Make your Digital Media Projects Accessible

Creating accessible documents means everyone, including people with disabilities, can easily read and interact with your content. Not only does this make your work more inclusive, in some cases it's also required by Ontario law under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). This guide provides simple, step-by-step tips to help you ensure your Word documents are accessible.

This guide was written to support Microsoft Word 2021 and later. Some of the functionality will be different for older versions of Word.

Accessibility note for screen reader users: this guide bolds actionable items in Microsoft Word. Screen reader settings should be adjusted to ensure strong emphasis is read.

Running the Accessibility Checker (or Accessibility Assistant, depending on your version of Word) regularly while creating your document helps identify and fix issues early, saving time and effort later.

To run the Accessibility Checker/Assistant while you work:

1. Click the Review tab.
2. Click Check Accessibility.
3. Select Check Accessibility again from the dropdown menu.

Regularly review headings using the Navigation Pane

Including clear, well-structured headings is essential for accessibility. Use Word’s Navigation Pane periodically to ensure your document headings are logically ordered and clearly written.

To access the Navigation Pane:

1. Click the View tab.
2. Select the Navigation Pane checkbox.

Make sure you save your Word document using a descriptive filename. No only is the filename the first thing a screen reader announces when accessing a file, but a descriptive filename also gives users a clear understanding of the document’s content.

To save a Word document:

1. Click the File tab.
2. Click Save As.
3. Choose your save destination, then enter a clear, meaningful filename.

Document titles and metadata

Providing a clear document title is especially important when exporting to PDF. Adding descriptive metadata (such as author, title, and subject) further improves document accessibility for all users.

To edit document metadata:

• For Windows:
  1. Click the File tab.
  2. Select Info.
  3. Edit the relevant text boxes under Properties.
• For Mac:
  1. Click the File tab.
  2. Select Properties.
  3. Click the Summary tab.
  4. Edit the relevant text boxes.

Headings provide essential document structure for all users. Accessible headings must be formatted using Styles, clearly written, and organized in a logical hierarchy (more on this below).

Using Styles to create headings ensures that assistive technologies can programmatically recognize heading structures (i.e., without the need for visual cues). This enables a wider range users to effectively navigate Word documents.

To create or modify a heading using Styles:

• Click on the appropriate heading number in Styles and begin typing in your document, or
• Highlight the appropriate text and click on the heading number in Styles.

To set a logical heading structure:

• Use only heading levels 1 through 6 in Word documents.
• Heading 1 is reserved for the document's main title.
• Heading 2 is used for main sections within the document.
• Heading 3 is used for subsections of Heading 2, and so forth.

Important: Never skip heading levels, For example:

• A Heading 2 should never be directly followed by a Heading 4,
• However, after finishing a subsection (e.g., Heading 4), it's appropriate to return to a higher-level heading (such as Heading 2) when starting a new main section.

Tips for writing effective headings:

• Make headings descriptive so that users know what the section is about.
• Headings should be unique to avoid ambiguity.

Selecting accessible fonts is essential for document readability, particularly for users with low vision, dyslexia, or other print disabilities.

Characteristics of legible fonts:

• Sans-serif fonts (e.g., Arial, Calibri) are generally easier to read on screens.
• Use fonts sized at a minimum of 11 points.
• Choose fonts with good character spacing and distinguishable letters.

Font formatting tips:

• Use high contrast only when choosing a font colour.
• Never rely on colour alone to convey meaning.

To use High-contrast only font colours:

1. Click the Home tab.
2. Click the Font Colour dropdown.
3. Set the High-contrast only slider to On.

Using built-in paragraph and list formatting options in Word ensures document accessibility and improves formatting consistency. This is especially important if you are exporting to PDF.

General formatting guidelines:

• Always use the built-in List formatting tools:
  • Use bulleted lists when order is not important.
  • Use numbered lists when sequence matters.
• Use left-aligned text and avoid centred or fully justified text.
• Avoid Tables and Text Boxes purely for formatting.
• Avoid inserting multiple hard returns (pressing Enter repeatedly) to create spacing. Extra returns may be read aloud by screen readers, providing a poor user experience.

To view hidden formatting and paragraph marks:

1. Click the Home tab.
2. In the Paragraph group, select Show/hide Paragraph Marks (¶).

To adjust line spacing for the entire document:

1. Click the Design tab.
2. Click the Paragraph Spacing dropdown.
3. Select a Built-in spacing option or choose Custom Paragraph Spacing… for precise adjustments.

To adjust white space before or after specific paragraphs or headings:

1. Place your cursor within the target paragraph or heading.
2. Select the Layout tab.
3. Use the Spacing options (Before and After) to add or remove space.

To create a page break:

1. Put your cursor where you want your page to end.
2. Select Insert tab and select Page Break.

Proper structural markup is essential to make tables accessible. It gives users of assistive technologies clear context about their position within a table. Note that Word provides fewer accessibility markup options compared to formats such as HTML or PDF.

Guidelines for accessible tables:

• Only use tables for presenting data, never for document layout or visual formatting.
• Identify column and/or row headers.
• Avoid blank cells; each cell should contain meaningful content.
• Do not merge or split cells; every cell must align with one row and one column.
• Ensure tables have sufficient colour contrast between text and background.

To create a table:

1. Click the Insert tab.
2. Select the Table dropdown.
3. Select Insert Table… and set your desired number of columns and rows.

To format table headers:

1. Click on your table.
2. Select the Table Design tab.
3. Under Table Style Options, check:
   1. Header Row to designate column headers.
   2. First Column to designate row headers, if applicable.

