: If Track Changes is on, click the Track Changes Icon under the

Review tab. It should not be highlighted.

3. Under Show Markup, turn off comments: Note: Always perform this step. Comments

may be hidden.

4. Under Show markup: turn off formatting.

5. Go to File>Options>Display and turn off all formatting marks.

B. Convert your document to a PDF file

There are a few ways to save a PDF. Each handles the file a little differently and while one

may resolve an error, the other two methods may make it worse. If that happens then try the

alternate method.

Method One:

1. With the document open in Word select the Acrobat Tab on the ribbon bar.

2. Click the Create PDF Icon.

3. You have now created a PDF file.

4. The PDF will automatically open and you will now be working in your opened PDF file.

Figure 31 - Acrobat and Create PDF icons on the MS Word toolbar

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Method Two:

1. Go to File and select “Save As Adobe PDF”.

2. Save to a folder and open your PDF to run the compliancy test.

Method Three:

1. Go to File and select Save As.

2. In the “Save As Type” Choose Adobe PDF.

3. Save to a folder and open your PDF to run the compliancy test.

In ALL cases, make sure the Protect Document is UNCHECKED. We cannot help you fix your

PDF if it is protected.

Go to “PDF Checking and Problem Solving” and learn how to check your PDF for 508

Compliancy, and to correct any errors your document may have.

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Chapter 6 - Excel Document Creation

A. Set Document Language

At this time, it is not possible to indicate the natural language of selected cells within an Excel

2010 workbook. In order for assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers) to be able to present

your document accurately, it is important to indicate the language of the document.

B. Change the default language for a workbook:

1. Go to menu item: File.

2. Select Options from the list in the left window pane.

3. Select Language from the list in the left of the Options dialog.

4. Under Chose Editing Languages, select the editing language you want to use.

Note: to add an editing language, select the language from the drop down list

labeled [Add additional editing languages].

5. Select Set as Default.

Close all Office 2010 programs and open them again for the changes to take effect.

C. Provide Text Alternatives for Images and Graphical Objects

When using images or other graphical objects, such as charts and graphs, it is important to

ensure that the information you intend to convey by the image is also conveyed to people who

cannot see the image. This can be accomplished by adding concise alternative text to each

image. If an image is too complicated to concisely describe in the alternative text alone

(artwork, flowcharts, etc.), provide a short text alternative and a longer description as well.

D. Tips for Writing Alternative Text

•

Try to answer the question "what information is the image conveying?"

•

Alternative text should be fairly short, usually a sentence or less and rarely more than

two sentences.

•

If more description is required (e.g., for a chart or graph), provide a short description

in the alternative text (e.g., a summary of the trend) and more detail in the long

description, see below.

E. Tips for Writing Longer Descriptions

•

Long descriptions should be used when text alternatives (see above) are insufficient

to answer the question "what information is the image conveying?"

•

In some situations, the information being conveyed will be how an image looks (e.g.,

an artwork, architectural detail, etc.). In these cases, try to describe the image without

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making too many of your own assumptions.

•

One approach is to imagine you are describing the image to a person over the phone.

•

Ensure that you still provide concise alternative text to help readers decide if they are

interested in the longer description.

F. Add Alternative Text to Images and Graphical Objects:

1. Right-click* the object.

2. Select Format Picture…

3. Select the Alt Text option from the list.

4. Fill in the Title. If more description is required (e.g., for a chart or graph), provide a

short description in the Title (e.g., a summary of the trend) and more detail in the

Description.

G. Format Your Cells

As you begin adding content, your spreadsheet will require structuring to bring meaning to

the data, make it easier to navigate, and help assistive technologies read it accurately. One

of the easiest ways to do this is to ensure that you properly format the cells.

H. Named Styles

You should make use of the named styles that are included with the office application (e.g.,

“Heading”, “Result”, etc.) before creating your own styles or using the character formatting

tools directly. Named styles help your readers understand why something was formatted in a

given way, which is especially helpful when there are multiple reasons for the same

formatting (e.g., it is common to use italics for emphasis, Latin terms and species names).

For more information on formatting using named styles, see Technique 9.

Note: While office application suites support headings in much the same way, the named

styles often differ.

Formatting header and result cells brings order to the spreadsheet and makes it easier for users

to navigate effectively. For example, you can format header rows and columns using

“Heading” styles to apply bolded, enlarged, and italicized text (among other characteristics).

You may also want to format cells containing results of calculations to appear bold and

underlined to help distinguish them from the rest of your data.

I. Format a cell with default named styles:

1. Highlight the cells that you want to format.

Note: to apply a style to an entire row or column, select the row or column

indicator and follow the next steps.

2. Go to menu item: Home.

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3. In the Styles section, select the Cell Styles icon.

4. Select the desired formatting style from the drop-down menu.

Note: To modify a style, right-click* the desired formatting style from the drop-down menu and

select Modify. Changes made to the style will affect all instances of the style within your

workbook.

J. Other Cell Characteristics

Ensure your cells are formatted to properly represent your data, including number and text

attributes.

To format cell characteristics:

1. Highlight the cells that you want to format.

2. Go to menu item: Home.

3. In the relevant sections (e.g. Numbers, Font, etc.) make your adjustments.

Note: When formatting your spreadsheet, it is best to avoid merging cells. At times, it

may seem easier to present your data by merging cells, but this can make it more

difficult for users of assistive technologies and people navigating your spreadsheet

using the keyboard.

K. Define Cell Names

Naming the different data ranges within your spreadsheet makes it easier to navigate through

the document and find specific information. By associating a meaningful name to a data range,

you will be enhancing the readability of your document. These named ranges can be

referenced in multiple locations of your document and within calculations and equations.

To define a name:

1. Highlight the cells you would like to name.

2. Go to menu item: Formulas.

3. In the Defined Names section, select the Define Name button.

4. In the Name text box, enter the name for the data range.

5. In the Scope drop-down list, select scope within which the name can be referenced.

6. Select OK.

L. Create Accessible Charts

Charts can be used to make data more understandable for some audiences. However, it is

important to ensure that your chart is as accessible as possible to all members of your

audience. All basic accessibility considerations that are applied to the rest of your document

must also be applied to your charts and the elements within your charts. For example, use

shape and color, rather than color alone, to convey information. As well, some further steps

should be taken to ensure that the contents are your chart are appropriate labeled to give users

reference points that will help them to correctly interpret the information.

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To create a chart:

1. Select the data that you want to include in the chart.

2. Go to menu item: Insert.

3. In the Charts section, select the icon of the type of chart you would like to insert.

4. Select a Chart Type from the Chart Gallery in the drop-down menu.

To add titles and labels:

1. In the Chart Tools menu section, go to menu item: Layout.

2. In the Labels section, select the type of title or label you would like to define (e.g.,

Chart Title, Axis Titles, Data Labels).

Note: It is a good idea to use as many of the titles and labels available in this

section as possible.

To apply a predefined Chart Layout:

1. In the Chart Tools menu section, go to menu item: Design.

2. In the Chart Layouts section, select a Quick Layout from the scrolling Chart Layouts

gallery.

To change to a different predefined Chart Type:

1. In the Chart Tools menu section, go to menu item: Design.

2. In the Type section, select the Change Chart Type icon.

3. In the Change Chart Type dialog, select a chart type from the left pane.

4. Select a Chart Design from the right pane.

5. Select OK.

To apply alternative text to a chart:

1. Right-click* the chart.

Note: Make sure you are right-clicking the whole chart, not just an element within the

chart. It is possible to add descriptions to the many elements that make up a chart, but

this is not recommended.

2. In the Format Chart Area dialog, select Alt Text.

3. Enter a Title in the Title box.

4. Enter a longer description of the chart contents in the Description box.

5. Select Close.

M. Other Chart Considerations

•

When creating line charts, use the formatting options to create different types of

dotted lines to facilitate legibility for users who are color blind.

•

Change the default colors to a color safe or gray-scale palette.

•

Use the formatting options to change predefined colors, ensuring that they align

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with sufficient contrast requirements.

N. Use Other Content Structuring Features

While cell formatting is the most common method of structuring documents, other

content structuring features should be used where appropriate:

1. Document Title.

2. Insert a descriptive and meaningful title

3. To change the title of the current document.

a. Go to menu item: File.

b. Select Info from the list in the left window pane.

c. In the right window pane, select the Title text box.

d. Enter the Title.

