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This page gathers documents that the Documentation Team has found or developed regarding Section 508 compliance. These documents will be posted in the appropriate place after consultation with other members of the Training and Development Team.

Adobe(R) Accessibility Quick Reference Card http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/2008/03/reference_card_for_accessible.html

WordToPDFReferenceCard_v1.pdf (presented by the blog page listed above) http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/assets/WordToPDFReferenceCard_v1.pdf

caBIG_PPT_508_Quick_Guide_FINAL_July_2009.ppt https://wiki.nci.nih.gov/download/attachments/7474647/caBIG_PPT_508_Quick_Guide_FINAL_July_2009.ppt

The quick guide is used with the PowerPoint templates posted on this page: https://wiki.nci.nih.gov/pages/viewpageattachments.action?pageId=10852174

caBIG_508_QuickGuide_Word_April_2009_Final.ppt https://wiki.nci.nih.gov/download/attachments/7474647/caBIG_508_QuickGuide_Word_April_2009_Final.ppt

Creating Accessible Documents at CBIIT (attached to this page) https://wiki.nci.nih.gov/download/attachments/21693549/DevelopingAccessibleDocs.pdf

Developing Accessible Technical Documents at NCI CBIIT

The following tables list steps technical writers at CBIIT must take to create Section 508-compliant documents. These steps may overlap with but do not replace the HHS checklists for achieving Section 508 compliance.

Table 1.1 explains how to prepare a FrameMaker document for accessibility.

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.

  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.

 

Creating Accessible Word Documents

Table 1.2 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.

Note: Refer to wordCheckList-HHS.pdf and adobeCheatSheatWordToPDFa.pdf 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 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.

 

Creating Accessible PDFs

Although the HHS says that PDFs do not need to be 508 compliant if a compliant HTML version of the document exists, it is a good idea to get in the practice of taking as many steps as you can to improve your PDF document's accessibility.

Table 1.3 explains how to create an accessible PDF once your document is in Acrobat.Table 1.3 explains how to create an accessible PDF once your source file is in Acrobat.

Note: Refer to the HHS checklist for accessible PDFs for helpful tips.

Step

Steps for creating accessible PDFs

For more information, see

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 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.


Accessibility Testing

Table 1.4 suggests ways you can test your ePublisher, Flare, and PDF output for accessibility. 

Ways to Test Your Output

For more information, see

Refer to the HHS accessibility checklists.

HHS Checklists

In ePublisher, run the accessibility report. Ignore errors about missing long descriptions and table summaries. If you use alternate text for graphics and include either a text introduction or caption for tables, you're covered on those.


Download the WAVE Firefox toolbar and view the help in Text-only view.

WAVE Toolbar for Firefox

Download an evaluation copy of JAWS and read the document out loud.

Freedom Scientific

Use the Adobe Read Out Loud feature to simulate what it would be like for other assistive technology (such as JAWS) to read your PDFs out loud.

 

Turn off your monitor when you use either JAWS or Adobe Read Out Loud (this takes some practice with each tool) to simulate what it is like not to see what you are doing.

 

Tab through the output to make sure that the reading order is logical.

 


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