Main Menu

Home » Accessibility » Document Accessibility » Video and transcripts of Microsoft accessibility training sessions

Video and transcripts of Microsoft accessibility training sessions

  • 06
  • Sep

In May 2012, AGIMO and Microsoft partnered to deliver two training sessions for APS staff focused on improving the accessibility of documents created in Microsoft Office.

The video and transcripts from these sessions, delivered by Daniel Hubbell of Microsoft, are now available for those who were unable to attend the sessions or who might simply like a second look at what was presented. We have divided the full event into chapters to make it easier to locate the topics you might be after.

We still have a limited number of printed copies of Microsoft’s Accessibility: A Guide for Government Organisations from the event. Please email wcag2@finance.gov.au if you’d like one – first come, first served.

Videos and transcripts

(information on the appropriate subtitle format for your preferred media player is available on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_video_player_software#Subtitle_ability)

Part 1: Why Microsoft Office accessibility matters

Presented by Andrew Arch, AGIMO

Part 2: Introduction

Part 3: MS Word – Alternative Text

Part 4: MS Word – Creating Tables

Part 5: MS Word – Stylising Text and Headings

Part 6: Hyperlinks

Part 7: MS Excel

Part 8: MS PowerPoint – Colours and Headings

Part 9: MS Word – Text and Image Wrapping

Part 10: Microsoft Accessibility Checker

Part 11: DAISY Plug-in

Part 12: MS PowerPoint – Captions

Part 13: Screen Reader

Part 14: Q&A

Parts 2-14: The complete Microsoft presentation

Document Best Practices

This table provides a simple summary of some of the best practices demonstrated by Daniel in these videos and the products in which they can be applied.

Best Practice Word Excel PowerPoint
Add alternative text to images and objects

Yes

Yes

Yes
Specify column header rows in tables

Yes

Yes

Yes
Use styles in long documents

Yes

    
Ensure all heading styles are in the correct order

Yes

    
Use hyperlink text that is meaningful

Yes

Yes

Yes
Use simple table structure

Yes

  

Yes
Avoid using blank cells for formatting

Yes

Yes

Yes
Give all sheet tabs unique names  

Yes

  
Ensure all sliders have unique titles    

Yes
Avoid using floating objects

Yes

    
Avoid image watermarks

Yes

    
Increase visibility for colour blind viewers

Yes

  

Yes

Online resources

Additional references to find out more about making Office documents accessible include:

We hope that these seminars and the publishing of these references will lead to greater confidence amongst agency staff that they can deliver accessible documents and an overall higher standard of accessibility in government.

GD Star Rating
loading...
Post Tagged with

2 Responses so far.

  1. Enid Bulman says:
    October 2, 2012 at 11:27 am

    So, in terms of the NTS, if Word documents pass the Microsoft accessibility checker, does AGIMO consider them accessible?

    GD Star Rating
    loading...
    Reply
    • Andrew Arch - AGIMO says:
      October 10, 2012 at 5:23 pm

      Enid, thanks for asking for clarification.

      Firstly, let’s be clear that automated tests cannot confirm accessibility for Word documents any more than they can for websites. For example they cannot tell if colour meets contrast requirements, if the alternative text for an image is appropriate in it’s context of use, or if the heading structure is sensible. That said, the checker can identify a number of issues (including warnings) and will help you improve the overall accessibility of Word documents – for more information on the checks see Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker Rules.

      Secondly, Word cannot conform with WCAG 2.0 at this stage and thus cannot be relied upon for accessible publishing. Thus, it falls into the same category as PDF documents, requiring another format to be published with them if there is no HTML version. The Australian Human Rights Commission recommends that both formats “incorporate principles of accessible ...

      ... document design” and the resources above clarify these for Word.

      GD Star Rating
      loading...
      Reply
Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

 

Blog Categories

Useful Blog Information

Footer

RSS The AGIMO Blog

Recent Comments

RSS AGIMO in the News

RSS AusGovIT in the News

finance.gov.au