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Step

Steps for creating accessible documents in FrameMaker

For more information, see

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1

Design with accessibility in mind. Only use our template styles, including character styles for common formatting such as bold and italic. Resist overriding template styles.

[[http://www.webaim.org/]|http://www.webaim.org/|WebAIM website]

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2

Use our latest FrameMaker template that consolidates all paragraph styles into each file in the book.
Important note! If you prefer to import styles from the new template rather than starting with an empty file, do not import styles into the TOC. Use the new TOC template file.

L:\Technical Writing\Templates\FrameMaker Templates\Current FM Templates

3

Add alternate text to images.
FrameMaker 7.0

  1. Place all graphics in anchored frames.
  2. Click an anchored frame one time to select it.
  3. Right-click the anchored frame and select Object Properties.
  4. Click the Object Attributes button. The Object Attributes dialog box appears.
  5. In the Alternate box, type an alternate text description for the content of the anchored frame
  6. Click Set and then Set again. A screen reader can now read the alternate text.

 

4

Use row and column headings and captions for all tables. Do not merge table rows or columns. Do not allow rows to break across pages.

 

5

Use meaningful link anchors rather than URLs when possible. Use the Go to URL hypertext marker for all URLs in FrameMaker.

 

6

In the PDF Setup dialog box, select Generate PDF Bookmarks, Generate Tagged PDF (click Default to tag all styles), and Create Named Destinations for All Paragraphs.
Use the latest book file in the template to inherit appropriate bookmark and tag options.

 

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The following table explains how you can prepare your Word documents for accessibility. Note that Word documents lose some of the accessibility options you introduce once they reach Acrobat. It is likely that you will need to post-process the file in Acrobat.unmigrated-wiki-markup

*Note:* Refer to the \[Word to PDF Reference Card]\|[http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/assets/WordToPDFReferenceCard_v1.pdf]\|Word to PDF Reference Card\] and the HHS [checklist for accessible Word files ||http://www.hhs.gov/web/policies/wordCheckList-HHS.pdf|HHS checklist for accessible Word files] wordCheckList-HHS.pdf&nbsp; for helpful tips.

Step

Steps for creating accessible documents in Word

For more information, see

1

Design with accessibility in mind. Only use our template styles, including character styles for common formatting such as bold and italic. Resist overriding template styles.

http://www.webaim.org/

2

Add alternate text to images.

Word 2003

  1. Right-click the image, then select Format Picture. The Format Picture dialog box appears. Note: If the Format Picture menu option is not available, view the Picture toolbar and click the Format Picture button.
  2. Select the Web tab and then add the appropriate alternative text.
    Word 2007
  3. Right-click the picture and select Size. The Size dialog box appears.
  4. Select the Alt Text tab. The image filename file name is entered into the field by default.
  5. Delete that and enter appropriate alternate text.

 

3

Use row and column headings and captions for all tables. Do not merge table rows or columns. Do not allow rows to break across pages.

 

4

Use meaningful link anchors rather than URLs when possible.

 

5

Configure PDFMaker to tag the document properly.
In Word 2003, select Adobe PDF > Change Conversion Settings.

  • On the Settings tab, select Bookmarks, Links, and Enable Accessibility and reflow.
  • On the Word tab, select Convert cross references, Convert footnote and endnote links, and Enable advanced tagging.
  • On the Bookmarks tab, select Convert Word Headings to Bookmarks and set the proper indent levels.

 

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Step

Steps for creating accessible PDFs

1

In the document properties, enter NCI CBIIT as the Author. In the Keywords field, enter 508 Compliant as one of your keywords.

2

Specify document language.

  1. Select File > Document Properties.
  2. Click the Advanced tab.
  3. In the Language list, select English.

3

Use the document structure to prevent errors in the accessibility report.

  1. Select all pages in the document.
  2. Right-click and then select Page Properties.
  3. Select Use Document Structure.

4

Run an accessibility full check using the Adobe PDF option.

  1. Select Advanced > Accessibility > Full Check. The Accessibility Full Check dialog box appears.
  2. Keep the defaults, which includes the checking option of Adobe PDF.
  3. Click Start Checking.

5

Fix any problems reported by the accessibility checker. Documents from Word tend to have more problems than documents from FrameMaker. Documents from Word may need post-processing in Acrobat. Use the accessibility checker report as a troubleshooting guide to narrow down problem areas.

To begin post-processing in Acrobat, select Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order. In the TouchUp Reading Order dialog box, click Show order panel, then do the following.

  • Confirm that each numbered box in the document is properly tagged.
  • Add alternate text as needed to figures as needed.
  • Remove nonessential content, such as ornamental page borders, from the logical structure tree as needed (files from Word tend to create a lot of nonessential tags that can be deleted in the PDF).
  • Note that when you remove the tags (such as by using the Delete Item Structure or Clear Page Structure commands), you cannot undo that action. Save your file often.