Note: The Title defined in the properties is different than the file name. It is also

unrelated to the template name, discussed above.

O. Avoid “Floating” Elements

Avoid "floating" elements (other than charts) such as floating images, objects, tables or text

boxes. Similarly, avoid placing drawing objects directly into the document (e.g., as borders,

to create a diagram). Instead, create borders with page layout tools and insert complete

graphical objects.

P. Format of Text

When formatting text, especially when the text is likely to be printed, try to:

•

Use font sizes between 12 and 18 points for cell contents.

•

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.

Q. To Change the Text Size for a Default Named Style:

1. Go to menu item: Home.

2. In the Styles section, select the Cell Styles icon.

3. Select the style to modify from the list.

4. Right-click* and select: Modify…

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5. In the Style dialog, select the Format button.

6. In the Format Cells dialog, select the Font tab.

7. In the Size text box, type the desired size or select it from the list.

Select OK.

R. Use Sufficient Contrast

The visual presentation of text and images of text should have a contrast ration of at least

4.5:1. To help you determine the contrast, here are some examples on a white background:

•

Very good contrast (Foreground=black, Background=white, Ratio=21:1)

•

Acceptable contrast (Foreground=#767676, Background=white, Ratio=4.54:1)

•

Unacceptable contrast (Foreground=#AAAAAA, Background=white,

Ratio=2.32:1) Also, always use a single solid color for a text background rather than a

pattern.

S. Avoid Using Color Alone

Color should not be used as the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an

action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element. In order to spot where color

might be the only visual means of conveying information, you can create a screenshot of the

document and then view it with online gray-scale converting tools.

T. Navigational Instructions

Provide a general description of the spreadsheet contents and instructions on how to navigate

the data effectively. The best way to do this is to make a cell at the beginning of the data

(e.g., A1) with this information. It will be the first cell accessed by assistive technologies. If

you are using this cell for a label or data, you can attach a comment note to the cell

containing navigational instructions.

U. Accessibility Checker

1. Go to menu item: File.

2. Select Info in the left window pane.

3. Under Prepare for Sharing, an alert will appear if a potential accessibility issue has

been detected.

4. To view and repair the issues, select Check for Issues and then Check Accessibility.

5. An Accessibility Checker task pane will open, showing the inspection results.

6. Select a specific issue to see Additional Information.

7. Follow the steps provided to fix or revise the content.

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V. To Evaluate PDF Accessibility in Adobe Acrobat Professional:

1. Go to menu item: Advanced > Accessibility > Full Check…

2. In the Full Check dialog, select all the checking options.

3. Select the Start Checking button.

More information can be found on the Microsoft Help in creating Accessible Excel

Workbooks website: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/creating-accessible-

excel-workbooks-

HA102013545.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA102671874

**Note: Remember to use the 508 compliancy checklist at the end of this document to

be certain you have followed all steps necessary to make your PDF document

compliant.

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W. Excel 508 Checklist

1.0.Master Requirements for all

Documents

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

1.1

Does the document file name not contain

spaces and/or special characters?

1.2

Is the document file name concise,

generally limited to 20-30 characters, and

does it make the contents of the file clear?

1.3

Have the Document Properties for Title,

Author, Subject (AKA Description),

Keywords, Language, and Copyright Status

been applied per HHS guidance?

1.4

Does the document utilize recommended

fonts (i.e., Times New Roman, Verdana,

Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, or Calibri)?

1.5

Have track changes been accepted or

rejected and turned off?

1.6

Have comments been removed and

formatting marks been turned off?

1.7

Is the document free of background images

or watermarks?

1.8

Do all images, grouped images, and non-

text elements that convey information have

meaningful alternative-text descriptions?

1.9

Do complex images (i.e., charts and

graphs) have descriptive text near the

image (perhaps as a caption)?

1.10

Are all URLs linked to correct

Web destinations?

1.11

Are e-mail links accessible?

1.12

Has a separate accessible version of the

document been provided when there is no

other way to make the content accessible?

1.13

If there are tables, are blank cells avoided?

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1.0.Master Requirements for all

Documents

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

1.14

Is all of the text easy to read in comparison

to the background of the document (i.e., has

a color-contrast ratio of 4.5:1)?

1.15

Has the document been reviewed in Print

Preview for a final visual check?

2.0. General Layout and Formatting

Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

2.1

Is the table free of merged cells? (If not,

but the final format will be PDF or

HTML, then merged cells are okay).

2.3

Do the active worksheets have clear and

concise names that allow users (and

assistive technology) to identify the

table’s source and content?

2.4

Is each table prefixed (titled) with the

table name and table number?

2.5

Does the table header repeat at the top of

the table as it goes from one page to

another?

2.6

If color is used to emphasize important

text, is there is an alternate, compliant

method used as well?

2.7

Have all extraneous comments have

been removed?

2.8

Is the document free of text boxes

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3.0. Charts/Image Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

3.1

Are associated images on the same page,

such as boxes in an organizational chart,

grouped as one object?

3.2

Have all multilayered objects been

flattened into one image?

3.3

Do all non-text elements that convey

information - including images - have

descriptive captions (alternative text does

not currently work when a PDF is made

from Excel)?

3.4

Do all charts have titles, legends, and axis

labels?

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Chapter 7 - Multimedia Creation

If you create Podcasts and other sound files, Videos and multimedia presentations, Software

to play videos, audio, and multimedia for your website, visit the Howto.gov website for step-

by-step directions on making these files accessible.

**Note: Remember to follow the 508 compliancy checklist at the end of this document

to be certain you have followed all steps necessary to make you PDF document

compliant.

A. Multimedia 508 Checklist

1.0.Master Requirements for all

Documents

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

1.1

Does the document file name not contain

spaces and/or special characters?

1.2

Is the document file name concise, generally

limited to 20-30 characters, and makes the

contents of the file clear in the context in

which it is presented?

1.3

Does the document utilize recommended

fonts (i.e., Times New Roman, Verdana,

Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, or Calibri?

1.4

Does the document refrain from using

flashing/flickering text and/or animated text?

1.5

Are all URLs linked to correct

Web destinations?

1.6

Are e-mail links accessible?

1.7

Has a separate accessible version of the

multimedia file been provided when there is

no other way to make the content

accessible?

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2.0. Secondary Sensory-Channel

Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

2.1

If a video—Does the video or animation

contain synchronized captioning?

2.2

If an animation—Does the animation

have a text equivalent?

2.3

If a sound file—Does the sound file

have a matching transcript file?

3.0. Functional Control Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

3.1

Does the file have the minimum required

media controls of video resizing, volume

control, play/stop buttons, and the ability

to turn captions on and off?

3.2

Are all media controls keyboard

accessible?

3.3

Is the media embedded in a way that

allows the user to use keyboard controls

to move in and out of the video in relation

to surrounding content?

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Chapter 8 - PowerPoint Creation, Preparing Accessible Presentations

A. Create a New Presentation:

1. Click on Home.

2. New slide.

3. Select appropriate layout.

Figure 32 - Insert New Slide

Figure 33 - Create a New Presentation screen

B. Properties

Populating certain document properties (Author, Title, Subject, and Keywords) and setting

the language are required to make an electronic file 508 compliant.

To specify properties:

1. Click on File in the upper left corner.

2. New field will appear on the right.

3. Choose “Properties.”

4. Choose Advanced Properties and then the Summary screen will appear.

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Figure 34 - Document Properties Window

Fill out: the title of the document, subject, and author (do not use your name; rather, use Forest

Service), company and keywords. The other fields are optional.

C. Set Document Language

In order for assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers) to be able to present your document

accurately, it is important to indicate the natural language of the document. If a different

natural language is used for a paragraph or selected text, this also needs to be clearly

indicated.

To change the default language:

1. Go to menu item: File.

2. Select Options from the list in the left window pane.

3. Select Language from the list in the left of the Options dialog.

4. Under Choose Editing Languages, select the editing language you want to use.

Note: to add an editing language, select the language from the drop down list

labeled [Add additional editing languages].

