Accessible Google Documents
The online nature of Google Docs and Google Slides means can mean that it's accessibility features are not as fully developed. Below are some best practices for writing accessible documents using Google tools, and some information on how to convert documents prepared in Google Docs and Google slides into an accessible format.
Best Practices
- Add alt text to all images
- Right click the image (or a non-text object)
- Select Format options from the context menu
- In the Format options panel that appears on the right, expand the Alt text section
- Enter the alt text in the Description field
- Use semantic markup to structure the content. More precisely, label each part of the
document as something like "Normal", "Paragraph", "Heading 1", "Heading 2", etc. There
is usually a dropdown menu at thte top of the application with these options.
- Don't use "fake headings" - i.e. don't just center and bold text instead of marking it as a heading
- See Yao-Yuan Mao's page on Accessibility for Documents and Slides from Office Applications for more information
- Use informative link text for any hyperlinks in your document
- Follow the two main rules when using colors:
- Use built-in list creators for numbered and bulleted lists. These are usually found in the toolbar at the top of the application.
- If you include tables make sure it has header rows
Options for Exporting to PDF
The Export to PDF option of Google Docs and Google Slides do not tend to generate accessible PDFs. If you must provide a PDF version of your Docs or Slides document there are these options:
- Download in .docx or .pptx format and then use Microsoft Word or PowerPoint to export an accessible PDF. If
you don't have Word or Powerpoint you can use the free OpenOffice or LibreOffice options.
- When using this option, make sure to download in .docx or .pptx format and not.odt or .odp format.
- Download the PDF from Google Docs or Slides, and then try using UDoIt or Adobe Acrobat Pro to add accessibility features. See the Accessibility for External PDF Files page for more information.
Publishing as a Webpage
See Yao-Yuan Mao's page on publishing as a webpage for information on how to make an HTML accessible version of your Google document or slide presentation.