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Accessibility Best Practices for LibGuide Content Creators

Accessible Documents

Using Styles Options to Create Accessible Outlines | Accessibility Checks | Resources

One of the most useful accessibility practices in this guide has almost nothing to do with using LibGuides. Instead, it relates to the practice of creating accessible documents in programs such as Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Office, and Google Docs. "Applying these strategies not only enables students who rely on assistive technology to access your materials without additional supports, it also enhances the usability for everyone." [1]

So, why is it in this guide, which is supposed to be about creating accessible LibGuides? There are two reasons. 1) It's really great information to know. 2) Sometimes it is necessary to import documents into your guide and those documents need to be accessible, just like the guide itself.

In this guide, we will focus primarily on using built-in options to create accessible documents, but many of the other principles that are discussed in the other tabs are applicable here (i.e., text and background contrast, font size, alternative text, etc.). For more succinct information about these principles, please review OIT's document How to Design Accessible Word Documents.

Please note: Since software is continuously being updated and may look a bit different depending upon which version you access, this guide will be as generically-specific as possible - with the hopes that some titles will not change.

Using Style Options to Create Accessible Outlines

Using Styles in Word Documents

On the Home ribbon in Word, you should notice a Styles section, which may or may not be marked. Look for a row of fonts with terms like Heading 1, Heading 2, or Normal underneath.

Styles section from Microsoft Word.

Word's Style section allows you to create invisible tags that allow easy navigation throughout your document, similar to using nested headings in your LibGuide (which is discussed in the Headers section of this guide).

If these styles are used properly, end-users can open the Navigation Pane for a clickable outline. Additionally, users using a screen reader will be able to logically navigate the document, skipping through areas that are not of use or that have already been reviewed.

Example:

You are creating a user's manual for a database that is becoming more popular. Because you want to incorporate as many of the database's functions as possible using text and screenshots. You anticipate the document being over 10 pages. You create the document in Word using Heading styles. Your users can open the Navigation Pane and jump right to the section they have questions about.

Tip:

You aren't stuck with the default Style settings in Word. You can open the Styles Pane to create your own styles with different sizes, fonts, and colors.
For more tips about creating accessible Word Documents, review the University of Washington's site Creating Accessible Documents in Microsoft Word.

Using Styles in Google Docs

Using Styles in Google Docs is very similar to Word; however, accessing the Style options are a bit different.

There are two general ways to access Styles. First, on the main ribbon, look for the drop-down marked Normal text. Selecting this drop-down will open a list of various available styles. Second, click the Format option at the top of the page. Within this section, you will find a larger list of available styles under the heading Paragraph styles.

Example of a Google Doc with Normal Text and Format highlighted.

To access the Navigation Pane, click View > Show document outline.

Using Bookmarks in Adobe Acrobat

If you are working on a PDF, you may need to operate in Adobe Acrobat rather than Word or Docs. Luckily, Acrobat also has a feature that allows you to create items similar to headings. In this instance, you will add a Bookmark to a page to create easy navigation.

To add a bookmark, you will need to first verify that the Navigation Pane is visible. To do this, click View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Bookmarks. Once the Navigation pane is open, make certain you are in Bookmarks by clicking the Bookmark icon, which looks like a rectangle with a triangle shape removed from the bottom. You should also notice the Add Bookmark icon, which is the same icon with a plus sign.

Bookmark and Add Bookmark icons highlighted.

In Acrobat, these navigational items are handled a bit differently. Instead of using text as a header, Acrobat adds a bookmark to a page, or a place on a page. To add a bookmark, navigate to the top of the page you'd like to add it, and click the Add Bookmark icon. Once added, you can also name the bookmark. You can also drag the bookmark to embed it within another bookmark or move it to its own section.

To a certain degree, you can also mark a specific place on a page as a bookmark. To do this, scroll the page until the area you'd like to bookmark is at the very top of the page. Then, click the Add Bookmark icon. This may take a bit of adjusting to get exactly right, and it doesn't work very well if the area is at the bottom of the final page in your document.

Accessibility Checks

Today, many programs have Accessibility Checkers built-in. It's always a good idea to run these checks - especially if you are planning to import the document to your LibGuide.

Here are some common programs and how to run the accessibility check:

  • Microsoft Word and Excel
    • Select the Review tab and click Check Accessibility
  • Google Docs and Sheets
    • Currently, Google Docs/Sheets does not offer a built-in checker; however, there are possible workarounds:
      1. There may be accessibility-related extensions available
      2. Open the File menu and select Download. Next, choose Microsoft Word/Excel. Open the file in Word or Excel and run the accessibility checker as described above. After making corrections, you can upload your file back into Google Docs/Sheets.
  • Adobe Acrobat
    • Select the Tools option from the ribbon.
    • Find the Accessibility tool.
    • Select Accessibility Check and choose to Start Checking.
    • Issues will display; however, you must expand each list item to review all issues.