Charts and graphs are great ways to summarize data in a visual format. Here are some ways you can optimize your chart or graph to ensure accessibility for all users.

Guidelines for creating accessible charts and graphs:

• Ensure text legibility and white space:
  1. Click on the chart or graph in your document.
  2. Select the Format tab.
  3. Use Current Selection dropdown to choose elements (e.g., title, legend, chart area, axes).
  4. Select Format Selection to adjust spacing, font size, and style for improved readability.
• Manually check colour contrast:
  • Word doesn't have built-in tools to check chart colour contrast for charts and graphs. Use a manual colour contrast checker, such as the Colour Contrast Analyser, to ensure accessible contrast between adjacent chart colours and backgrounds.
• Do not rely on colour alone to convey information:
  • Add clear data labels directly on data points or series.
  • Incorporate patterns, shapes, or textures to differentiate chart elements clearly.
  • Include data or description in an additional format, such as:
    • A data table linked immediately after the chart.
    • A descriptive caption or text summary in the surrounding body of text.

To adjust colours within charts or graphs:

1. Click on your chart.
2. Select the Chart Design tab.
3. From Chart Styles, click Change Colours to select accessible colour options.

Descriptive link text help all users clearly understand the link's destination, and ensuring links are properly formatted enables users of assistive technology to navigate efficiently by jumping between links.

Accessible link text should be:

• Descriptive: Clearly indicates the link destination, even if taken out of context.
• Concise: Keep link text short and clear.
• Unique: Avoid using the same link text for links heading to different destinations.
• Visually distinct: Format links so they clearly stand out from normal text (e.g., underlined and distinctly coloured).

Types of links available in Word:

• Existing File or Web Page
• Place in This Document (links to headings or bookmarks)
• E-mail Address

To add a link:

1. Highlight the text you want to link.
2. Right-click the highlighted text and select Link (or Hyperlink on Mac).
3. Choose the desired link type and enter the destination.

Adding links to documents that are intended for printing:

1. Create a descriptive link text as usual.
2. Include the full URL in parentheses immediately after the link.
   • For example, McLaughlin Library (https://www.lib.uoguelph.ca)

Alternative (alt) text provides users of assistive technology with an equivalent understanding of image content. Images in Word documents should always have accurate alt text or be marked as decorative and be placed inline with text to ensure accessibility.

Creating effective alternative text

Types of images and alt text requirements:

• Functional images (images conveying information or performing a function, such as linked images):
  • Require descriptive alt text.
• Decorative images (used for aesthetic purposes or layout only, without meaningful information):
  • Do not require alt text, but must be marked as decorative.

Images added to Word are automatically given alt text. To edit or add alt text within Word:

1. Right-click (or control-click on Mac) on the image.
2. Select View Alt Text.
3. In the Alt Text pane:
   • Edit or approve alt text, or
   • Check the option Mark as decorative if the image doesn't convey meaningful information.

Tips for writing effective alt text:

• Provide an equivalent understanding as viewing the image directly.
  • Ask: “What would you write if the image wasn’t visible?”
• Be concise: aim for 1–2 clear sentences.
• Avoid redundancy (e.g., don't start with "image of...").
• For complex images, include a detailed description in surrounding text or a caption.

Placing images inline with text

Images should be formatted inline to ensure proper recognition by screen readers. To ensure an image is inline with text:

1. Right-click (or control-click on Mac) the image.
2. Select Wrap Text.
3. Choose In Line with Text.

Word includes built-in accessibility checking tools that help identify potential issues, but manual checking is still required to ensure full accessibility. Depending on your Word version, you'll use either the Accessibility Checker (older versions) or the Accessibility Assistant (newer versions).

To open the Accessibility Checker or Assistant:

1. Click the Review tab.
2. Click the Check Accessibility.
3. Select Check Accessibility again from the dropdown menu.

Using the Accessibility Checker

Run the Accessibility Checker before finalizing your document. Resolve all identified issues, categorized as follows:

• Errors: Issues making the document difficult or impossible for users with disabilities to access.
• Warnings: Issues that usually affect readability or accessibility.
• Tips: Recommendations to improve user experience.
• Intelligent Services: Automatic accessibility adjustments made by Word’s Artificial Intelligence (AI), requiring your review for accuracy.

Using the Accessibility Assistant

The Accessibility Assistant functions similarly to the Checker but organizes issues differently. Always resolve identified issues before completing your document. Categories include:

• Colour and Contrast: Checks text contrast against backgrounds. (Note: This doesn't check contrast in charts, graphs, tables, or images—these must be manually checked.)
• Media and Illustrations: Checks for missing or insufficient alternative (alt) text and other media related issues.
• Tables: Checks table structure and readability.
• Document Structure: Checks that headings are used. (Note: You must manually verify logical heading order.)
• Document Access: Ensures the document is accessible programmatically, critical for assistive technologies like screen readers.

Running manual checks on your document

The Accessibility Checker or Assistant alone doesn't guarantee full accessibility. Conduct the following manual checks as a final step:

• Verify logical heading structure and hierarchy.
• Manually proofread for spelling and grammar errors, even after using Word's spelling and grammar checker.
  • Tip: Word’s grammar checker provides readability scores that can help improve clarity.
• Check text and visuals (including charts, graphs, tables, images) for adequate colour contrast using a tool like the Colour Contrast Analyser.
• Ensure alt text for all images is clear, concise, and meaningful.

• Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities (Microsoft)
• Create Accessible Word Documents – Videos (Microsoft)
• Microsoft Word: Creating Accessible Documents (WebAIM)