5. Select Set as Default.

6. Close all Office 2010 programs and open them again for the changes to take effect.

To apply a language directly to selected text:

1. Select the text.

2. Go to menu item: Review.

3. In the Language section, select the Language button.

4. Select Set Proofing Language.

5. In the Mark selected text as box, select the language from the list.

6. Select OK.

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To set the language:

1. Access the properties menu (see above).

2. Choose “Advance Properties.”

a. Choose the “Custom” tab.

b. You will notice a blank to the right of Name. Select “Language” from the list.

c. Type is “Text”.

d. Value - type in “English”.

e. Click “Add” and then “OK”.

Figure 35 - Set Language Window

D. Create Accessible Templates

Areas of a PowerPoint - Default View

1. The major elements of a normal default view include:

2. Slide and Outline area on the left.

3. Content stage area in the center and right.

4. Notes pane area below the content stage area.

5. View button below Notes pane for Normal, Slide Sorter, or Slide Show view.

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Figure 36 - Fields of a PowerPoint screen

All slide text must be viewable in the Outline view.

It is critical that you learn to create slides via the Master Slide group. DO NOT use text

boxes from the ribbon bar or drop graphics on a slide without using placeholders.

A PowerPoint document will not be accessible if you place images, graphics, or text on a

slide without using PowerPoint’s content placeholders. Content placeholders can only be

added via the Master Slide window. All text must appear in the outline view of a

presentation.

•

Click the Outline tab in the Slide and Outline area to display the outline pane. Only

text displayed on the outline pane will be read by a text-to-speech reader.

o Ensure each slide has a slide title. The slide title serves as the structure

in navigating and understanding the logical flow of the slide

presentation.

•

The Outline is viewable when you are in Normal view.

•

To switch between slide view and outline view, click the tabs at the top left

navigation window.

•

NOTE: Text added to the Notes Pane of a slide will not appear in the outline and will

not be accessible by assistive technology.

E. Slide Layouts

PowerPoint is designed to encourage the use of slide layouts, especially in newer versions. Using

these templates correctly will ensure that your files have correctly-structured headings and lists,

proper reading order, etc. The correct use of slide layouts is probably the most significant thing

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you can do to ensure that your content is accessible.

For each slide you create, select a preset layout with as many placeholders (placeholders may be

text boxes, pictures, videos, etc.) as you will need for that slide. If the template doesn’t have an

option with enough placeholders, create an additional layout option that does (View/Slide

master, Insert layout, Insert placeholder). If you do not use the available placeholders or create

an additional lay out option, your presentation may not convert to a PDF properly. This can

result in 508 error.

Extra placeholders can easily be moved, resized, removed, or ignored, slide by slide. If the

preset options aren’t adequate or you did not create a slide with enough placeholders, you will

need to create a new layout option. Always use the available slide layouts never insert a blank

slide and add text boxes. Adding text boxes to a slide may cause 508 errors.

Select Home > New Slide, or select the New Slide button, and a menu of slide types

will appear.

Figure 37 - New Slide drop down menu

F. Adding New Layouts and Placeholders:

1. Select Slide Master from the view menu.

Select Insert Layout.

3. Click on Insert Placeholder to select type (repeat as needed). Don’t be shy – you can

drag them off the page and out of the way until you need them, or delete them later.

4. Close Slide Master by going to the View tab and selecting Normal.

5. From the Home tab use the New Slide button to create a new slide using one of the

master templates found there.

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G. Use Built-In Layout and Styling Features

PowerPoint 2010 does not offer “True Headings” or “Named Styles” as does Word 2010.

H. Use Built-In Slide Layouts

Instead of creating each slide in your presentation by starting from a blank slide, check

whether there is a suitable built-in layout.

Note: The built-in layouts can be more accessible to users of assistive technologies

because they technologies sometimes read the floating items on the slide in the order

that they were placed on the slide. The built-in layouts have usually taken this into

account (e.g., “Title” first followed by other items, left to right and from top to

bottom). If you create slide layouts from scratch, it is sometimes difficult to keep

track of the order elements were placed.

I. Customize Using Master Slides

If a layout must be customized, it is recommended that Master Slides be used.

Every slide layout in a presentation is defined by its master slide. A master slide determines

the formatting style for various elements of the slide layout. This includes font styles,

character formatting, and the positioning of elements. Essentially, each master slide acts as a

design template for the slide layout.

If you edit any aspect of the slide layout in the master slide, the change will affect all slides

that were created based on it. For this reason, it is good practice to edit the master slide and

use the slide layouts before building individual slides. It is essential that you create and use

master slides that meet the accessibility requirements.

J. Columns of Text

If you put two or more columns of text on a page, use a standard layout that has two side-by-

side text box placeholders. Never use the Tab key to separate lists of text into columns within a

single text box. By using text box placeholders, a screen reader will read the entire first text

box, and then move to the next text box in the slide's reading order. This will make much more

sense to the listener.

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Figure 38 - Using Columns for text

To create or customize a master slide:

1. Go to menu item: View.

2. In the Master Views section, select the Slide Master icon.

3. The current slide master with its associate layouts appears.

Note: If you have the Normal view open, the slide master is the larger slide image

in the slide thumbnail pane. The associated layouts are positioned beneath the

slide master.

4. Customize the existing master slide and its associated layouts to suit your needs (e.g.,

apply a design, theme-based colors, fonts, effects, backgrounds) ensuring that your

changes meet accessibility requirements.

5. Go to menu item: File > Save As.

6. In the File name box, type a file name.

7. In the Save as type list, select PowerPoint template.

8. Select Save

K. Slide Design

Use the built-in designs offered in PowerPoint; however please know that not all of these

design options have ‘accessible’ color contrast or other design elements. Please ensure that

whatever design is chosen meets all the design considerations discussed in this section.

To access these design choices, go to the Design tab, and scroll through the options. The

number of choices may be expanded by using the drop down menu highlighted below. From

the Design tab menu, color selection and font choices can also be controlled.

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Figure 39 - Slide Design Tab

L. Fonts and Font Size

Because they are the easiest to read, only use Sans Serif fonts, such as Arial and Verdana.

Since a PowerPoint presentation will most likely be projected onto a large screen consider

how far the audience will be from the screen and choose a font size accordingly. The

minimum font size for a PowerPoint presentation is 24 points.

M. Use of Color and Contrast

Make sure your text color provides enough contrast with the background color that people

can easily read it.

•

Always put text on a plain, solid-colored background. Text placed on top of an image

or patterned background is harder to see.

•

Be sure to provide enough contrast between the text color and the background color.

Figure 40 - View of blank PowerPoint Master screen

On the Slide Master tab, in the Close section, select Close Master View.

N. Set a Logical Tab Order

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Many presentation applications create content composed almost exclusively of "floating"

objects. This means that they avoid the transitions between in-line content and secondary

"floating" objects (text boxes, images, etc.) that can cause accessibility issues in word

processors.

However, when you are working with "floating" objects, it is important to remember that the

way objects are positioned in two dimensions on the screen may be completely different from

how the objects will be read by a screen reader or navigated using a keyboard. The order that

content is navigated sequentially is called the "Tab Order" because often the "Tab" key is used

to navigate from one "floating" object to the next.

O. Tips for Setting a Logical “Tab Order” for "Floating" Objects

•

The tab order of floating objects is usually from the “lowest” object on the slide to the

“highest”.

•

Because objects automatically appear “on top” when they are inserted, the default

tab order is from the first object inserted to the last. However, this will change if

you use features such as “bring to front” and “send to back”.

•

The slide’s main heading should be first in the tab order.

•

Headings should be placed in the tab order immediately before the items (text,

diagrams, etc.) for which they are acting as a heading.

•

Labels should be in the reading order placed immediately before the objects that

they label.

•

For simple slide layouts, it may be possible to simply insert objects in a logical tab order.

•

For more complex layouts, it may be easier to simply to create the slide as usual

and then set the tab order (see below).

To set the tab order using the ‘Selection Pane’:

1. Go to menu item: Home.

2. In the Drawing section, select Arrange > Selection Pane…

3. In the Selection and Visibility pane, all the elements on the slide are listed in reverse

chronological order under Shapes on this Slide.

4. Elements can be re-ordered using the Re-order buttons located at the bottom of the

Selection and Visibility pane.

Note: The tab order of elements begins at the bottom of the list and tabs

upwards.

