Module 4: Use Built-in Features to Organize Content

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Voice Over (VO): Accessible Electronic Document Community of Practice, AED-COP.

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VO: You are watching how to make an accessible document in Microsoft Word.

VO: This is Module 4, use built-in columns to organize content.

VO: This video is one in a series showing how to make a Word document, Section 508 Conformant.

VO: Introduction. Columns are used to break up and organize content within a document.

VO: Screen readers and other assistive technology cannot present information in the correct reading order if only tabs or spaces are used to create the appearance of columns.

VO: Microsoft Word's columns feature must be used in order to create the appropriate structure that screen readers and assistive technology use to read information in the correct order.

VO: Top to bottom and then left to right. This doesn't mean you are required to use columns in all of your documents.

VO: However, when you do use a column layout, you must use the built-in column feature rather than creating the appearance of columns by using tabs or spaces.

VO: How to author accessibly. To author accessibly, you should use the columns feature in your document.

VO: It is located on the page layout tab of a navigation ribbon in the page setup section.

VO: To use column formatting in your document, first type your content and then select the content you would like to be placed into columns.

VO: Then go to the page layout tab in the ribbon and select the columns button.

VO: Choose the number of columns you would like from the drop-down list that appears.

VO: In this example, we will choose two columns. Our document now displays our selected content in two columns.

VO: How to check your work. To check your work, place your cursor in any text that you believe to be in a column.

VO: Then, open the reveal formatting pane by using the Shift-F1 keyboard shortcut. Now verify columns is listed under section.

VO: You may need to expand section by selecting the button next to it. Inaccessible example.

VO: Let's look at an inaccessible example. There are two quotes on the page.

VO: Each one appears to be in its own column. We'll select all of the text and then open the formatting pane by using the Shift-F1 keystroke.

VO: The text characteristics are now displayed in the formatting pane. Expand the section category and then look for an item that says columns.

VO: Unfortunately, there is no indication of columns in the formatting pane. We now know that spacing was used to create that gap down the middle of the page to give the appearance of two columns.

VO: Now, let's turn on the show paragraph marks feature by going to the home tab in the navigation ribbon and selecting the button with the paragraph icon.

VO: This feature shows us the hidden characters and formatting marks within the document. The arrow formatting marks located down the center of the page indicate that tabs were used to create the visual effect of columns on the page.

VO: Listen to how Jaws, a popular screen reader, reads this text. Every child is an artist. The problem is if anything can go wrong, it will have to remain an artist once we grow up at the worst possible time.

VO: -poppo Picasso - Murphy's Law. As you can hear, Jaws read all the lines of text from left to right instead of reading in a vertical column order.

VO: Accessible Example. Now, let's look at an accessible example.

VO: We'll select the text and look under the section category in the reveal formatting pane.

VO: It says columns, number of columns, two. So we know it is accessible.

VO: The content is correctly structured in columns in this example, so it will be read in the correct order by screen readers.

VO: Let's listen to how Jaws reads this example. Every child is an artist. The problem is if it remains an artist once we grow up at the worst possible time.

VO: Thank you for watching Module 4. You are encouraged to watch the other modules in this video series and can find additional information at section 508.gov.

VO: This video is a product of the accessible electronic document Community of Practice and the U.S. Department of Transportation.