6

Once the steps above result in a PDF with no accessibility errors according to Adobe, set the scope of your tables. Adobe does not require you to set the scope but it is one more thing that you can do quickly to prepare your PDFs better for assistive technology.

  1. Select Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order.
  2. Scroll to your first table and click the number in its upper-left corner.
  3. On the TouchUp Reading Order panel, click Table Editor Editor to select the table.
  4. Select the cells that serve as column headers. You can also repeat these steps for cells that serve as row headers, if your table has that type of structure.
  5. Right-click and select Table Cell Properties.
  6. Keep the Type as Header Cell and from the Scope list, select Column. This tells a screen reader that it is to associate column headers with the cells in that column.
  7. Click OK.

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This section includes the following topics:

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preparingframe
preparingframe
Preparing FrameMaker Files For Accessibility

See the following sections to learn how to prepare your FrameMaker files for accessibility.

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FrameMaker supports a marker called TableSummary, which you can insert anywhere in a table, with the content of that marker being a summary of the table's content. However, it doesn't appear that these summaries are converted correctly into PDF or web-based help, since both the Acrobat and ePublisher accessibility checkers continue to note the absence of table summaries in documents I have tested.

The best approach is to use row and column headers where appropriate and include table captions for every table. We can write our table captions to accurately describe the content of the table. When that is not practical, we can introduce a table with a summary of it.

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  1. Click File > Print or File > Print Book. Select Adobe PDF as your printer.
  2. Select the Generate Acrobat Data option and then click the PDF Setup button. The PDF Setup dialog box appears.
  3. Click the Tags tab. Select the Generate Tagged PDF option and then do the following:
  4. Move paragraph tag names to the Include Paragraphs list to indicate paragraphs you want included in the PDF logical structure.
  5. Select a paragraph tag name and then use the arrows located directly under that list to indicate the structure level of the selected paragraph.
  6. Click Set.

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preparingword

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preparingword
Preparing Word Files For Accessibility

Microsoft Word also contains the tools necessary to create accessible documents. Perhaps the most important contributing factor to an accessible Word document is the use of Word styles. Properly structured documents that do not use override styles but rather styles defined by a template are the easiest for a screen reader to follow.

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For detailed information about creating accessible Word files, see
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/word/. You can also find detailed information in the online help for Adobe Acrobat.

Anchor

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characteristics

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characteristics
Characteristics of Accessible PDFs

Adobe defines accessible PDFs as having the characteristics in the table below. The table also presents an interpretation of how each characteristic applies to the technical documentation team at CBIIT.

Characteristic of Accessible PDFs

How This Applies To CBIIT

Searchable text

Do not scan documents to create a PDF. This converts all text to an image that a screen reader cannot scan.

Fonts that allow characters to be extracted to text

Make sure we only use fonts that can be extracted to Unicode characters. Use Adobe Acrobat 9 rather than 7, which does not support Unicode.

Interactive form fields

We do not use form fields.

Other interactive features: buttons, hyperlinks, and navigational aids

We already use links, bookmarks, headings, and a TOC, so we are covered here.

Document language

We cannot specify the document language from FrameMaker or Word so we must do so in the final PDF. To specify the document language, do the following.

  1. Select File > Document Properties.
  2. Click the Advanced tab.
  3. In the Language list, select English.

Security that will not interfere with assistive technology

We should not set any security restrictions on our PDF files. We do not currently do so. The text of an accessible PDF must be available to a screen reader.

Document structure tags and proper read order

When we create a tagged PDF, the structure of our source document creates the appropriate document structure tags. However, it appears that not all elements in our source files result in correctly structured tags. The Acrobat Accessibility Checker identifies these tags and it will be a learning process for all of us how many tags we need to fix.

Alternative text descriptions

We must do this in our source files.

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checkingforaccess

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checkingforaccess
Checking Documents for Accessibility

Both ePublisher and Acrobat contain accessibility tools that help spot glaring accessibility errors and remind us of accessibility issues that require manual checks. Using accessibility tools like these is really just one of the first steps toward Web accessibility.

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Credit for the content of the following two sections goes to WebAIM (http://www.webaim.org/articles/freetools/).

The Problem with Automated Tools

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Some of these accessibility errors require post-processing of our PDFs. Files originating in Word tend to have more accessibility errors that result in post-processing than do those files originating in FrameMaker.
Our goal is to have no accessibility errors and to see the following message box:

Anchor
usingepubreport
usingepubreport
Using the WebWorks ePublisher Accessibility Report

You can use the WebWorks ePublisher Accessibility report to identify accessibility warnings or errors in your online help files.
To view the accessibility report, do the following.

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