Data accessibility is becoming a very critical part of software development but I think many of us forget to address accessibility where it is most common in our day to day computer use.  There are many different Microsoft Office applications so I’m really only going to address some accessibility issues in PowerPoint and Word in this post.

It’s easy to create a document and throw in a picture or graphic but by doing so it can quickly make that document non-compliant (at least to the section 508 accessibility standards.)  It can also keep screen reader programs such as JAWS from identifying and reading these graphics.  So in a Word document just how would we make it accessible?

Alternative text is really the key as most screen readers can easily read through the normal text of the document but usually hiccup when coming across a picture, chart or some other graphic.  By simply adding alternate text to these graphics you can help ensure that you’re document is readable (in a sense) by everyone.

Word reacts very similar to Outlook so this is a two for one as the below steps should work for the corresponding Outlook version as well.

Office 2003 (Word):

With an image embedded in your document…

1.       Right click image

2.       Select “Format Picture…”  (there is also a “Format Picture…” available in picture toolbar

3.       Select “Web” tab

4.       Type Alternative Text in the field that matches the content of the graphic

5.       Select “OK” button

Office 2007 (Word)

With an image embedded in your document…

1.       Right click on image

2.       Select “Size”

3.       Select “Alt Text” tab

4.       Type Alternative Text in the field that matches the content of the graphic

5.       Select “Close” button

Keep in mind there are multiple scenarios depending on your expertise and usage of Word.  The rule of thumb is that if you are conveying a message with something other than text, it should also have a textual representation.  Links tend to be self explanatory but what about a button that launches a link?  The buttons alternative text should be something like “Select here to go to http://bayfirstaccessibility.wordpress.com/”

There are additional benefits to the practice of adding alternative text in that when saved as an .htm or .html file the alt text will appear for all users when the graphic is scrolled over with the mouse and be read by assistive technologies like screen readers.  There are some differences between the two versions of Word but the end result is the same…you have now made your embedded graphics in a Word document accessible.

Office 2003 (PowerPoint)

1.        Right click on image

2.       Select “Format”

3.       Select the “Web” tab

4.       Type Alternative Text in the field that matches the content of the graphic

5.       Select the “OK” button

Office 2007 (PowerPoint)

1.        Right click on image

2.       Select “Size and Position”

3.       Select “Alt Text” tab

4.       Type text into “Alternative Text” field.  (Text should generally describe the graphic it is referring to).

5.       Select “Close” button

Making a PowerPoint presentation fully accessible is its own monster and there are third party tools that can assist you but they come with a price tag.  Really there are only a couple of ways to really make a PowerPoint presentation fully accessible.  The first option is to simply create an .html version of your presentation and this is what some third party tools will assist with.  The other which to me is more feasible is to utilize the Outline function of PowerPoint.  Utilizing the outline and using metadata along with alternate text gives you the best opportunity to be accessibility compliant.

While the thought of making your items such as Word documents or PowerPoint presentations accessible may sound a little scary, I hope I’ve been able to show you a few very simple ways you can help make these items accessible for anyone that may be using or viewing them.

This entry was posted on November 5, 2007 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Testing. Tagged: 508, accessibility, alt text, alternative text, jaws, PowerPoint, screen reader, Word. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Fortune 500 companies and the kids at home that all create web pages do it differently, but there is no authority to make them do it right.  The closest we can get are regulations such as the federal governments Section 508 Subpart B, more specifically 1194.22 that regulate web-based intranet and internet information and applications, in use by the federal government.    

1194.22(d) is the Section 508 subpart that deals with Style Sheets and to summarize, it basically states that pages must be readable without requiring an associated style sheet.  To make it simpler it means that the same content and functionality must be present with style sheet support disabled in the web browser. 

For a web developer or tester what can be done to verify this?  This is somewhat dependent on the browser and version being used.  Internet Explorer and Firefox are probably the most common web browsers so I’ll address how to disable CSS in them.   

