Best Practices and Tools for creating accessible documents
Creating accessible documents is crucial for ensuring that everyone, including individuals with disabilities, can access and understand the content.
When working on a new document, the best and easiest method is to:
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Create the Document in MS Word: Start by drafting your document in Microsoft Word, a widely used word processing application. MS Word provides tools and features that facilitate document creation and formatting. As you work on your content, it's important to structure the document using headings, lists, and other formatting options, as these elements contribute to accessibility.
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Run Accessibility Checker in MS Word: After completing your document, utilize the Accessibility Checker in MS Word. This built-in tool examines the document for potential accessibility issues and provides suggestions for improvement. This step ensures that you address common accessibility issues at the source before exporting to a different format.
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Export to PDF: Once you've addressed accessibility concerns in MS Word, export your document to PDF. PDFs are a widely used format for sharing documents, and they can maintain the structure and formatting established in MS Word.
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Open PDF in Adobe Acrobat: Adobe Acrobat is a powerful tool for working with PDF documents. Opening your newly created PDF in Adobe Acrobat allows you to perform a more thorough accessibility check. Acrobat's Accessibility Checker provides additional insights and identifies potential issues that may not have been caught by MS Word's checker.
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Run Document through Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Checker: Use Adobe Acrobat's Accessibility Checker to scrutinize the PDF for any remaining accessibility issues. This step ensures that your document meets the highest standards of accessibility, as Adobe Acrobat's checker may catch nuances that MS Word's checker might have overlooked.