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Re: Australian Government guidance on PDF Accessibility

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From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Jan 10, 2011 3:30PM

Allen, the Accessibility tab is a tab for the Word ribbon. It displays almost all of the features that are most useful in creating an accessible document. We added a few more features because we had room. These features are in the first two groups on the tab -- in part because that moved the group called "Structure" right where we wanted it: front and center.

The Accessibility tab has these groups:
- File Tools contains New, Send, Open, Print, Save, Save, Save As, and Properties.
- Zoom contains 100%, One Page, Page Width, and Two Pages.
- Structure contains Show All (formatting marks), Document Map, Table of Contents (as in "Insert it here"), and Update Table of Contents
- Styles contains only Styles (the one that opens the Styles task pane, not the one that brings up the floating window). If I had it to do over, I would probably name this "Format" and add the Document Template button. I would also add the Quick Styles Gallery, but apparently that can reside only on the Home tab.
- Adjust Lists contains Demote List (*not* Increase Indent), Promote List (*not* Decrease Indent), and Restart Numbering. If I had it to do over, I would name this "Lists" and add the three buttons for lists now on Word 2007's Home tab.
- Columns, for lack of a better word, includes Columns (the button for creating columns) and Breaks (the button for inserting breaks). If I had it to do over, I might consolidate these with Styles and Document Template in the Format group.
- Tables contains the Table button (how I wish it didn't have "Draw Table" as one option!), Insert Caption (which can be used for anything that will take a caption), and Table Properties
- Links contains Hyperlink, Bookmark, and, out of place but we had no place else to put it, Language.

Following my specs for what should be there -- and limited by Microsoft's restrictions on what we could add (no Quick Styles Gallery, for example) -- our Information Resources staff edited the XML of a Word template to create this tab. (And I might have the way they did their magic wrong. As Karen pointed out, Microsoft relented in Office 2010 and allowed us to modify the ribbon much more easily. If you have 2010, you're in luck, but I understand that ribbons or tabs created in Office 2010 are not compatible with Office 2007.)

If you have Office 2007 -- or if you have Office 2010 and want to get an idea of a way to make the ribbon better support the creation of accessible content -- all you have to do to get the tab is ask for me to e-mail you this template and then create a new document from it. Better yet, put this template in Word's startup folder. That will make the tab available in every Word document you open.

Now, even with a better tool, people still need training -- largely because almost all training out there (notable exceptions provided by some members of this discussion group, but I'll let Karen and Bev toot their own horns) teaches you what happens when you use the buttons Microsoft put in front of you, not the most efficient way to get complete control of the formatting of your document -- which, by the way, also makes the text fully accessible. So there's a lot of retraining needed, and it begins well before saying, "Add alt text to your meaningful images."

If you would like a ZIP file containing the template, shoot me an e-mail.

Cliff

Cliff Tyllick
Usability assessment coordinator
Agency Communications Division
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
512-239-4516
<EMAIL REMOVED>

>>> On 1/10/2011 at 1:08 PM, in message < <EMAIL REMOVED> >, "Hoffman, Allen" < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
What is the accessibility tab and how did you create it?