P. Use Slide Notes

A useful aspect of presentation applications is the facility to add notes to slides, which can

then be read by assistive technologies. You can use these slide notes to explain and expand on

the contents of your slides in text format. Slide notes can be created as you build your

presentation.

Figure 41 - View of Slide Notes page

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To add notes to your slides:

1. Go to menu item: View.

2. In the Presentation Views section, select Normal to ensure that the notes panel is

in view.

3. Note: You can then select menu item Home, to access text formatting options.

4. The Notes Pane can be found at the bottom of the window, below the slide.

5. Type and format your notes within the Notes Pane below each slide.

Q. Add Alternative Text to Images and Objects

Alternative text appears when you move your pointer over a picture or object, and helps

people using screen readers understand the content of images in your presentation. Alt text

should be included for any of the following objects in your presentation:

 Pictures.

 Clip Art.

 Charts.

 Tables.



Shapes (that don’t contain text and are not in groups).

 SmartArt graphics.

 Groups (all objects in this list, with the exception of shapes, should also have alt text

when in groups).

 Embedded objects.

 Video and audio files.

To add alternative text to an image, Right click on picture choose Format Picture.

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Figure 42 - Format Pictures

With the Format Picture menu open, select the option for Alt Text in the sidebar. Two fields

will appear one labeled Title and one labeled Description. Type out the Title of your picture

or object and then add descriptive text to the Description field.

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Figure 43 - Description Field

R. How to Group Small Graphics/Images

•

Select one of the images.

•

Hold down the “Shift” key and select the other images that are to be part of the group.

•

Right-click the image.

•

Scroll to “Grouping” and then mouse over to click “Group.”

•

Alternative Method

o Open the “Drawing” toolbar by going to View>>Toolbar>>Drawing.

o Click and drag to select all elements you would like to group.

o Right-click the image, scroll to “Grouping” and select “Group.”

**Note: images and shapes will not group together in MS Word. You can

copy and paste into PowerPoint, group and copy back to Word. However,

grouped items will lose their Alt text description and you will need to

reapply.

S. Header Rows on Tables

Each table created must have the header row (first row in the table) clearly defined so that

screen reader software will read the table in a manner that is understandable to the end user.

Create the table as you would normally and select the table by clicking it. The best way to

select a table is to click the four way cursor in the top left-hand corner of the table.

If tables must be used, they should be constructed with header rows, and may not contain

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merged cells. Also make sure reading order is left to right, top to bottom.

A header row is the first row or column in the table. The table should also include a title and if

applicable a short description if the table is too complex.

T. Specify Colum Information in Tables

In addition to adding alt text that describes the table, having clear column headings can

help provide context and assist navigation of the table’s contents.

Designating Table Headers:

1. Click on the first row in the table and highlight the row.

2. Go to the Table Tools.

3. Click on Design.

4. Check the Header Row check box for the First Column and/or First Row.

5. Type (or retype) your column headings.

6. Press the Enter key.

Figure 44 - Designating Table Headers

Use simple table structure

By not using nested tables, or merged or split cells inside of data tables, the data is

predictable and easy to navigate.

To test and simplify the table structure, do the following:

1. Select the first cell of the table.

2. Press the Tab key repeatedly to make sure that the focus moves across the row and then

down to the first cell of the next row.

U. Add alt text for Tables:

1. Right click on the Table, and then click Format.

2. Click Format Shape.

3. Click Alt Text.

4. Enter descriptive text of the Table into the Title and Description text boxes.

**Tip: Use clear, but concise descriptions. For example, “a red Ferrari” tells the

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reader more about the image than “a car.”

5. Click Close

V. Avoid Using Blank Cells to Format Tables

Using blank cells to format your table could mislead someone using a screen reader to believe

that there is nothing more in the table. You can fix this by deleting unnecessary blank cells or,

if your table is used specifically to layout content within your presentation, you can clear all

table styles by doing the following:

1. Select the entire table.

2. On the Table Tools Design tab, in the Table Styles group, click the arrow next to the

style gallery to expand the gallery of table styles.

3. On the menu below the gallery, click Clear.

W. Ensure that all Slides Have Unique Titles

Slide titles are used for navigation and selection by people who are not able to view the slide.

To add visible titles to your slides, do the following:

1. On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click Reset to restore slide placeholders for

the selected slide.

2. Type a unique name in the Title text box.

3. If you do not want the title to be visible on your slide, do the following:

a. On the Home tab, in the Drawing group, click the Arrange menu.

b. Click Selection Pane.

c. Click the eye icon next to the text box to toggle its visibility.

Figure 45 - Reset Slide

X. Use Hyperlink Text that is Meaningful

Hyperlink text should provide a clear description of the link destination, rather than only

providing the URL. To add a hyperlink to your document, do the following:

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1. Place your cursor where you want the hyperlink.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Links group, click Hyperlink to open the Hyperlink dialog

box.

3. In the Text to display box, type in the name or phrase that will briefly describe the

link destination.

4. In the Address box, type the link URL.

5. Click OK.

Y. To Change the Text of a Hyplerink

1. Select the link and then, on the Insert tab in the Links group, click Hyperlink to open

the hyperlink dialog box.

2. In the Text to display box, make any necessary changes to the text.

3. Click OK.

Additionally, you can include ScreenTip text that appears when your cursor hovers over

a hyperlink, and can be used in a similar way to alt text. To add ScreenTip text, do the

following:

1. Place your cursor in the hyperlink you want to add ScreenTip text to.

2. On the Insert tab, in the Links group, click Hyperlink to open the hyperlink dialog box.

3. Click ScreenTip…

4. Type in your text in the ScreenTip text box.

5. Click OK.

X. Include Closed Captions for any Audio or Video:

1. Whenever you use additional audio or video components in a presentation, ensure that

the content is available in alternative formats for users with disabilities, such as closed

captions, transcripts or alt text.

2. If you’re using PowerPoint 2010, you can download and install the Sub-titling text add-

in for Microsoft PowerPoint (STAMP): http://office.microsoft.com/en-

us/powerpointhelp/redir/HA102540315.aspx?CTT=5&origin=HA102013555, which lets

you easily create closed captions for video and audio in your presentations.

Y. Ensure that the Reading Order of Each Slide is Logical

People who cannot view the slide will hear slide text, shapes and content read back in a specific

order. If you are using objects that are not part of the slide template, it is important to be sure

that they will be read by a screen reader in the order that you intend them to be.

To check the order in which your slide content will be read back, do the following:

1. On the Home tab, in the Drawing group, click Arrange and then choose Selection

Pane.

2. The Selection Pane lists the objects on the slide. Objects will be read back beginning

with the bottom list item and ending with the top list item. Correct any out of order

items using the Re-order arrows on the bottom of the pane.

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Z. Increase Visibility for Colorblind Viewers

Colorblindness affects a significant number of people, most often as an inability to

distinguish between red and green, or seeing red and green differently. When creating

presentations, it’s important to choose elements that increase visual contrast so viewers who

cannot rely on color distinction can still understand what they’re seeing. Some things you

can do when building a slide deck include:

•

Avoid using orange, red, and green in your template and text.

•

Use texture in graphs, instead of color, to highlight points of interest.

•

Circle or use animation to highlight information, rather than relying on laser

pointers or color.

•

Keep the overall contrast in your presentation high.

AA. Animations and Transitions

Avoid animation and automatic slide transitions since they:

•

Can be distracting.

•

Can cause screen readers to re-read slides.

•

Can read parts of the slide out of order, and/or.

•

May not give users enough time to read slide content.

Tips:

•

Accept or reject and turn off track changes.

•

Remove all comments from the document.

•

All slides should be absent of flickering/flashing text and/or animated text.

BB. Convert PowerPoint to Other Formats

PowerPoint is a good format for live presentations, but it is not the best format for

distributing content on the web. PowerPoint files can be large, and users must either have

Microsoft Office or a special plug-in in order to view them. The slides by themselves usually

do not offer a complete summary of the information conveyed. If PowerPoint files are

distributed or posted on the web it is recommended that they are exported to PDF.

Converting your presentations to a PDF

To save the accessible functionality of the PowerPoint document that has been created, it

must be saved as a PDF.

Preferably you have Adobe Acrobat X or XI Pro software installed to continue on with

making your PDF file.

Now that the document has a structure, alternative text for images, formatted columns, and

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correctly styled tables, it is ready to be converted to the PDF file format. These general steps

will help get your document to an accessible PDF.

