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Accessibility Contribution Draft

Contributed by Liam Vertal

This contribution summarizes and discusses the ideas presented in "Accessible Google Docs"

Overview

High level summary goes here

In general, Google Docs is not a very accessible format and requires a lot of attention to be organized into a readable document. This presentation focused on people who use screen readers, text to speech technology which necessitates language that provides context for readers. The presentation provided examples of unstructured and structured documents and a demonstration of the effects that structuring has on how the document is read by screen readers as well as an advanced structure document with more detailed usage of Google Docs' accessibility features.

Key takeaways

What are the key takeaways for technical communicators?

When it comes to screen-reader accessibility, both structure and content are important. Headers are especially key for establishing context and hierarchy. Since screen readers have trouble skimming unstructured documents it is important that different layers of headers are used to indicate to the reader where they are in relation to the rest of the document. Google Docs itself has various features that improve accessibility, mostly related to the internal formatting of the document, things like page numbers and specified headers.

If I want to understand "table of contents" I think it would make a lot more sense if I understand it from a document structure perspective knowing it's a level three where with an unstructured document that was not clear at all. - Khaled Musa, UMN Academic Technology Support Services

Some other things to note are:

  • Header text should be descriptive to indicate position and context
  • Links and images should be explicated with text as well
  • Writers should avoid using images with text as screen readers cannot understand them
  • Images that are included should have alt text descriptions
  • Underlines should be saved for links and bold/italics should always be used in context
  • Other items like tables are also difficult for screen readers to convey

Reflection

How does the presentation connect with or extend your work in this class?

As I learn more about digital communication and especially the backend work it is important to develop foundational skills that take into account the specific accessibility concerns of various people. Working without these foundational skills makes it difficult to go back and address these concerns later on in development.

This is especially noteworthy when entering a professional context. It is one thing in class but since I am in my senior year I need to be developing the skills I need to be an effective communicator to all audiences.