WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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RE: Desktop Publishing to Accessible Webs

for

From: Austin, Darrel
Date: Feb 22, 2006 3:50PM

> Just not sure if we can have the
> people who develop the newsletter (who granted, are not
> technical) learn a completely new method.

It doesn't have to be a huge step.

Get them to write the text in MS Word to begin with, then show them how
to properly make a headline (choose HEADER 1) as opposed to the more
common method (they pick PURPLE, 36pt, Comic Sans, Italic).

The former is structured. When you export that document as HTML, the
HTML will know to make that a H1. The latter is completely meaningless,
and will do nothing to help you make an accessible web page.

The key is the EXPORT step. You need to use something like HTML Tidy to
REALLY clean the HTML up nice.

At that point, the DTP folks can then cut and past from Word, and the
HTML folks can do what they want with the HTML export.

> I should also mention that I'm trying to cut back on caffeine.
> Therefore, wherever I mentioned "Frontpage", I meant "MS Publisher".
> Both of those give me the shudders, and I think my
> subconscious simply lumped them into the mental filing
> cabinet of "things that suck."

If accessibility is a concern, then getting rid of both of those apps
probably wouldn't hurt ;o)

> But the other problem I listed, of course, is what to do now.
> I've got an MS Publisher file that I need to get converted. I
> can use their built-in exporter to html, but the code is so
> dirty I can't do anything with it.

Right, if the ONLY source file you have is MS Publisher, you're probably
stuck with cutting, pasting, and reformatting the HTML by hand.

Hopefully, they can see the value in spending a bit of money on a better
workflow/software rather than paying you to do this all by hand. ;o)

Good luck!

-Darrel