Creating Accessible Learning: Digital Documents Overview

• Avoid visual-only document structure
  • Do not rely solely on font formatting options to create title, headings, subheadings, etc.
  • Do not use invisible tables as a way to organize content on a page
• Create programmatically-tagged document headers using Styles & Headings
  • Use one Heading 1 per document (i.e., the title)
    • Avoid using Title Style for title
  • Heading 2 delineates major section headings
  • Heading 3, 4, etc. are subsections
  • Use no more than 6 heading levels
  • Do not skip heading levels
  • Change Style formatting by formatting text as desired, highlight said text, right click on the Style in Style Pane, and select “Update to Match Selection”
• Write concise headings that describe content within that section
• Check headings and reading order using the Navigation Pane
  • Ensure proper reading order of headings
  • Ensure headings are properly nested

• Recognize all types of content that count as an “image”
  • Image files, shapes, word art, Smart Charts, graphs, etc.
• Add alt text to images that convey information and are not just decorative
  • Craft concise (250 characters or less) alt text that communicates the goal or purpose of the image within its context
  • Add complex alt text for images that convey information and require longer descriptions
  • For decoration-only images, check the alt text box for “Mark as decorative”
• Format images as “In Line with Text” to preserve proper reading order

• Use simple, familiar fonts such as Arial and Times New Roman
• Use fonts with sufficient spacing between letters to avoid confusion
• Use appropriate font size

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