Documents/Presentations

The most common form of documents that students will encounter will be documents created with the Microsoft Office 2010. These documents, when formatted incorrectly, can cause accessibility issues for students. Students who are blind or have low vision use assistive software such as a screen reader that reads the content of a document out loud. Special coding is used in office suites for formatting documents that can enable screen readers to correctly read the information within the document or allow students to navigate the document to find the information without listening to the entire document. These codes are built within the styles which is why it is important to use styles correctly when formatting a document. Properly formatted documents can help students find information quickly. There are few simple techniques that can be used when formatting documents. Follow the links below to learn more on how to create accessible documents in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

• Headings
• Fonts
• Making Images Accessible
• Colors
• Tables
• Lists and Bullets
• Hyperlinks
• Other Considerations
• Additional Excel Considerations
• Additional PowerPoint Considerations
• Accessibility Checker

Sources:
The National Center on Disability and Access to Education: Creating Accessible Microsoft Word 2007/2010 Documents
WebAim: Microsoft Word
Microsoft Office: Creating accessible Word documents
Accessible Digital Office Document (ADOD) Project: Authoring Techniques for Accessible Office Documents: Microsoft Word 2010