•

Turn Track Changes Off: Check to see if Track Changes is on or off. Track Changes is

a toggle. If Track Changes is on click the Track Changes Icon under the Review tab.

•

Remove All Comments: Note: Always perform this step. Comments may be hidden.

•

To remove comments Click on the Reject Change/Delete Show Markup under the

Review tab and make sure Comments in unchecked

•

All Formatting Marks Turned Off: All formatting marks must be turned off.

•

Click on Tools; Then Options to display the Option Menus. Formatting marks may

be found under the View tab. Ensure that all formatting marks are turned off.

Convert your document to a PDF file:

1. With the document open and from the Word toolbar or ribbon, select Adobe PDF or

Acrobat.

2. Click the Create PDF Icon.

3. You have now created a PDF file.

4. You will now be working in your opened PDF file. Follow the directions below.

Figure 46 - Create PDF

Evaluate PDF accessibility in Adobe Acrobat Professional:

1. Go to menu item: Advanced > Accessibility > Full Check…

2. In the Full Check dialog, select all the checking options.

3. Select the Start Checking button.

**Note: Remember to use the 508 compliancy checklist at the end of this document to

be certain you have followed all steps necessary to make your PDF document

compliant.

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CC. PowerPoint 508 Checklist

1.0.Master Requirements for all

Documents

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

1.1

Does the document file name not contain

spaces and/or special characters?

1.2

Is the document file name concise,

generally limited to 20-30 characters, and

does it make the contents of the file

clear?

1.3

Have the Document Properties for Title,

Author, Subject (AKA Description),

Keywords, Language, and Copyright

Status been applied?

1.4

Does the document utilize recommended

fonts (i.e., Times New Roman, Verdana,

Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, or Calibri)?

1.5

Have track changes been accepted or

rejected and turned off?

1.6

Have comments been removed and

formatting marks been turned off?

1.7

Does the document refrain from using

flashing/flickering text and/or animated

text?

1.8

Is the document free of background

images or watermarks?

1.9

Do all images, grouped images, and non-

text elements that convey information

have meaningful alternative-text

descriptions?

1.10

Do complex images (i.e., charts and

graphs) have descriptive text near the

image (perhaps as a caption)?

1.11

Do all URLs contain the correct

hyperlink and display the full URL? It

should

read http://www.nwcg.gov . NOT

NWCG.

1.12

Are all URLs linked to correct

Web destinations?

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2.0. General Layout and Formatting

Requirements

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

2.1

Can all slide text be viewed in the Outline

View?

2.2

Do all of the slides avoid using

flickering/flashing text and/or animated text?

2.3

Do all of the slides avoid using text boxes or

graphics with text within them?

2.4

Is the list style being used as opposed to

manually typed characters (e.g. Hyphens,

numbers, or graphics)?

2.5

If multimedia is present, did the multimedia

pass the Multimedia Checklist?

1.0.Master Requirements for all

Documents

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

1.13

Are e-mail links accessible?

1.14

Has a separate accessible version of the

document been provided when there is no

other way to make the content accessible?

1.15

If there are tables, are blank cells

avoided?

1.16

Is all of the text easy to read in

comparison to the background of the

document (i.e., has a color-contrast ratio

of 4.5:1)?

1.17

Has the document been reviewed in Print

Preview for a final visual check?

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3.0. Document Images Requirement

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

3.1

Are multiple associated images on the same

page (e.g., boxes in an organizational chart)

grouped as one object?

3.2

Have all multilayered objects been flattened

into one image and does that image use one

alternative text description for the image?

4.0. Document Tables

Yes

(Pass)

(Fail)

N/A

4.1

If the document has a tabular appearance,

was that tabular structure made using the

table option (as opposed to manual tabs

and/or spaces)?

4.2

Do all tables have a logical reading order

from left to right, top to bottom?

4.3

Do data tables have the entire first row

designated as a ‘Header Row’ in table

properties?

4.4

Is the table free of Merged Cells?

4.5

Are all tables described and labeled (where

appropriate)? Note: In some cases

naming/numbering of tables may not be

appropriate. For example, a small data table

in a presentation may not need a reference.

4.6

In table properties, is “Allow row to

break across pages” unchecked?

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Chapter 9 - PDF Checking and Problem Solving

A. PDF Document Properties

The Title, Subject, Author, Keywords and Language are important elements of any

document. They are used by search engines and screen readers to find and identify content in

documents.

Ensure the document properties have been filled out when the original document was created:

1. Click on File.

2. Then Properties.

3. Select the Description tab

4. Complete the form as follows:

a. Title: The actual title of the document (not the

computer file name).

b. Author: Your office…Committee name (not your

personal name).

c. Subject: Brief identification of the subject of the

document.

d. Keywords: Keywords are associated with the document during a search and

will effectively rank the document for relevance. The closer your keywords are

to the search words the user enters, the higher your document will be ranked in

the search. When using multiple keywords, separate them with a comma. Be

sure to choose words that are relevant to the content.

5. Next Select the Advanced tab.

6. Go down to Language and click on the drop down arrow and select English.

7. This part is now complete. Click on OK at the bottom of the page.

B. 508 Compliance Check

Once you have completed the Properties you will now need to check to see if it passes the 508

Compliancy test using Adobe Acrobat X or XI Pro. If you have properly structured your word

document you should have very few errors if any.

Figure 47 - "Start" icon under the Make Accessible tab in Adobe Acrobat XI

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To check your PDF using XI Pro:

1. Open up your PDF file.

2. Click on Tools (located in the upper right hand corner of your PDF).

3. Another table will appear – Select “Action Wizard.”

4. Select “Make Accessible” this action will guide you through each step in creating and

verifying an accessible PDF.

5. Click on Start. This will start the automatic fields review. As the process starts new

windows identifying each area will be displayed on your screen. All blanks need to be

filled out:

a. Description.

b. Recognize Text.

c. Is this a fillable form?

d. Set reading Language (English).

e. Acrobat will detect all figures in this document and will display any missing alt

text.

f. Accessibility Checker (In the middle of this page “Checking Options” there are 32

options available and it usually shows 31. You will need to click on the drop down

arrow and Choose “forms, Tables Lists” to add it.

g. After you have completed “f” above go to bottom of page and click Start

Checking.

Figure 48 - Adobe Acrobat Checking Options

6. Results from Check – The results will appear on the left side of your PDF file. Click

on each error and it will take you to the area in the document that needs to be fixed.

7. Also try right clicking on the error. If it says FIX, do that. Often, the fix feature will

resolve the error.

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Figure 49 - Results from Check will appear on the left side of document

C. Avoid Scanned Documents

You should avoid using text documents that have been scanned if at all possible. A scanned

text document is actually one large image per page and a screen reader will see this as a

blank page. Scanned text documents are not accessible to screen readers without additional

work that is often extensive.

To determine if a text document has been scanned, try to select some text using the Select Tool.

» Menu: Tools > Select & Zoom > Select Tool

Look at your cursor. If your cursor looks like a “cross-hairs” (+), rather than an “I-beam” (I),

you are working with a scanned document. This will present an accessibility challenge and

result in a much bigger file size. A large file size can also be a barrier for website visitors with

dialup access.

What to Do with a Scanned Image

The first step for turning scanned documents into actual text is to go through an Optical

Character Recognition (OCR) process, which turns the images of words into actual text on

a page.

To make a scanned document accessible, you must convert the image of the document into "real"

text. That is, the text must be selectable and scalable. This is usually done through OCR (Optical

Character Recognition). If the PDF version is also to be your accessible version, you'll need to add

additional accessibility mark-up – adding "tags" to your PDF, adding alternative text for images,

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graphs, and charts, and adding header information to data tables. In addition, text created from a

scanned image of a document is often converted into unexpected segments and these segments may

be out-of-order in terms of the expected read-order of the document. You'll need to perform several

checks to insure correct read- order is established, once your document is converted.

In order to insure your document is accessible to users of assistive technology, you'll need to edit

the PDF document. In Adobe Acrobat version nine:

1. When first opening a scanned or legacy PDF, the “Scanned Page Alert” pop-up

window may appear. Select OK. If it does not appear, manually enable OCR from

the Acrobat menu. Select Documents >Recognize Text using OCR>Start.

