{"id":822,"date":"2022-05-18T20:18:21","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T20:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.tarleton.edu\/accessibility\/?page_id=822"},"modified":"2025-04-03T19:04:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T19:04:21","slug":"electronic-documents","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/accessibility\/electronic-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"Electronic Documents"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Electronic documents, via a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation or other document creation application, are treated like a full electronic and information resource (EIR) product. They should conform with all WCAG<\/abbr> 2.0 requirements<\/a> relevant to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Document accessibility covers more than individuals with disabilities using assistive technology (AT). It allows individuals using a variety of internet browsers, and software to access the same content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Electronic documents come in all shapes and sizes, so each will have its own steps for conforming with WCAG 2.0 requirements. See the guides and how-to’s specific to your software, or contact the vendor of your product for instructions on how to meet the guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Web Content or Document?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Should you use a PDF or a webpage? An Excel file? Or PowerPoint file? PDFs (and other file formats) are not as accessible as HTML pages because they are harder to markup in an accessible manner. A good use-case for a file would for templates, forms, complex tables, vitas, resumes, and other printable materials that would need<\/strong> to maintain style properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anything else should be provide in HTML format to avoid compatibility issues, downloading issues, and other accessibility issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Files Sizes<\/h3><\/div>
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Per\u00a0TAC \u00a7206.70<\/a>, having trouble loading a page or document is now a criteria for accessible content, and it makes sense. If you are out in a rural area but need access to content, you (or your device) will more than likely give up if the content does not load, rendering you unable to “access” the content.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Adaptability to Multiple Devices<\/h3><\/div>
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Per\u00a0TAC \u00a7206.70<\/a>, being unable to review documents in a manner that makes sense on any device screen size can be the difference between accessing the content or not. Consider the inability to follow along on a table’s rows and columns on a PDF document or having to scroll back and forth, up and down to get the full meaning of a message before forgeting how the content lines up to scroll again. This is why PDF’s are less preferable to HTML pages for reading materials.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Reading Order<\/h3><\/div>
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We don’t typically talk about reading order or preferred language of documents because most of that is pre-defined on our website templates. That’s not the case with documents, especially when they are more than textual content or contain complex content like tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading order allows screen readers to determine which content to read outloud next, as opposed to reading it top-down, left-to-right. Some software allows you to change the numbering on your content to redefine that reading order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example issues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n