Word Document Remediation

Ryan’s step-by-step instructions for sprucing up the Color Contrast and APCA one-pager to get it ready to distribute as an accessible PDF. You can follow along by downloading the original (purposely inaccessible) Color Contrast and APCA Word document. Find best practices, tips and techniques to help you remediate your own documents on Access for All: Building Digital and Document Accessibility Skills.

You can also follow along with the video version ( Remediating a Word Document, 01:30:57) below.

File format considerations

Our team decided to share this document as an accessible PDF. We made the decision after thinking about the client, intended usage, and audience.

• Not sure who will be viewing
• May see it digitally or in print
• Want it to match other rack cards
• Want it to match others in series for predictability

Although we plan to distribute a PDF, we want to fix as many accessibility issues as possible in the Word document. That way, we can update it as information changes. Keeping the Word document accessible gives us a bunch of benefits:

• Much easier to change than the PDF
• Keeps an easy-to-update format handy
• Easier for non-techy administrative staff to maintain
• Much less to fix in future updates (than trying to edit PDF directly)

Common challenge: Poor use of color

• Get rid of the distracting background color
  1. Navigate to the Design tab on the Ribbon
  2. Select Page Color in the Page Background group
  3. Set the background to No Color
• Fix the contrast in the header section
  1. Switch the textbox behind the level 1 header (<h1>) to Navy (Text 2, Darker 25%) (Shape Format > Shape Fill)
  2. Change the <h1> text color to White (Background 1)
  3. Swap the HDI logo for the all‑white HDI logo

Common challenge: Using color alone to organize or present ideas

Text and Readability

Creating and editing Word Styles

Modify an existing Style

Let’s begin by modifying an existing Style. We’ll make changes to the Normal Style. Note that all of the other built-in Styles are based on Normal, so changes here will affect everything else in your document. Ask me how I learned that!

1. Find and open the Styles dropdown on the Word Ribbon’s Home tab.
2. Locate the existing Normal Style. Right-click it.
3. From the context menu, select Modify… to open the Modify Style window.
4. In the bottom left corner of the Modify Style window, you’ll find a button labeled Format. Click it to see the sub-menu choices. Select Paragraph.
   • Update these properties in the Spacing group:
     • Before: 0pt
     • After: 6pt
     • Line spacing: Multiple At: 1.25
     • Make sure the Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style box is not checked.

Match selection

Use Word’s Match selection tool to create or update a Style from text in your document. If you didn’t create a Style ahead of time, you can use text you’ve already formatted to customize your Headings or other text elements. Once you have the text in your document styled the way you want it:

1. Highlight your formatted Heading text in the document.
2. Find and open the Styles dropdown on the Word Ribbon’s Home tab.
3. Locate the existing Heading 1 Style you want to change. Right-click it.
4. Choose Update Heading 1 to Match Selection.

Create a new Style

From time to time, you might want to create a style of your own. There’s nothing wrong with having a section of your document that gives Heading 2 a different look, for example. If I am making something to be eye catching, I might want one version that’s white text on a green background and a second version that’s green text on white. Creating a Style of your own is simple to do in Microsoft Word:

1. Find and open the Styles dropdown on the Word Ribbon’s Home tab.
2. Choose Create a Style from the menu at the bottom.
3. A pop-up window will appear. Enter a name for the Style (Heading 2 (Left, Blue)).
4. Click the Modify… button.
5. The Modify Style window opens. Make appropriate changes in the Properties group:
   • Style based on: Heading 2. This will bring in the Styles from the base so you can make small changes.
   • Style for following paragraph: Normal. For headings, you probably want the next paragraph to be regular body text. For a list item, you may want the next paragraph to default to another list item.
6. You can also fix some of the basic font and paragraph settings for your Style on the Modify Style window. For our Heading 2, we’ll make these changes in the Formatting group:
   • In the font dropdown, select your document’s Headings font. It should be at the top of the list and have (Headings) next to the font name.
   • Font size: 16pt
   • Color: Blue (Text 2)
   • Alignment: Left
7. In the bottom left corner of the Modify Style window, you’ll find a button labeled Format. Click it to see the sub-menu choices. Select Paragraph.
   • On the Indents and Spacing tab:
     • Outline level: Level 2
     • In the Spacing group:
       • Before: 6pt
       • After: 6pt
       • Line spacing: Multiple At: 1.25
   • On the Line and Page Breaks tab:
     • Check Keep with next. For Headings, this means that if a paragraph moves to a new page, the heading will stay with it. It prevents a heading at the bottom of the page with no text under it.
     • Check Keep lines together. If you have a long heading that is two or three lines long, this setting will make sure the lines don’t get separated by a new page.
   • Once you’re finished modifying the Paragraph settings, click or tap the OK button at the bottom of the window.
8. Select the OK button at the bottom of the Modify Style window to save your changes.

