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Re: Word viewer

for

From: Peter Krantz
Date: Nov 16, 2006 12:30AM

On 11/16/06, Cheryl Amato < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> I am currently evaluating a website for accessibility and am wondering exactly how to handle Word documents. If a web page is linked to a Word document I realize you must notify the user but should you also provide a link to the Word Viewer for those who don't have the software? Would this also be true for Powerpoint and Excel files (both have viewers available)? I am under the impression that the viewers are not necessarily accessible themselves.
>
> I am interested in how others are handling this as I'm sure it happens often.
>

In the latest version of the guidelines for Swedish government web
sites (see [1] for a rough english translation of chapter titles) the
recommendation is to try to publish documents in HTML format first. If
that isn't possible, accessible PDF documents are next in line. The
guidelines discourage the use of proprietary formats such as Word,
Powerpoint and Excel.

But if it isn't an option to publish in HTML or PDF my recommendation
would be to include a link to the relevant viewer nearby where the
documents are listed and include the document type in the link text
for single documents. E.g.: "Financial result (Excel document)".

The worst option, of course, is to not publish the information at all.

Regards,

Peter Krantz

[1] http://www.standards-schmandards.com/2006/swe-guidelines/