Disable CSS in Firefox

1. Select “View”
2. Choose “Page Style”
3. Select “No Style” 

Disable CSS in IE (IE 3.x and older)

1. Select “Edit”
2. Select “Preferences”
3. Choose “Web Browser”
4. Choose “Web Content”
5. Deselect “Show Style Sheets”
6. Select “OK” 

Disable CSS in IE (IE 5.x and newer)  ***This will be most cases***A quick snippet on this is that IE removed the ability to disable CSS in these versions.  The only option to disable this would be to do a simple registry edit that can be seen at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/183717. 

Having now disabled CSS in your browser you can see by opening a web page that it may appear very differently.  However for persons that cannot see the screen, its appearance is irrelevant and the page needs to function the same.  This also allows the use of screen readers such as JAWS to essentially read the page to the user properly, www.google.com is a very good and simple example of this. 

Sample Test Case:

1. Disable style sheet support in your browser.
2. Inspect web page visually and with an AT (Assistive Technology such as a screen reader) to be sure all relevant content is still available and functional.

Pass/Fail Criteria for Sample Test Case:

Pass:

1. All information on the webpage is readable both visually and with AT, and no content or functionality is lost when the style sheet support is unavailable. 

Fail:

1. Any content on the webpage is missing or unreadable via AT when the style sheet is turned off.

 The best and quickest way to test this page now is to try using a screen reader and/or keyboard only functionality to verify that all links, buttons, text fields, etc. still function properly as described above in the Sample Test Case section.

Accessibility is something that really should be built in to every web page and application being created.  It is simple to do and markets a company to a larger audience.  As a computer user, web surfer, IT professional, etc… I believe its one thing to tell people they should be doing something, it’s another to show them how to do it.

This entry was posted on November 13, 2007 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Testing. Tagged: 508, accessibility, CSS, disable, Firefox, IE, jaws, screen reader, style sheets, test. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

“Simple!” we said.  “Just add alt text to the watermark.” Then our client asked, “How?”

That is when we discovered that there is no clear way to add alt text to a watermark in Microsoft Word.

I spent a great deal of effort and time searching the Word help topics, Microsoft’s KB articles and Googling every phrase combination I could think for watermarks and accessibility. I could not find anything that would tell me how to add alt text to a watermark in a Word document.

Even our contacts at Microsoft didn’t have an answer for us. Then just as I was about to give up I discovered the secret of the watermark alt text. The secret is revealed below. But before you head off to happily add alt text to the watermarks in your documents you should know that screen readers will not read them. At least the two major contenders in this market do not read them…JAWS and Window Eyes. I didn’t try any of the other screen readers yet and I figure it is a safe bet that other screen readers will not read the watermark’s alt text either.

Now you may ask, “Why bother telling me how to configure the alt text for a watermark if the screen readers don’t read them in the first place?” Well if you have to deal with Section 508 requirements or any other accessibility guidelines then you need to make the effort now to ensure that your documents are compliant in the future. Otherwise you may find yourself going back and retrofitting your documents and you don’t want to have to do that!

I also have it from a very good source that while JAWS v9.0 will not read these watermarks when released the ability to read the alt text for watermarks in Word will be addressed in the next update after v9.0. So it appears that JAWS will have this ability in the very near future. I also know that GW Micro has been informed of this issue and that they will be working on fixing that issue in their next major release.

One more thing I should mention before I let you in on the details of how to add alt text to your watermarks. The process is not totally keyboard accessible. At some point you will have to use your mouse to complete the process. Microsoft has been informed of this and will be apparently be addressing this issue in a future release of Office. With all these ‘future release promises’ you can be sure that we’ll be watching to see if they follow through! ?

So on with the show! The steps outlined below are for adding alt text to a watermark in Word 2003. If you have a need to add alt text to a watermark in Word 2007 the steps are a bit more convoluted and I just didn’t care to confuse the matter by trying to explain that process. If you have a need to add alt text to a watermark in Word 2007 and just can’t figure it out on your own, just post a comment here asking for it and I’ll be happy to guide you along the way.