More readability fixes

Now that we’ve created and applied Styles, let’s clean up a few more readability issues with our Color Contrast and APCA tip sheet.

Fixing the table text

The text in the Examples table is nearly impossible to read, even if you don’t have a vision deficit! Let’s fix it.

1. Highlight the entire table, either by clicking and dragging with your mouse or by selecting the box with the compass arrows at the top left corner of the table.
2. Using the context (pop-up) menu, choose your document’s Body font from the Font dropdown. It should be near the top of the list and have (Body) next to the font name.
3. Next, let’s get rid of the ALL CAPS text. We’ll use Word’s Replace tool.
   1. Open the Replace tool. You’ll find it on the Home tab of the Ribbon in the Editing group. You can also use the Ctrl + H keyboard shortcut.
   2. Enter PASS in the Find what box and Pass in Replace with.
   3. Select the More > > button at the bottom left.
   4. Check the box for Match case.
   5. Click Replace All.
   6. Repeat these steps to replace FAIL with Fail.

Removing empty paragraphs

In the section on Creating and editing Word Styles, we made reusable text templates that add negative space between our headings and paragraphs. That means we can take out unnecessary empty paragraphs that we were using for that purpose.

1. Turn on formatting symbols by selecting the pilcrow sign (¶) in the Paragraph group on the Home tab of the Ribbon. You can also use the Ctrl + * keyboard shortcut.
2. Spot & remove these empty paragraphs:
   • Before Measuring contrast heading
   • After Measuring contrast heading
   • Between the two Measuring contrast paragraphs
   • Before Examples heading
   • After Examples heading

Common challenge: Table formatting

Adjusting table properties

1. Click anywhere inside the Examples table, then select Properties from the Table group on the Table Layout tab on the Ribbon. Alternatively, right-click on the table and select Table properties from the context menu.
2. Select the Row tab
   • With (Rows 1-6 at top): Turn off Allow row to break across pages. For this table, we don’t want a row to appear with half on one page and half on the next.
   • Select Next Row (Row 1): Check the box for Repeat as header row at the top of each page. This automatically makes the cells in Row 1 headers, or labels, for the chart columns. Of course, if the table does break across pages, this will also repeat the headers on each page to make following easier.

Styling the table

Word gives us lots of options for making pretty tables. Making tables visually interesting can help focus and hold your readers’ attention. We can also subtly draw attention to accessibility features.

1. Select the top row of the table (the column labels, the one we marked to repeat at the top of each page.
   • Use the context (pop-up) menu to:
     • Bold the text in your header cells
     • Change the text color (A button) to White (Background 1)
     • Change the cell shading color to Dark Blue (Text 2)
2. In the Ratio and APCA columns:
   • Add shading to the Pass cells. Color: Hex #abffd1 ( Shading > More colors… > Custom )
   • Add shading to the Fail cells. Color: Hex #ffecdf ( Shading > More colors… > Custom )

Common challenge: Alternative text

Images

There are 2 images in our document. As you follow the steps below, you’ll notice that Word’s Alt Text panel includes a button labeled Generate alt text for me. As a savvy accessibility expert, you should never, ever use this button! Microsoft Office Services still has a LONG way to go on image recognition.

1. Right-click the UK-HDI logo in the top right corner of the page.
2. Select View Alt Text from the context (pop-up) menu.
3. In the textbox, enter your alt text (University of Kentucky Human Development Institute). Word saves it automatically.
4. Beneath the logo, there’s a clipart image of a confused man. Right-click it.
5. Select View Alt Text from the context (pop-up) menu.
   • You could add a long descriptive text like “A cartoon man. He’s staring at a sheet of paper with the word “Instructions” on it. The text color has very little contrast with the colored paper and it’s impossible to read.”
   • This image is not contributing to the text in any way. It’s only there as a visual to attract attention. That makes it decorative. Beneath the Alt Text box, check the checkbox labeled Mark as decorative. AT tools will either skip the image completely or announce it as decorative.

Links

One of the most powerful things about digital documents is the ability to link to more information and enriching resources. When adding a hyperlink:

• Choose unique and descriptive link text.
• Use consistent link text throughout a website or document.
• Avoid links which require surrounding context to understand.

In our document, there’s just one link. It’s at the bottom of the page and takes readers to an article explaining the science behind APCA. Let’s make it more accessible! Remember: the team determined earlier that our file format is a PDF that will be shared both digitally and in print. We need to keep this in mind as we address the link.

