Accessibility

Accessible content

Making digital content accessible

When authoring documents, it is important to follow a few basic steps to assure your document is readable and usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. On this webpage we share a few resources for creating accessible content.

Topics

Contact

  • Ana Thompson CPACC, Academic & Access Technologist – UW Bothell IT ACT Team
    Email: thomana@uw.edu
  • Ashley Uchytil, Program Manager – Marketing & Communications Operations
    Email: uwbweb@uw.edu

Electronic document basics

真人线上娱乐 most common electronic document file types are PDF files (.pdf) and Microsoft Word files (.docx). PDFs are the least accessible type of document and require additional work to be made accessible.

真人线上娱乐 following content will guide through some basics in document accessibility:

Consider before you upload

Before uploading any electronic document, consider:

  • Does it really need to be a PDF? PDFs are inherently the least accessible type of document
  • Can the content be added onto a regular webpage? A Canvas page?
  • Can the content be uploaded as an Office document?
  • Is the PDF from a Library Database? Provide the article Permalink along with the PDF so students have more format options. Otherwise, your are responsible for ensuring the PDF is accessible.

Best practices

  • It is best practice to have information on a webpage or a Canvas page rather than within a Word document or PDF when possible. We are so used to creating PDFs that we usually do not deeply think about access and effectiveness when creating content.
  • Webpages use Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML, the most accessible format for information on the web. After HTML or webpages, in terms of accessibility, MS Office documents are next. 真人线上娱乐 least accessible types of documents are PDFs.
  • If content needs to be shared as a PDF, some basic steps are required so it is accessible. One way involves saving the document properly, followed by checking/fixing accessibility in Adobe Acrobat DC Pro.

Canvas content

Not all students who need disability accommodations or assistance register with the DRS office. This may be related to fear, lack of resources, thinking they can do it on their own, or perhaps they are not aware they have a disability. Making content as accessible as possible from the start benefits all students, including busy students and English as a second language learners.

Content in Canvas pages can be downloaded. One great advantage about Canvas pages is that when those pages are printed or saved as PDFs, all the linked content will have full URLs printed alongside them.

真人线上娱乐 resource, Things You Can Do Right Now to Make Your Course More Accessible, offers great tips to make course content more accessible to all students.

PDF remediation

Training and consultations for remediating PDFs is offered on a request basis to individuals or departments.

PDF remediation (process to make a PDF accessible), Adobe Acrobat DC Pro needs to be requested from IT, paid by the department and installed by UW Bothell IT. For more information and training, please contact Ana Thompson at UW Bothell IT Academic & Collaborative Technology (ACT).

UW Free Document Conversion Service

真人线上娱乐 UW offers an online Document Conversion Service powereds by SensusAccess to help students, faculty, and staff at the University of Washington to produce alternative versions of documents quickly and easily. 真人线上娱乐 service is free to anyone with a UW NetID, and can be accessed at tinyurl.com/uw-doc-convert.

Please note the following limitations of this service:

  • 真人线上娱乐 source file needs to be of good quality in order to maximize conversion accuracy.
  • Some file outputs may require additional editing after conversion.
  • This service is intended to provide a quick temporary solution, but is not the final solution for accessibility. For faculty and staff who are producing documents, please consult the above links for information on how to create accessible documents in various document formats.
  • 真人线上娱乐s requesting alternate materials as an accommodation, please contact Disability Resources for 真人线上娱乐s (DRS).

Canvas Ally alternate formats

Canvas Ally scans all uploaded files to Canvas courses and produces alternate formats that can be downloaded by faculty and students. Look for an “A” icon next to a file or within the down arrow next to a file for the option “Alternate Formats”. For more information, access the resource, Ally Accessibility Tool for Canvas.

PDF remediation services

UW Free PDF Remediation Service

Accessible Technology Services (ATS) will remediate a limited number of PDF documents through a service supported by UW-IT. Individuals, departments, and other units at the UW are encouraged to apply to remediate highly visible, high-impact, multiple use, and/or strategic PDF documents. Examples include:

  • PDF documents available to the public on a high-use website
  • PDF documents that will be used multiple times in a course
  • PDF documents developed by several faculty members to be used in several different classes

If you are interested in submitting one or more documents for consideration, please complete the UW PDF Document Remediation Service Application.

Outsourcing PDF Remediation

Crawford Technologies provides document remediation services at prices and turnaround times that seem to be a good match for higher education institutions. Contact the vendor for a quote: das-quotes@crawfordtech.com.

Questions about remediation orders:

Web content support

In terms of accessible web content requirements, University of Washington follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), version 2.1.

Contact UW Bothell’s Office of Marketing & Communications at uwbweb@uw.edu to get help on creating and editing accessible webpages within the uwb.edu website.