How to add ALT TEXT to a Watermark in Office 2003 Word

1. Select ‘Format’ from the menu bar. (Alt + O)
2. Select ‘Background’ from the Format menu that appears. (K)
3. Select ‘Printed Watermark…’ from the Background menu that appears. (W)
4. When the ‘Printed Watermark’ dialog appears select the type of watermark you wish to use, a text or picture watermark.
5. Once you have added the watermark of your choice and closed out of the ‘Printed Watermark’ dialog you will need to add the ALT TEXT. Select ‘View’ from the menu bar. (Alt + V)
6. Select ‘Header and Footer’ from the View menu when it appears. (H)
7. If you added a picture watermark then:
   • Select the Watermark object on the page, right click on it and select ‘Format Picture…’. This will open the Format Picture dialog.
   • Select the ‘Web’ tab on the Format Picture dialog and add the Alternative Text you wish to be associated with your Watermark.
   • Close the Format Picture dialog and save your document.
8. If you added a text watermark then:
   • Select the Watermark object on the page, right click on it and select ‘Format WordArt…’. This will open the Format WordArt dialog.
   • Select the ‘Web’ tab on this dialog and add the Alternative Text you wish to be associated with your Watermark.
   • Close the Format WordArt dialog and save your document.

This entry was posted on November 17, 2007 at 1:37 am and is filed under Accessiblity and JAWS, Accessiblity and MS Office, Accessiblity and Window Eyes. Tagged: alt text, alternate text, jaws, Microsoft Office, Office, section 508, watermark, watermarks, Window Eyes, Word, Word 2003. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.

Some dialog windows do not interact with JAWS in the expected way. When this happens there is text within the dialog that does not get read. Typically you will hear JAWS read only the buttons on the dialog and if a link exists you will hear that read as well when you arrow through the dialog. But the descriptive text that explains what these controls are for does not get read by JAWS.

When you encounter one of these misbehaving dialogs you may try using a command such as ‘Insert + B’ to have JAWS read the current window. Unfortunately because this dialog is not behaving as a normal window JAWS will start reading the text and controls that are found on the application behind the dialog. Eventually JAWS will read the text within the dialog but by this time things have gotten really confusing and you are likely not going to realize what JAWS is reading to you.

In such cases you can route the JAWS Cursor to the PC Cursor to reveal the text on the misbehaving dialog window.

What are the JAWS Cursor and the PC Cursor? Navigating through Windows with JAWS is accomplished with cursors. These cursors determine the focus of JAWS speech and are often directly linked with Windows cursors.

The PC Cursor is linked to the keyboard functions of Windows and applications. This is the cursor that is used when typing information, moving through options in dialog boxes, and selecting options or icons. As you type information, the PC Cursor follows along with each key you press. If you are making a selection in a menu or dialog box, the PC Cursor highlights the currently selected object. The PC Cursor is activated by default when JAWS starts.

The JAWS Cursor is linked to mouse pointer functions in Windows and other applications. It is used to read information the PC Cursor cannot read, such as toolbar information. The mouse or mouse pointer follows along with the JAWS Cursor when it is moved, and you therefore have access to information in an application window that is beyond the scope of the PC Cursor.

There are other cursors in JAWS such as the Virtual PC Cursor that is used when in an HTML environment. We are not going to talk about those cursors here. But if you want to know more about the available cursors in JAWS and how to use them open the JAWS help and in the search tab search for “about cursors”. This will get you started in learning all you want to know about the available cursors in JAWS.

Wait a minute! What about that misbehaving dialog and using the JAWS Cursor to read its contents? I am glad you asked. This is how it is done:

• With the dialog window displayed route the JAWS Cursor to the PC by pressing Insert + ‘-‘ on the keypad ( CapsLock + ‘[‘ if using a laptop layout). This guarantees that the JAWS Cursor lands on top of your PC Cursor which is inside the dialog window.
• Press the ‘Page Up’ key to set focus to the top of the dialog window.
• Arrow Key down through the dialog to read each line of text and controls
• Activate the PC Cursor again to continue normal operation

To activate the PC cursor (or stop the JAWS Cursor from following the PC Cursor):

• Press Insert + ‘+’ on the keypad (CapsLock + ‘;’ if using a laptop layout)

That’s it! I hope this will help solve any problems you encounter with misbehaving dialog windows that come your way.