Chax Chat Accessibility Podcast

Join Chad Chelius, ADS and Dax Castro, ADS for a special podcast featuring the benefits of using Axaio's MadeToTag plugin for Adobe InDesign. Do not forget to listen to the end for the special Adobe MAX giveaway!

• Setting Row Headers in InDesign • Layout Tables? No problem • Fixing Complex Table • The 7 steps for accessibility using MadeToTag • Extended Style mapping • Easily edit alt-text in one place • New features releasing at Adobe MAX • Set the Initial View preset • The End notes paradox • Addressing Multi-line Hyperlinks • Why long style names break the role map • Callas PDFgoHTML • Special Adobe MAX Giveaway

Our guest Caroline Desrosiers of Scribely joins us to talk about her role in the upcoming Adobe Bridge update for accessible meta data. She also discusses why alt-text can be so challenging and even reveals some of the questions her team uses to create meaningful descriptions.

The question of when to edit the source versus the PDF document almost seems obvious to answer. But our discussion might surprise you. We also talk about the Content Key for Alt-text in Adobe InDesign and why (for now) filling it out might just be time NOT well spent. Do not miss this episode if you are an InDesign user. We promise there are some great nuggets of wisdom in this show.

Accessibility Podcast #32: Understanding the Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Word. There is so much packed into this podcast that I can hardly believe it myself. Chad and I walk through some of the handouts for our upcoming MS Word Accessibility class on Sept. 29th and we also talk about several key features and steps for making your Word docs accessible.

We also discuss the most common Checker errors you will encounter:

1. Missing Alt-text

2. Image or Object Inline

3. Merged or Split Cells in a table

4. Check the Read Order

5. Hard to Read Text Contrast

6. No Header Row (in your table)

Chad talks about his recent discovery of solving the Acrobat error that pops up when you have an Lbl (Label) as a footnote tag without an accompanying L (List) tag structure. We also review what the ISO standard has to say about it and why. Stick around to listen to us review the three most common problems people run into when trying to test documents with a screen reader. I am betting you are doing at least one of them.

Chad and Dax talk about the "Last Mile" approach to creating accessible documents. They discuss the tools to help you get your documents passed that last mile and what to do when you simply don't have time.

Have you ever heard of the H tag? We know about H1 through H6 but the seldom talked about H tag has been long forgotten because NVDA and JAWS simply voice this tag as a paragraph rather than voicing "Heading." Listen in as Chad and Dax talk about what they discovered regarding this tag and how it can now be utilized in your documents (with some caveats) and don't forget to download the Accessibility Quick Reference Card at the top of our homepage accessibilityunraveled.com

5 Ways to get your team on board with accessibility.

1. Start with awareness by asking:

a. Did you know how this works for screenreader users?

b. Have you seen this cool app for color blind simulation

c. Did you read this article on Harvard's efforts to caption their videos?

2. Chad discusses how to demonstrate easy wins

3. Learn how tracking time can help get people on board to cut down workflow

4. Find out the secrets of snacks and how they can open the door to accessibility acceptance

5. Engaging don't Complain: Provide solutions when pointing out issues

a. Keep track of recurring roadblocks and plan extra enrichment

b. Provide Checklists and support docs/videos

We also answer the questions:

1. Is it worth taking the IAAP Accessible Document Specialist Test ADS?

2. How long should it take me to remediate a document?

Listen to learn how you can get the Level of Effort Matrix PDF free!

This week Chad Chelius and Dax Castro talk about some of the key topics in their upcoming class "Designing with Accessibility in Mind" Listen in as they focus on things like the difference between Actual Text and Alt-text and you might be surprised at their discussion on PowerPoint and adding a description of decorative to the alt-text in the PPT draft. They also talk about AAA accessibility considerations and why it can be an unreachable goal to be 100% AAA compliant. Do not forget to use Promo code EARLYB22 to get $75 off the upcoming course happening September 15th!

Check out this episode as we walk through 7 accessibility fails you would never know where there without testing with a NVDA. We sneak in about 5 or 6 other things to watch out for as well. If you don't have the PDF that goes with this episode you can download it on our website chaxchat.com or reach out to us on LinkedIn for a copy.

Do you ask yourself "What do I want the end-user experience to be?" when designing your forms? What about the heading structure of your document? Chad and Dax take this episode to talk about what you should be asking and how your decisions impact the user's experience. We talk about forms, heading navigation, bookmarks, footnotes and endnotes, and even captions and where to put the accessible transcript when you have one. You definitely do not want to miss our discussion on the Shared Destinations bug in Adobe InDesign as well.