2. From the Recognize Text pop-up window click the Edit button to access the

RecognizeText Settings.

3. Set the Primary OCR Language combo box to the language used in the PDF.

4. Set the PDF Output Style combo box to “Formatted Text & Graphics”.

5. Set the Down sample Image combo box to “Lowest (600 dpi).

6. Click OK to return to the Recognize Text pop-up window.

7. From the Recognize Text window, make sure the “All pages” radio button is selected

and then click the OK button to perform OCR.

8. Add descriptive tags for non-text elements: graphs, charts, images.

9. Add accessible mark-up for tables.

10. Verify the read-order of the document.

11. As Acrobat performs its OCR process, it creates a list of "suspect" words and

characters that could not be clearly identified.

In Adobe Acrobat version 10 and 11:

1. In the Tools window on the right, open the Text Recognition tab.

2. Choose “In this file” to recognize the scanned image.

3. You can choose to search single or multiple pages.

4. Under Edit set the language, PDF output style, and down sample size. The smaller

the down sample size the smaller the file size, but the document won’t be as sharp.

Fix OCR Suspects (text that was not recognized properly)

As Acrobat performs its OCR process, it creates a list of "suspect" words and characters that

could not be clearly identified. You can see all the suspect items at once: from the

DOCUMENT menu, choose PAPER CAPTURE and FIND ALL OCR SUSPECTS. Acrobat

highlights all the suspect items in the document.

You must address each OCR suspect. Any OCR suspect that you ignore will not be

converted into readable text and will be ignored by screen readers.

Walk through the OCR suspects one by one Acrobat 9:

1. From the DOCUMENT menu, choose PAPER CAPTURE, and FIND FIRST OCR

SUSPECT.

2. The FIND ELEMENT dialog box appears showing the first "suspect" set of characters.

3. If the suspect characters are text, you'll be able to edit them in the dialog box.

Otherwise, retype the correct text characters directly in the document using advanced

editingtechniques in Acrobat.

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4. Once you have corrected the suspect, choose "Accept and Find" to go to the

next suspect item.

5. When you have corrected all suspect items, save your document.

To edit or delete text that was not recognized correctly:

1. Select Tools - Advanced Editing - Touchup Text Tool.

2. Left click on document and correct the OCR mistakes.

3. To turn off the Touchup Text Tool, activate the Hand tool located on the Acrobat

toolbar.

Walk through the OCR suspects one by one Acrobat 10 and 11:

1. Under Text Recognition in the tools panel select OCR Suspects, either one at a time or

all at once.

2. To fix any OCR suspects open the Touch Up Reading Order tool box under the

Accessibility Tab.

3. Click on each suspect and apply the correct format.

Verifying Your Document Text

After you have performed OCR and addressed all the suspect characters, you can do a

quick check to insure that the text of your document is available to screen readers: Save as

text (accessible).

1. From the FILE menu, choose "SAVE AS."

2. In the "SAVE AS" dialog box, change the "SAVE AS TYPE" to "Text (Accessible)

(*.txt)."

3. Click SAVE. Adobe converts your document to a plain text file using the same text

that would be accessible to assistive technology, including alternative text for

images and graphics.

4. Open your newly saved text version in Adobe. Compare the text in the plain text

version to the text in the PDF version – are they the same? If not, edit the text and/or

edit the tags in the PDF version and re-save as "Text (Accessible)" to check again.

D. Adding Tags to Your Document

Once you are certain that the necessary text is available on the document, you can add tags to

your document. Adding tags creates a duplicate of your document that is marked-up for

accessibility. Only the very latest assistive technology can read an untagged PDF. Plus,

untagged PDF cannot be reflowed to fit available screen size and cannot contain additional

information, such as alternative text for images. Thus, only a tagged PDF can be considered

accessible.

You can use Acrobat's automated feature to add tags to your document:

1. From the ADVANCED menu, choose ACCESSIBILITY (version 9), Tools Panel

Accessibility Tab (version 10 & 11) and "ADD TAGS TO DOCUMENT".

2. Acrobat generates a tagged version of your document that can only be viewed in the tags

window. To open the tags window:

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a. From the VIEW menu, choose NAVIGATION TABS and TAGS (version 9).

Open the Tags Panel in the left toolbar (version 10 & 11).

b. Use the asterisk (*) key on the Number Key Pad to open all tag levels.

c. Use the minus (-) key on the Number Key Pad to close all tag levels.

3. Check tags for accuracy, completeness, and read-order.

E. Checking Your Document for Accessibility

After adding tags, you can do a few quick-checks to insure your document will work well with

assistive technology. You can also use these techniques at any point in your conversion

process to check the accessibility of your document.

Highlighting content is a simple method to confirm:

1. Text is readable by a screen reader. Text that cannot be highlighted/selected is likely

to be skipped or ignored by screen readers. Perform another OCR and confirm that

deselected text is not a "suspect character".

2. Read-order of the document. The order that text is highlighted/selected is also the

order the text will be read by a screen reader. Pay particular attention to text in tables

or columns. Does the text in one cell bleed into the text in another? Can you select

all of one column and then all of the next? Read-order can be changed by

rearranging the tags.

F. Reflow

Document reflow assists users who enlarge the text or who are using small screens or

resolutions, by reformatting the document to fit in the available screen. Without reflow, users

may be forced to scroll widely horizontal as well as vertically.

To check for reflow:

1. Increase the text size to 300% or greater.

2. From the VIEW menu, choose REFLOW (version 9). View>Zoom>REFLOW (version 10 &

11).

Note that how a document reflows also depends on read-order.

G. Read Aloud

The best way to check a document's accessibility is to use the same assistive technology your

users will use to access the document. However, if you don't have access to a screen reader or

screen enlarger, you can still get a sense of how those technologies will interpret your document

by listening to it being read by Acrobat's "Read Out Loud" feature. Although not practical for

lengthy documents, such as dissertation chapters or articles, this is a good strategy for shorter

documents that will receive high circulation on your web site or will be required reading for your

users.

To read out loud:

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1. From the VIEW menu, choose READ OUT LOUD.

a. Press SHIFT + CNTRL + Y to quickly read the current page.

b. Press SHIFT + CNTRL + B to read the entire document.

2. To stop reading: go to the VIEW menu, READ OUT LOUD, and choose STOP or

press SHIFT + CNTRL + E.

For longer documents, you may want to narrow your reading to only a few key pages: in

particular, those pages that contain graphics, tables, columns, or text boxes.

However, if your document is not reading correctly, see “Check Reading Order” under Tips and

Tricks on Correcting Errors in a PDF file.

H. Forms

1. Forms must be created in Adobe Acrobat. Form fields will not convert from MS

Word to PDF.

2. Open the document in Adobe Acrobat Professional as you would normally.

3. Select Edit from the Forms Sub Menu on the right of the document.

4. Depending on the form, Adobe will ask to detect form fields for you. Click Yes.

Adobe Acrobat will tag and label each form field that it detects.

5. Go through your document to make sure all form fields were detected.

6. On each form field, right-click and select Properties. Verify that there is a

description in the “Name” area, and the same description in the “Tooltips” area.

Fields will not work without both.

If a field is missing, create one by:

1. With the Form Menu open, click “Add New Field” and select the appropriate item

(text field, check box, radio button, etc.).

2. Place the crosshairs at the insertion point, and hold down the mouse button while

dragging.

3. Apply the appropriate Field Name.

4. Right-click to open the Properties dialog box and add a “Tooltip” description.

Fixing Reading Order in Forms:

If you had to add any new fields, then the reading order may be wrong. To fix:

1. With the Form Menu open, click the Tab Order arrow and in the drop down menu

select Show Tab Numbers.

2. The info box that pops up is simply telling you to sort by tab order manually and you

will do that next, so click OK.

3. Numbers should now be seen in each field. This is the order in which the fields will be

read. If there are any numbers out of order on the screen go to the Tabs Oder again and

select Order Tabs Manually. The next info box is simply telling you that we cannot

reorder the fields between pages, so click OK.

4. Drag the tabs to the correct order.

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Chapter 10 - Tips and Tricks on Correcting Errors in a PDF file

Helpful Hint: Adobe Acrobat does not let you undo changes when fixing PDFs! Therefore, if

you are correcting a lot of errors, the best practice is to make a few changes at a time, do

another accessibility check – to make sure the changes worked – if they worked, save and then

continue. In the event the change caused more problems or didn’t work, do not save and revert

back to the last good save before moving on. You’ll avoid losing hours of work because of one

faulty correction.