Right now, the text reads “Learn more”, followed by the raw URL. Someone listening to the page, maybe with Voiceover or TalkBack on a mobile device, will hear their AT read that entire URL. It’s got some acronyms in it, and while technology tries to spot words in the URL to read it more understandably, it’s going to lead to a bit of a jumbly mess. Let’s begin by prettying up that link for our digital users:

1. Right-click the link in the Word document. Select Edit Hyperlink… from the context (pop-up) menu. You can also click anywhere inside of the link and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + K.
2. In the Edit Hyperlink window, change the Text to display to something more meaningful, like Why APCA as a New Contrast Method? As the name says, this is the text readers will see on the page. At the bottom of the window is the Address field which should remain the same.
3. In that Edit Hyperlink window, select the ScreenTip button to open the Set Hyperlink ScreenTip pop-up. A ScreenTip, also called a ToolTip, gives some additional context when a user hovers their mouse pointer over the link (try hovering over the word ToolTip in the previous sentence). It’s existed since the early days of web browsers. Try adding Myndex Technologies, 2023 as ScreenTip text. Click OK when you’re finished.

Tables, charts and figures

• Go back to the Table Properties > Alt Text tab
  • Title: Color contrast: Comparing WCAG ratios to APCA scores – Helps readers decide if it’s important enough to listen to the longer description of the data
  • Description – Summarizes the key points of the table. Remember that your readers can still get to the raw table data, so you don’t have to include everything in the description! I used this: Each row of the table compares a foreground and background color combination, giving the contrast ratio and the and the APCA lightness contrast. The first row is black text on a white background, with a 21:1 ratio and a 106 lightness contrast, both passing. Next is white text on an azure blue background. The brightness ratio is 2.9:1, which is failing. The APCA score is -60.7, which is passing. Next is black text on the same azure blue. It passes WCAG with a 7.1:1 ratio but fails APCA with a score of 48.7. Row 4 is nugget gold on black, passing WCAG with a 7:1 and failing APCA at -45.4 lightness contrast. Finally, white text is tested on saddle brown. It fails WCAG with a ratio of 3.7:1 while passing APCA with a score of -76.

You may be able to get away with using an image of a simple table depending on the context. If you are presenting data that readers need to access and evaluate, like in a research article, you need to create a well-tagged table. If your table’s data is simple enough to describe in a couple of sentences, it might be okay to use an image with:

• Detailed alt text that includes the conclusions you intend the data to demonstrate, or
• A full description and analysis in the surrounding text

In other cases, you might not be able to get the entire point across with a simple description. There’s always the option to include the full data on another page in your website or in an appendix. This information can benefit all readers, not just those using assistive technologies.

Common challenge: Missing document properties

One of the most important steps for creating documents that are Robust is making sure that the document’s properties, or metadata, are set correctly. In our Word-to-PDF workflow, we need to check the language, document title, and file name.

File names should be unique, descriptive, and as short as possible. Imagine all of the documents on your computer were stored in one big folder; how would you scan quickly to find the right one? I could have saved this file as “a-closer-look-measuring-color-contrast-with-APCA.docx” but that’s a lot of extra information. If I have 20 of these rack cards and all the file names start with “a-closer-look-“, it’ll take me a lot longer to read through a list and find the file I want. It could also have been named “accessibility-closer-look-cards-3.docx” since it’s the third one in the series, but that’s not very meaningful. I picked “color-contrast-APCA.docx” because it lets me know exactly what I am getting. If you send out stuff about the topic often, you could do something along the lines of “color-contrast-APCA-closer-look-card.docx”. It lets you know what kind of document you are getting but it puts the most important bit first for easy scanning.

Language

Setting the document’s language lets assistive technology switch functions on the fly to make sure your information is presented the way you’d expect. It’s easy to set the primary language used by your document:

1. Navigate to the Review tab in the ribbon
2. Select Language from the language group
3. Choose Set Proofing Language from the dropdown to show the Language modal
4. Select the Current Document option for Change proofing language for
5. Select the language from the list
6. Choose the OK button when you’re finished

Sometimes, your document could include a snippet that’s in another language. It could be that you are demonstrating a translation or creating a foreign language worksheet; it could also be as simple as adding “se habla espanol” at the bottom of a flyer. Tagging these properly means that audio tools like Adobe’s Read Aloud tool will use correct pronunciations and accents instead of forcing it with an English pronunciation. You can fix these secondary language bits in a similar way:

1. Highlight the phrase that is in another language
2. Open the Language modal (Review > Language > Set Proofing Language)
3. Change Change proofing language for to Selected text
4. Select the language from the list
5. Choose the OK button when you’re finished

Title

Your document’s title gives you a place to add more information than you’d want in your file name. This title is announced and displayed by software as the title when you’re switching between windows. To set a title:

1. Select the File tab from the ribbon
2. Choose Info from the menu on the left
3. Locate the Title field in the Properties section in the right column
4. Enter your title. Word saves the changes automatically.
5. Select the Go back button at the top left of the Info screen to return to your document.