ADA Compliance for Web Pages and Linked Files

Web pages and PDF files should incorporate the following standards.

• Include Alt Text on all images. Alt text is a text description of each image that allows screen readers to understand what the picture is to assist individuals who are visually impaired. The screen reader will read aloud whatever Alt Text is on an image. For this reason, a description like "Image" or "Picture" is not helpful for the user. Imagine that someone was reading the page of contents to you with your eyes closed. What sort of description would best help you understand the context of that image?
• Use high color contrast. Text should be easily distinguishable from any background image or color.
• If you are linking to a page or file online, use informative link text when creating hyperlinks.
  • Do not use text like “Click here,” “Read more,” or the website URL as clickable text. Instead, link a descriptive phrase like, “Read about ADA compliance requirements.”
• Use legible fonts with a font size 12 points or greater.
• Include a document title in your document meta-data.
  • This is not the same thing as the Heading or file name of your document.
  • This is set in the Properties of your document, controlling what the web browser sees when the file is linked online.
  • You must set this property intentionally.

Basic elements to set up your documents for accessibility

Before a document is linked to the Life School website, it must be setup with 4 essential elements.

• Descriptive file names
• Alt text on images
• Document titles
• The document language

Methods for including these items vary by software program.

For Adobe Acrobat (PDFs)

• Ideally, you should set the properties on the document in the program where the file was created. However, if you do not have access to the original working document, you can change the properties for ADA compliance in the PDF by using Adobe Acrobat.
• Set a Descriptive File Name
  • All files should have a descriptive file name that can be easily identified by a search engine.
• Setting Document Properties
  1. Open the PDF File.
  2. Go to File > Properties
  3. Select the Description tab.
     • Make sure a descriptive title of your document is in the Title field.
  4. Select the Advanced tab.
     • Make sure the language is set to either English or Spanish depending upon the language of content in your PDF.
• Set ALT (alternative) Text
  • Setting alternative text on images in Acrobat is complex. For that reason, it is always recommended to apply the ALT text in the original document before converting to a PDF.
  • If you don't have the original document, it is possible to edit the ALT text through the following steps.
    1. Open the PDF File.
    2. Choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags.
    3. By default, your document may show "No tags available."
    4. There is a small, round square drop-down to the left of the Info icon.
    5. Click the dropdown and choose "Add tags to document."
    6. Acrobat will create a table of contents of all of the elements in your PDF.
       1. Browse through the list of tags until you find the images in your document. Most often, they are labeled either as <Sect> or <Figure>.
       2. Select the image tag in the panel.
       3. Right click and choose Properties.
       4. Type a descriptive Title in the Title field, and copy that name to the Alternative Text field.
       5. Save your document.
       6. Follow these steps for each image in your document including logos.

For Microsoft Files (e.g. DOC, XLS, PPT)

• Set a Descriptive File Name
  • All files should have a descriptive file name that can be easily identified by a search engine.
• Setting Document Title Properties
  1. If you set the properties in your Microsoft file, it will be exported each time to export or save a new version and ensure future versions are compliant.
     1. Open your Microsoft Office file.
     2. Go to File > Properties
     3. Choose the Summary tab.
     4. Make sure a descriptive title of your document is in the Title field.
• Setting the Document Language Property
  1. Open your Microsoft Office file.
  2. Go to File > Properties.
  3. Choose the Custom tab.
  4. In the Name field, search for Language. Select Language.
  5. The Type should be set to Text.
  6. In the Value field, type either English or Spanish depending upon the content of your document.
  7. Click the Add button to the right.
  8. When it is added, you should see it appear in the Properties area in the bottom of the window.
• Setting Image Alt Text
  • All images, including logos in the header of your document, should have alt text that can be read by screen readers.
    1. Select the image.
    2. Right click on the image and select “Edit Alt Text”
    3. Type a description of the image. Note: Do not use a generic term like “Image” or “Picture."
• Setting Document Properties if final destination is a PDF
  • If you are linking the DOC from the website, no additional steps are needed.
  • If your final destination is a PDF, however, Word does not carry over the Language property.
    • You will need to set the language property after exporting to a PDF.
      1. Open the PDF File.
      2. Go to File > Properties
      3. Select the Advanced tab.
         • Make sure the language is set to either English or Spanish depending upon the language of content in your PDF.

For Google Files (Docs, Sheets, Slides)

• Set a Descriptive File Name
  • All files should have a descriptive file name that can be easily identified by a search engine.
• Setting Image Alt Text
  • It is important to set Alt Text on each image in your document.
  • Select the image.
  • Right click the image and choose “Alt Text.”
  • Type a description of the image. Note: Do not use a generic term like “Image” or “Picture."
• Setting Document Properties
  • Google does not provide a way to set a Title on the document to ensure it is in each future export.
  • You will need to make sure that after saving your document as a PDF, you follow the steps in the “For PDFs” section above.