Technical Communication and Inclusion

Technical Communicationand Inclusion

Karen Mardahl#a11yldn – 21 Sept. 2010#tcuk10 – 23 Sept. 2010

Preaching Accessibility

Karen Mardahl - #a11yldn - #tcuk10

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Preaching Accessibility


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PerceivableOperable

Understandable

Robust

Exclusion


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So where do we start?


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How to…

• Make videos accessible to Deaf or hard-of-hearing (HOH) people (transcripts & captioning)

• Make accessible PDFs– Write good ALT text– Write in plain language

The Transcript


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Transcribing Layout 1


Transcribing Layout 2


The Captions


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Uploading the Video


Technical details of the video


Processing the video


Adding CaptionsNote the failed machine transcription.

PS This is where many people stop and publish.


Do we add captions…We don’t have a file with time codes, so we can’t.


Or do we add a transcript?


Your caption file is processed


And the caption file is added!


Turn on the captions!


Captions appear!It’s magic. Seriously!


Grabbing the caption file for editing


The amazing file of time codes


Uploading the edited caption file


The bonus…


The interactive transcript


The PDF


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EatingYour OwnDog Food


Report from a meeting about accessibility was… inaccessible!

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Ten Steps toAccessiblePDFs


1. Use a structured source document (+ alt text!)

2. Save/export document as tagged PDF

3. Add title, author, subject, and keywords

4. Add bookmarks5. Initial view6. Specify the reading

language7. Correct the reading order8. Use PDF Optimizer9. Enable Adobe Reader

features10. Check accessibility

PDF Accessibility Check Walk-Through


With the accessibility checker in Adobe Acrobat Pro 9.

Gotcha: Business who scan all incoming docs – these become inaccessible images. Hmm.

Action: Find solution. OCR??

Warning: You must turn on your brain,keep it turned on throughout thefollowing process, and, most importantof all, use it.


Warning: You must turn on your brain,keep it turned on throughout thefollowing process, and, most importantof all, use it.

Why?


The greatest accessibility checker of allis…


The greatest accessibility checker of allis…

your brain.


Checking your PDF


Preparing Options for Full Check


Ouch


The Accessibility Report – 1


The Accessibility Report – 2


Navigating to Errors


Fixing the PDF


TouchUp Reading Order


Heading in an Image – Oops!


Editing the Alt Text – 1


Editing the Alt Text – 2


Using the Order Panel – 1


Using the Content Panel – 1


Using the Content Panel – 2


Using the Tags Panel – 1






Editing Requires Care


Revealing Sins


Table in the Content Panel


Table in the Tags Panel


A Side Note


You’re not alone…


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There are plenty of communities forlearning available for you today.That includes opportunities forawareness raising – like Pesky People –www.peskypeople.co.uk.


Resources - 1Where to discuss, learn, and ask questions?

http://webaim.org/community/

LinkedIn: “IBM Accessibility” and “Society for Technical Communication, AccessAbility SIG”

http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.htm (newsletter)

http://www.headstar.com/eablive/ (sign up for great newsletter)

Where to discuss and learn ”live”?

Monitor http://lanyrd.com/topics/accessibility/, http://keycontent.org/tiki-calendar.php, and the Twitter account @a11yevents for information about conferences, barcamps, and other face-to-face events.


Resources - 2What to read?

Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design by Shawn Lawton-Henry (also available online for free at http://www.uiaccess.com/accessucd/)

Letting Go of the Words by Ginny Redish (http://www.redish.net/content/books/lettinggoofthewords.html)

Who to follow in social media?

Find lots of great names from the collection at http://twitter.com/stcaccess/lists/


Thank you!This conversation is unfinished.Let’s work on it through Twitter(@stcaccess) and www.stc-access.org.

Me?@kmdk, [email protected], andhttp://flavors.me/kmdk


Technology

Technical Communication and Inclusion