Page History

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. See http://www.webaim.org/ for more information.

2

Use our latest FrameMaker template (on the following network drive: L:\Technical Writing\Templates\FrameMaker Templates\Current FM Templates) 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.

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.

1

Place the graphic in an anchored frame.

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

Actual text is for reading aloud the actual text, as in the case of a drop cap. For example, if the author is using a drop cap for the letter A in the word "Adobe" but still wants the screen readers to read the word as "Adobe" and not as "dobe," this can be done by filling in actual text.

7

Click Set and then Set again. A screen reader can now read the alternate text.

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.

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, show the Picture toolbar and click the Format Picture button.
   
2. Select the Web tab and then add the appropriate alternative text.

Word 2007

1. Right-click the picture and select Size. The Size dialog box appears.
   
2. Select the Alt Text tab. The image file name is entered into the field by default.
   
3. Delete the image file name and enter appropriate alternate text.

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.

1

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

2

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

3

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. For example, alternate text you add to images in Word do not always carry over to Acrobat. In this case, you would need to add the alternate text again in Acrobat. Use the accessibility checker report as a troubleshooting guide to narrow down problem areas. Our goal is for Acrobat to tell us that we have no accessibility errors. Beyond that it is useful to test the document using a screen reader. See this table for suggestions for simulating the experience of a person using assistive technology.

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 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.