Overview
The goal of this tutorial is to guide individuals in creating accessible text document that can be placed on the web at California State University, Northridge. This online guide will cover the following:
- Creating an Accessible PDF Document
- Converting a Microsoft Word 2007 Document to an Accessible PDF Document
Learning Objectives
After completing the following tutorial, individuals will be able to:
- Identify key concepts regarding document standards.
- Describe the importance of creating document structure.
- Define what a PDF is and how it used.
- Create an accessible and compliant PDF document.
- Perform accessibility checks in Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.
- Convert a Microsoft Office 2007 Word document to an accessible and compliant PDF document.
Document Standards
In order for the document to be viewable in the most accessible manner it is advised that the document be saved as a filtered webpage (Microsoft Office 2007 Word for Windows), htm (Microsoft Office 2008 Word for Mac), or PDF. However, if saved using Microsoft Office as htm or a filtered webpage, some erroneous code will be saved with the document. This will cause the document to fail automated tests for accessibility but will still be accessible to the Assistive Technology used by individuals with disabilities. Therefore the document will be accessible, but not compliant. If a more complicated document is to be converted further instruction will be needed for convertion into an accessible document.
Saving in an open standard such as html or PDF will allow individuals to read the file without purchasing or downloading special or particular software, such as Microsoft products or Microsoft Viewers for Word, Excel etc.
If conversion to html or PDF cannot occur, the document may be saved as a word document and posted to the web with a Word Viewer plugin. However, please be aware, the Faculty Senate at CSUN has supported a resolution in support of open standards, therefore as much as possible it is encouraged for documents to be transmitted or posted to the web in an open standard format.
To find out more about open standards, please visit the following websites:
To begin, go to the first section of this online training entitled Creating an Accessible PDF Document.