Creating an accessible digital experience involves optimizing your website, documents, and communications to provide equal access and opportunity to people with disabilities. But finding the right solution to implement requires some research, and depends on the needs and capabilities of your organization.
In this blog post, we’ll focus on solutions for document accessibility. Here’s a rundown of solutions that can be implemented for your organization to create accessible documents:
Accessible By Design
In other words, being “born accessible.” This means that documents or publications are created accessible within their original design. Creators of these documents must be trained to make them accessible within their workflow, so designers or content creators must be trained on all the various elements that make documents accessible.
Pro’s:
Being “born accessible” is a good option for companies that have the resources to train their personnel, and the in-house infrastructure to maintain it.
Con’s :
This solution is quite costly and will require continuous workflow alterations. Employees would need to be trained by a third party that offers accreditation in document accessibility and be kept informed of all of the regulations governing the process and output.
This option is more time-consuming, as additional steps will need to be added to the workflow, including tagging content, adding alt-text, and resolving contrast issues.
Finally, this option is lacking when it comes to the user experience (UX) since the final product would simply result in an accessible PDF. This type of content is not as discoverable, searchable, and shareable as an accessible HTML.
Hiring In-House Experts
This option requires sourcing and hiring staff that is trained and accredited in document accessibility.
Pro’s:
Having in-house accessibility connoisseurs can lead to fewer workflow alterations than being “born accessible.” It’s also a less expensive alternative to hiring a third-party consultant or organization.
Con’s:
Finding qualified accessibility experts can be extremely difficult given the complexity of the technical skills required.
Experts understand that accessibility is not a quick fix, but an ongoing process. This means they should have experience with assistive technologies that a person with a disability might use to access your content, as well as automated testing tools used to uncover accessibility roadblocks.
Accessibility personnel needs to have a good understanding of WCAG 2.0, laws surrounding web accessibility, including ADA, Section 508, or industry-specific guidelines, and what this means for the UX.
Just as in the Accessible By Design option, additional steps need to be taken in the workflow, and the UX is subpar resulting in only an accessible PDF.
Hiring a Third-Party
Working with companies that offer software solutions or remediation services and products.
Pro’s:
Hiring a third party to handle all of your accessibility needs means that no workflow alterations are needed and you can continue business as usual.
There is also no need to hire and train new personnel.
Con’s:
This option is very expensive, costing anywhere between $5 to $30 a page, which can result in skyrocketing costs for high-volume workflows.
The end product for this option is once again only an accessible PDF, compromising the UX and overall reading experience.
Working with InclusiveDocs
Our web platform solution creates accessible digital versions of your publications in 3 different reading modes, and downloadable PDFs or EPUBs.
Pro’s
We handle all of your document accessibility needs, so you can focus on your organization’s main initiatives without having to hire and train new personnel.
We are far less expensive than third-party document remediation companies, with pricing from 0.35 cents to $5 a page.
InclusiveDocs offers a superior UX, with 3 reading modes including Classic View for browsing pages, Reflow Mode for additional accessibility features, and Screen Reader mode for people who are blind or visually impaired. Our solution also provides the option to download content inaccessible PDF of EPUB formats for offline reading and website posting.
Our solution is flexible, with self-service or full-service offerings and our AI technology builds models from content layouts to increase the efficiency of the remediation process over time.
Con’s:
Can’t think of any!
Conclusion
So, there you have it! Plenty of options exist to create accessible documents for your company, but we think InclusiveDocs comes on top. Let us tell you more about it! To learn more, visit our website or get in touch with our team to book a free demo.