Creating Accessible Word, PDF files and Web pages

Lydia Georgieva
Student M.E.T.
Boise State University

Learner description: this page was created for teachers who want to learn how to make their documents and web pages accessible for their learners with visual impairment

Introduction

Accessibility of documents and web pages refers to the ease with which learners with disabilities can access content. Here you will find links to pages that will help you learn how to make your Word documents, PDF documents and web pages accessible to those learners who may be visually impaired or colorblind.

Two sets of standards contain the guiding principles of making documents and web pages accessible: Section 508 and WCAG. The summary of the Section 508 standards can be viewed here:http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist .

And the most recent version of the WACG is available here: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Accessibility of Word documents

Most documents are written in Word and here is a link to the techniques that will help you make those documents accessible to your learners with visual impairment: Creating Accessible Word Documents

Word documents can also be converted to PDF files and some techniques on how to make those accessible to your learners with visual disabilities can be found here: Converting Word Documents into Accessible PDF files

Adobe also has published useful videos on how to create accessible PDF files: Creating Accessible PDF files

PDF accessibility evaluation tools

Although there are evaluation tools for PDF files on the web, most of them are commercial and Adobe Acrobat contains the quick and full check functions which will enable you to create accessible PDF files for your learners. The tutorial linked here will show you how to check if your PDF document is accessible: Ensuring Accessibility of Your PDF files

Adobe also created many instructional tutorials on using Adobe products to make accessible content and those can be accessed here: http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/index.html

Web page check tools

This sections provides you with links to check your web page accessibility. You can check whether your web page complies with the WCAG guidelines here:

Cynthia Says Portal-Online tool that evaluates Web pages for compliance to Section 508 standards and/or the WCAG guidelines.

List of Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools- The tools in this list were designed to test Web pages for accessibility.

Color and Contrast tools

Use these tools to check if your web pages are accessible for people with color blindness:

Color and Contrast- a tool to check the color and contrast of your web page for accessibility.

Color Laboratory- a tool that simulate colors as they are seen by individuals with color blindness.

Color Blind Web page Filter- a tool to test web pages and see what they look like to individuals with color blindness.

Fangs- a Mozilla Firefox extension that creates a text representation similar to how screen readers interpret a web page. Useful tool for developers that use Mac computers.

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