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Re: Accessibility Checker - Office 2016 for Mac

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From: John E. Brandt
Date: Aug 17, 2016 1:37PM

First, you need the latest version of MS Office (MSO) for Mac, which is the 2016 version, and you need the latest updates that came out a few days ago (August updates). If you subscribe to Office 365, you can install MSO on up to five devices (Macs, Windows and IOS devices or any combination) and they all update automatically. You may need to run the MS Update to ensure that you have the latest updates. BTW, the update for PowerPoint came out 2-3 days after the ones for Excel and Word.

Basically, the Accessibility Checker (AC) is a tool that reviews your document and cites issues related to accessibility following most of the standard WCAG rules (e.g., Headings, ALT description, etc.). There are some additional "Warning" things that MS has thrown in like "Repeated blank characters."

See "Guidance on Applying WCAG 2.0 to Non-Web Information and Communications Technologies (WCAG2ICT)": https://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2ict/

When you use the AC tool, a new window pops up with the list of Errors and Warnings, and when you click on the individual Error or Warning, a description appears below explaining (Why fix?) and the steps needed to mitigate the error.

The tool is good for training people who are new to accessible design and in enterprise situations where you know your documents are going public. It is particularly helpful with large documents when trying to find all of the glitches can take a long time.

The AC has been available in the Windows version of MSO since I think 2010, so it is long overdue in the Mac version.

~j

John E. Brandt
jebswebs.com

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