Any documents that are going to be shared electronically (especially those posted to the website or attached to an agenda) need to meet ADA accessibility requirements.
First, determine whether the information in your PDF or other document should be posted to the website in that format.
If you determine your document needs to be posted to the website, this guide will help you make your Word document (and in turn, PDF) accessible.
Make sure you start with an accessible template if possible. Download MCG accessible templates from the Employee Intranet. (Scroll down to Documents > Doc Category: Templates)
Download printable version of this information
Document Properties
Navigate to File > Properties and fill out:
- Title
- Author (recommended: Manatee County Government)
- Keywords (optional)
Search engines use the “Title” and “Keywords” information fields to determine how accurately the document fits with a user’s search request. Screen readers use title as the first thing announced in the file.
Language
Go to Tools > Language and select English (or the appropriate language).
Headings/Styles
Headings should be used to thoughtfully structure the document. Create headings using Word’s styles labeled “Heading 1,” “Heading 2,” etc. (located in top right under “Home” tab in most versions of Word). Don’t just use a larger font or make text bold or underlined.
Use headings in order (title in Heading 1, section headers in Heading 2, subsection headers in Heading 3, etc.)
Bonus: You can easily insert a table of contents for your document based on your headings. This improves the experience for everyone when reading longer documents.
Fonts & Alignment
Sans-serif fonts are recommended, such as Arial. (This is the default font in our templates.)
Your document should use left alignment for text.
- Do not use justified as this alignment creates inconsistent gaps between words, which makes it more difficult to read for some groups, including those with dyslexia or low vision.
- Centered text is not ideal because when a low vision user zooms in, content can get positioned off the screen.
Lists
Lists are a great way to make information easily scannable. Make sure to use the built-in bullets or numbered lists. Numbered lists should only be used if the numbers are conveying a specific order. For lists that could easily be reordered, use a bulleted list.
Additional Elements