A. Tables - Summaries Failed:

Summaries are required to pass the 508 Compliancy test. We have found no fix at this time

to make the summaries follow the tables from MS Word when converting to PDF. They

must be redone in the PDF file.

1. To correct this error in Adobe Acrobat Click Tools > Accessibility > Touchup

Reading Order.

2. Touchup Reading Order screen will appear. Click Close.

3. Right click on the table that was identified with no summary and select “Edit Table

Summary”.

4. Enter summary information.

B. Tables - Headers Failed:

1. To correct this error click Tools > Accessibility > Touchup Reading Order.

2. Touch up Reading Order screen will appear. Click Close.

3. Right click on the table that was identified with no head and select “Table Editor.”

4. You should now see a TD in each cell.

5. At this point you need to determine which ones are the header cells.

6. Click the cell where it says TD. Right click and select “Table Cell Properties.”

7. Change Data cell to Header cell.

8. Under SCOPE drop down choose appropriate tag (whether it’s the header for a

column or a row).

C. Regularity Failed:

Regularity issues come in to play because you may have merged cells in a table. Tables must

contain the same number of columns in each row, and rows in each column – but there is a

work around to fix this issue.

The easiest way to fix this problem is to go back to your original document and fix it there.

To fix failed regularity using PDF tools:

After you perform a 508 compliancy check, click on the Tags icon. This will open up the

tags listing all sections, paragraphs, tables, etc. Tags indicate the structure of the

document and communicate the order in which the items should be read.

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To Fix (example table):

1. Open the tags panel on left side of screen (looks like a little tag)

2. Locate the problem table and click the + symbol to open the string.

3. Open every Table Row (TR) and find the one with the highest number of TH or TD

cells.

Note in example: there’s only one tag under the Table Header Merged cells area -

there should be three tags.

4. You need to change this by adding more TH or TD tags.

Figure 50 - Tags section displaying the table data and header cells

5. Start by going to Table Cell Properties and change the merged cell to a header cell, scope:

None.

a. Click on Tools.

b. Click on the Touch Up Reading Order.

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Figure 51 - Acrobat displaying the Touch up Reading Order icon

c. Once the Touch up Reading Order screen appears, click on Close (this action merely

highlights the items on the page for you).

d. Right click on the table and select Table Editor to show you the TH and TD cells (See

Figure 21 below.)

Figure 52 - Touch up Reading Order screen

e. Right Click on TD to select the Table Properties screen.

f. Change the merged cell (Table Header merged cells) to a header cell, scope: None.

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Figure 53 - Table Cell Properties menu

g. Next change the cells labeled “Column Headers” to Header cells, scope: Column.

Figure 54 - Table Cell Properties menu showing column headers

h. If your table also has Header Rows change the cells labeled “Data Headers” to

Header cells, scope: Row.

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Figure 55 - Table Cell Properties menu showing row headers

D. Add New Tags to the Table:

1. Open the Tags panel again and locate the problem table.

2. Open the first Table Row (TR) in the Tags panel.

3. Right click and select NEW TAG.

4. Set Type to Table Header Cell from the drop down menu and click OK.

5. Repeat step until number of TH tags match other Table Rows. All TR sections

should have the same number of tags.

Figure 56 - Tags on the left side of the page and the New Tag menu opened

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Make sure new tags are nested under the Table Row and not the Table. You can drag to the

correct area if needed. For Table Rows with TH and TD tags (if you need to add more tags),

there should only be one TH…the rest can be TDs. Repeat New Tag steps and change Type

to “Table Data Cell” for TDs.

Figure 57 - Tags menu with correct tag structure

Your irregular table should now be fixed and read correctly.

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E. Touchup Reading Order in a PDF file

Choose Tools > Accessibility > Touchup Reading Order to select the Touchup Reading

Order tool.

Figure 58 - Touch up Reading Order view

The Touchup Reading Order tool provides the easiest and quickest way to fix reading order

and basic tagging problems. When you select the Touchup Reading Order tool, a dialog box

opens that lets you see overlay highlights that show the order of page content. Each

highlighted region is numbered and highlighted with gray or colored blocks; the number

indicates the region’s placement in the page’s reading order.

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F. Using the Touch Up Reading Order Tool to Add Alternate Text

1. Select the Touch Up Reading Order Tool.

2. Select Show Tables and Figures in the dialog box.

3. Right click the figure, and choose Edit Alternate Text from the pop-up menu.

4. In the Edit Alternate Text dialog box, type a new (or edit an existing) description for the

figure, then click OK.

G. To Correct Reading Order:

1. From the “Touch up Reading Order” window, select show order panel.

2. On left side of screen, under “Order”, select the out of order item and drag it to

the correct location in the reading order.

After you visually check the reading order of the page it’s a good idea to use the “Read

Out Loud” feature, found under VIEW, to be sure the Assistive Technology is reading

the page correctly.

Figure 59 - Z Order or Reading Order Panel

Unfortunately, more often than not, graphic images will not be in order, and using the “Z”

order panel may not correct the problem. Also, you may find that when you drag an element it

merges with another and then will not read correctly. Do not save and revert if this happens.

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Instead correct tagging issues as needed using the following steps in Correct Out of Order

Tags.

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H. Correct Out of Order Tags:

1. Open the Tags panel.

2. Find the Tag that is out of order (Figures are often at the beginning or

very end of the tag structure).

Figure 60 - Incorrect Tag Structure

3. Drag the tag(s) to the correct location in the tags panel to match the

screen layout. Do this for each page where the graphics or text is not in

order. Note how “Figures” are now below the “H1” and above the “P”.

Figure 61 - Correct Location of Tags

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I. Setting Content to Background:

Often content such as decorative lines between paragraphs or borders around pages don’t

offer anything other than visual appeal and don’t necessarily need to be read aloud. These

kinds of images can be set to background so assistive technology won’t attempt to read them.

1. Open the Touch Up Reading Order window.

2. Select the item by either clicking on it or dragging your cursor while holding down the

right mouse button over the entire image. It helps to zoom in.

3. With the element selected, click the background button in the Touch Up Reading Order

Screen. Or right click and choose background from the flyout menu.

4. You may need to go into the Tags panel and delete any empty tags left there after you

have set them to background. An empty tag does not have a (+) sign in front of it.

J. Changing Content Tags:

Sometimes Adobe gets it wrong. You may see content that was labeled a table instead of text,

or a labeled a paragraph instead of a heading. If text is not labeled at all, you will need to apply

one. Simply select the incorrect group and either use the Touch Up Reading order window and

apply the correct label, or right click and select the correct label from the drop down window.

From the Tags panel you can select the tag, right click and choose Properties to apply to correct

label

type.

K. List Errors

If you don’t create lists using the correct tools on the Home tab, you’re in for a bad time.

They are time consuming to fix and if you’ve got a lot of them it can get confusing.

Figure 62 - Correct order for List Items in the tag structure

List <L> is always the main folder for the group.

List Item <LI> is the folder for the numbered items and items listed under that

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number. List Body <LB> is the folder for the actual text. This goes under List Item.

Lists are also created when we have linked content from a TOC or Table of Content structure.

Figure 63 - Example of a complex list structure

Figure 64 - Example of Linked List tag structure

If your list Links from another part of the document such as the Table of Contents, you will

see a Link – OBJR. This folder will reside under the <LI> folders.

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Acrobat may incorrectly place content in the wrong structure and you will have to fix it.

Simply drag the <Lbl> and <LBody> content, not the folder, under the Link – OBJR folder

and delete the now empty <Lbl> and <LBody> folders.

L. Annotation Errors

There are many kinds of annotations. The key is, knowing what you are looking at before

you begin.

If you get a Tagged Annotations Failed error when you do an accessibility, to fix:

1. Right click on the listed error to see what the error is on the page. Note what kind

of content it is.

2. In the error panel right click on the listed error and choose View in Content Panel.

3. In the Content Panel it will have the error listed under the Annotations.

4. Choose the Options drop down and select Find.

5. In the Find Element window select Unmarked Annotation.

6. Choose Search Page or Entire Document.

7. Click on the Find button at the bottom of the window. If it finds anything the Tag

element box will become available.

