Word - reviewing a template

I've recently contributed to a report created in Word that I want to make accessible. The document has to be formatted using the house style for The Reading Agency. Before formatting the document, I'm going to review the house style template and comment on elements of accessibility I’ll need to consider, referring to JISC TechDis Accessibility Essential series.

Appropriate use of fonts: font styles
The body text is set to default font size of 11pt, but it is recommended that text should be no smaller than 12pt.

The body text font is LuMarc Roman that is a serif font, it has the small features called ‘serifs’ at the end of strokes. This can be more difficult for users to read when viewed digitally as the fine details of the serifs can be distorted (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif#Usage). Studies online have also shown that sans-serif fonts such as Verdana (house style’s default font) are more readable online (www.wilsonweb.com/wmt6/html-email-fonts.htm). With many more people downloading documents and reading them off a screen, it would be worth considering moving to a sans-serif font.

Appropriate use of fonts: font colours and contrast issues
The Reading Agency logo uses Futura Bold font (sans-serif) and a dark and light green colour:

The Reading Agency’s colour logo

Individuals prefer different set-ups when viewing colours of documents. For example when viewing a black text Word document I prefer to change the background colour to off-white as it reduces the contrast and strain on my eyes.

It is recommended that there should be good contrast between the font colour and background colour. When The Reading Agency’s logo is used on a white background the contrast is quite low on the light green letters and perhaps will not be as readable. I tested this theory by converting the Pantone colour PMS 358 U to RGB colour values (red/green/blue) and Hexadecimal colour values. Next I entered the foreground value (light green) #AADD96 and the background value (white) #FFFFFF into a colour checker. It gave the following results:

“Brightness: The difference in brightness between your foreground and background colours is 57 and is therefore insufficient. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends a standard of 125 or greater.
Contrast: The contrast between your foreground and background colours is 224 and is therefore insufficient. The W3C recommends a standard of 500 or greater.”

A sample of how text will appear using The Reading Agency’s colour combinations of light green on a white background.

The logo uses a dark green on the first letters that may be indistinguishable to the light green letters for colour blind users.

Structuring documents: styles
The template uses Styles to distinguish heading text, sub headings and paragraph headings. These headings will make it easier for users to navigate through a document. For example, screen readers can jump to headings. Also, users can quickly amend the displayed styles to suit their own preferences.

In addition, when exported to html or PDF the document will maintain its structure (if using an appropriate convertor).

Also, if structured appropriately, internal links can be created using headings.

Headings can also be used to automatically create a table of contents.

However, the template does not use Heading 1, Heading 2 for Style names, instead it uses terms such as sub-heading, para heading. I do not know whether this will affect usability, I won’t be able to check until I’ve created a multi-page document using the template. But I'm assuming as it's not standard as in html (H1, H2 etc.) there will be some drawbacks. Update: I created a multipage document and then tried to automatically generate a contents page. I couldn’t because the headers styles were not recognized. Search engines give the words used in the various headings more weight, so it helps TRA documents appear in searches (for more info. on SEO see below).

Best practice with images
There is no guidance on the use of images within documents. Suitable images should be selected and can be made more accessible by:

• Selecting images that contain high contrast
• Using alternative text
• Inserting appropriate captions

Best practice with hyperlinks
There is no guidance on the use of hyperlinks within documents.

Best practice for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
There is no guidance on optimizing a document for SEO. Not obviously an accessibility issue, but good SEO for a document will help users find and access the information. The Reading Agency will want their documents to appear in online searchers. It is recommended that:

• Style attributes such as H1, H2 (semantics) are used as it makes it easier for a search engine to determine the topic of the document. Search engines give the words used in the various headings more weight in terms of search.
• Document properties should be completed including Title, Subject, Author etc. For example, at present The Reading Agency’s templates show the Company as Cog Design rather than The Reading Agency – for more information: http://www.seoconsultants.com/document/seo#Microsoft-Word
• The Title data is particularly important as this is what will come up in search engine results.

Exporting to PDF
It is recommended that documents are exported to PDF before being sent externally. However, there are no recommendations about ensuring accessibility of a document is transferred across to a PDF, such as structure, image alternative text, bookmarks and reflow enabled.

Cutepdf Writer is recommended as the convertor to use, however this PDF writer does not transfer bookmarks, document structure, allow reflow or alternative text for images.

Summary
In summary, it is incredibly helpful that a template and guidance already exists for the organisation. However, there are a few areas they could consider changing which would make documents more accessible to a wider audience:

• Change the body font to a sans-serif font.
• Change the default font size to 12pt.
• Create a default template that uses an off-white background, to reduce the contrast.
• Improve the brightness and contrast of The Reading Agency’s logo on a white background.
• Amend the logo so it does not rely on colour to communicate ‘TRA’.
• Change the Styles to standard names such as Heading 1, Heading 2 etc.
• Update template guide to include guidance on including images in documents and making them accessible.
• Update template guide to include guidance on use of hyperlinks and making them accessible.
• Update template guide to include guidance on making document optimized for search engines.
• Update template guide to include guidance on keeping accessibility when creating a PDF.
• Use a PDF convertor that offers accessibility benefits to users (www.techdis.ac.uk/index.php?p=3_20_2_2).
• Use tools to run checks on the accessibility of documents, such as the Word 2010 Accessibility Checker and using the Adobe Accessibility PDF checker.

Also, for future work, I would recommend they investigate, simulate and test materials for users with accessibility needs.