8. Note what is highlighted on the page first and then click the Tag Element button.

9. Select the Type (most common is a Link or Form) and say OK.

10. The Tag Element button will remain available until all untagged annotations have

been resolved.

M. Tagged Form Fields

When Tagged Form Fields fail, follow the same steps as above. After clicking the Tag

Element button, choose the Type dropdown and select Form.

N. Tab Order

With a Tab Order – failed, try right clicking on the error first and select

fix. To manually fix the tab order for links, form fields, comments, and

other annotations:

1. Click the Pages panel on the navigation pane.

2. Click a page thumbnail, and then choose Page Properties from the Options menu.

3. In the Page Properties dialog box, choose Tab Order. Then, select Use Document

Structure, and click OK.

O. Encoding Errors

Encoding errors happen when one; a document created on a Mac using special characters is

saved as a PDF and then opened on a PC, or two; font conflicts occur. The best way to avoid

these issues is to use Open Type, or install the missing fonts on your computer. For Mac

users saving documents for PC use, convert fonts to curves/outlines prior to saving as a

PDF.

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We can’t recreate one of these errors, but we can suggest how to fix them if you encounter one.

1. Click on the error in the

cces

Checker

panel to locate the element on the

page.

2. Next open the Content

tab in the Tools

nel

Text &

4. Highlight the error on the page itself and under format try changing the

you can find a font that is compatible with what

was

it may fix the

5. If this doesn’t w

and you have no way of obtaining the original to ed

you

can

the offending element and try replacing it by adding a new text

element or image. Be careful not to change content

essential

to the meaning of

the

ument

P. Using the Acrobat XI Pro Accessibility Checker

A complete walkthrough of Acrobat XI's Accessibility Checker, as well as the Make

Accessible action wizard.

•

Adobe Acrobat XI Pro Accessibility Guide: Using the Accessibility Checker

(PDF,9.2M).

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/accessibility

/pr oducts/acrobat/pdfs/acrobat-xi-accessibility-checker.pdf

•

Acrobat XI Pro PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow.

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/accessibility

/pr oducts/acrobat/pdfs/acrobat-xi-pdf-accessibility-repair-workflow.pdf

Analyze PDF files and add enhancements to make documents accessible to all users.

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Appendix 1 - Font Index

Following are fonts commonly found in MS Word, and at this time known to be compliant. We

suggest limiting your document to no more than two fonts.

Word 508 Compliant Fonts

Agency FB

Constantia

Albany

Cooper

Albertus

Copperplate Gothic

Algerian

Corbel

Andale

Cordia Coronet

Andalue

Cornet

Angsana New

Courier

Antique Olive

Curlz

Aparajita

DauaPeah

Arabic typesetting

DFKai

Arial

Dillenia

Baskerville Old Face

DokChamps

Batang

Dotum

Bauhaus

Ebrima

Bell

Edwardian Script

Berlin Sans

Elephant

Bernard

Engravers

BlackLadder

Eras

Bodoni

Estrangelo

Book Antiqua

Eurcrozia

Bookman Old Style

Euphemia

Bookshelf Symbol 7

FangSong

Bradley Hand

Felix Titling

Britannic Bold

Footlight

Browallia New

Forte

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Word 508 Compliant Fonts

Brush Script

Franklin Gothic

Calibri

Freesia

Californian

Freestyle Script

Calisto

French Script

Cambria

Gabriola

Candara

Garamond

Castellar

Gautami

Centaur

Georgia

Century

Freesia

Century Gothic

Freestyle Script

Century Schoolbook

French Script

CG Omega

Gabriola

CG Times

Garamond

Chiller

Gautami

Clarendon

Georgia

Colonna

Freesia

Comic Sans

Gigi

Consolas

Gill Sans

Gloucester

Microsoft Himalaya

Goudy Old Style

Microsoft Jheng Hei

Goudy Stout

Microsoft New Tai Lue

Gulim

Mocrosoft PhagsPa

Gungsuh

Microsoft Sans Serif

Hattenschweiler

Microsoft Tai Le

Harlow Solid

Microsoft Ughur

Harrington

Microsoft YaHei

High Tower

Microsoft Yi Baiti

Impact

MingLiU

Imprint

Mistral

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Word 508 Compliant Fonts

Informal

Modern No. 20

Iris

Mongolian Baiti

Iskoola Pota

Monoty[e Corsiva

Jasmin

MoolBoran

Jokerman

MS Gothic

Juice

MS Mincho

KaiTi

MS Outlook

Kalinga

MS PGothic

Kartika

MS PMincho

Khmer

MS Reference Sans

Kodchiang

MS Reference Specialty

Kokila

MS UI Gothic

Kristen

MT Extra

Kunsteler Script

MV Boli

Lao

Niagara Engrave and Solid

Latha

NSimSun

Leelawadee

Nyala

Letter

OCR

Lucida Bright

Old English Text

Lucida Caligraphy

Onyx

Lucida Console

Palace Script

Lucida Fax

Palatino

Lucida handwriting

Papyrus

Lucida Sans Typewriter

Parchment

Lucida Sans Unicode

Perpetua

Magneto

Plantagenet Cherokee

Maiandra

Playbill

Malgun

PMing

Mangal

Poor Richard

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Word 508 Compliant Fonts

Marigold

Pristina

Marlett

Raavi

Matura

Rage

Meiryo

Ravic

Rockwell

Tempus

Sakkai majalla

Times New Roman

SAPDings

Traditional Arabic

SAPIcons

Trebuchet

Script

Tunge

Segoe

TW Cen

Shonar Bangla

Universe

Showcard gothic

Utsaah

Shruti

Vani

SimiHei

Verdana

Simplified Arabic

Vijaya

SimSun

Viner Hand

Snap

Vivaldi

Stencil

Vladimire Script

Sylfaen

Vrinda

Symbol

Wide Latin

Tahoma

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These are the fonts known to have issues. We suggest not using them.

Word Fonts with Known 508 compliant Issues

Adobe Arabic

Giddyup

Adobe Caslon

Hobo

Adobe Fan Heiti

Kozuka Gothic

Adobe Fangsong

Levenim

Adobe Garamond Pro

Lithos

Adobe Gothic

Lucida Sans

Adobe Hebrew

Mesqutte

Adobe Heiti

Minion pro

Adobe kaiti

Miriam

Adobe Ming

Myriad Pro

Adobe Myungjo

Narkisim

Adobe Nash

Nueva

Adobe Song

Orator

Aharoni

Poplar

Birch

Prestige

Blackoak

Rod

Chaparral Pro

Rosewood

Charlemagne

Tekton

David

Trajan Pro

FrankRuehl

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Appendix 2 - Symbol Shortcuts

Alt + (the number)

☺

▲

120

150

┤

180

╥

210

≡

240

☻

▼

[

121

151

╡

181

╙

211

241

♥

spac

122

152

╢

182

╘

212

≥

242

♦

]

{

123

153

╖

183

╒

213

≤

243

♣

124

154

╕

184

╓

214

⌠

244

♠

}

125

155

╣

185

╫

215

⌡

245

•

126

156

║

186

╪

216

246

◘

⌂

127

157

╗

187

┘

217

≈

247

○

128

₧

158

╝

188

┌

218

248

◙

129

159

╜

189

█

219

∙

249

♂

(

100

130

160

╛

190

▄

220

250

♀

)

101

131

161

┐

191

▌

221

√

251

♪

102

132

162

└

192

▐

222

ⁿ

252

♫

103

133

163

┴

193

▀

223

253

☼

104

134

164

┬

194

224

■

254

►

105

135

165

├

195

225

255

◄

106

136

166

─

196

226

↕

107

137

167

┼

197

227

‼

108

138

168

╞

198

228

109

139

⌐

169

╟

199

229

110

140

170

╚

200

230

▬

111

141

171

╔

201

231

↨

112

142

172

╩

202

232

↑

113

143

173

╦

203

233

↓

114

144

174

╠

204

234

→

115

145

175

═

205

235

←

116

146

░

176

╬

206

∞

236

∟

117

147

▒

177

╧

207

237

↔

118

148

▓

178

╨

208

238

;

119

149

│

179

╤

209

∩

239