{"id":1015,"date":"2023-08-10T12:55:07","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T16:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1015"},"modified":"2025-08-12T15:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T19:00:31","slug":"accessibility-basics","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/chapter\/accessibility-basics\/","title":{"raw":"Accessibility Basics","rendered":"Accessibility Basics"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox outer\">\r\n<h2>Accessibility Basics in<\/h2>\r\n<div class=\"textbox inner\">\r\n<h2>Pressbooks<\/h2>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nMaking content accessible means making it understandable for a wide range of people, including those with disabilities or neurodivergent characteristics, as well as second-language learners.\r\n<h3>Accessibility and Accommodation<\/h3>\r\nAccessibility resource centres commonly facilitate student accommodations by ensuring access to:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Portable electronic and large-type textbooks for people with mobility limitations or low vision.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Read-aloud files for text-to-speech software for people with learning disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, or others who may benefit from listening to an audio text.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Tagged texts, images, and tables are used to enable screen-reader navigation for people who are blind or have low vision. Tactile graphics and braille are also helpful.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Offering multiple formats of your open textbook is one key way to ensure greater access to it, noting that the EPUB format is often considered the most accessible for screen-reading software.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3>Overarching Ways To Improve The Accessibility Of Your Open Textbook:<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Include the EPUB format as one of the download options.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Ensure that digital text is machine-readable.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Tag navigation elements, especially headings and subheadings, such as H1, H2, H3, etc.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Describe images using alt text.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Tag tables with HTML markup, such as to indicate the header and data cells.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\">Additional Resources<\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/accessibilitytoolkit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit<\/a>: Provides an overview of basic concepts, starting with Universal Design, and continues with basics in best practices for organizing content, images, and more.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>DAISY <a href=\"https:\/\/daisy.org\/info-help\/guidance-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Consortium\u2019s Guidance and Training<\/a>: Standards to support publishing practices for the benefit of increasing access for individuals with print disabilities. Their <a href=\"https:\/\/daisy.org\/activities\/software\/pipeline\/pipeline-2\/download-and-installation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pipeline Download<\/a> is a cross-platform, open-source framework for converting text documents into accessible formats for people with print disabilities.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/idpf.org\/epub\/30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)<\/a>: Maintenance agency for EPUB.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/aem.cast.org\/creating\/national-instructional-materials-accessibility-standard-nimas.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS)<\/a>: Standard developed in the United States to assist with the production of accessible content in higher education. The NIMAS standard is based on the DAISY standard.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.section508.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act<\/a>: Requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities.<\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/WAI\/intro\/wcag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview from W3C<\/a>: Aims to provide a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>If you have questions about open textbook accessibility, contact your accessibility resource centre. Resources at Concordia University include the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.concordia.ca\/students\/accessibility.html\" target=\"\u201d_blank\u201d\">Access Centre for Students with Disability<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.concordia.ca\/accessibility.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Accessibility Hub<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples attributions\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nThis section is adapted from <a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.pub\/authoropen\/chapter\/accessibility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Accessibility: Authoring Open Textbooks<\/em><\/a> by BC Campus and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/press.rebus.community\/otnmodify\/chapter\/step-4-determine-access\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need To Know <\/a><\/em>by the Open Textbook Network (<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY 4.0<\/a>).\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox outer\">\n<h2>Accessibility Basics in<\/h2>\n<div class=\"textbox inner\">\n<h2>Pressbooks<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Making content accessible means making it understandable for a wide range of people, including those with disabilities or neurodivergent characteristics, as well as second-language learners.<\/p>\n<h3>Accessibility and Accommodation<\/h3>\n<p>Accessibility resource centres commonly facilitate student accommodations by ensuring access to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Portable electronic and large-type textbooks for people with mobility limitations or low vision.<\/li>\n<li>Read-aloud files for text-to-speech software for people with learning disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, or others who may benefit from listening to an audio text.<\/li>\n<li>Tagged texts, images, and tables are used to enable screen-reader navigation for people who are blind or have low vision. Tactile graphics and braille are also helpful.<\/li>\n<li>Offering multiple formats of your open textbook is one key way to ensure greater access to it, noting that the EPUB format is often considered the most accessible for screen-reading software.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Overarching Ways To Improve The Accessibility Of Your Open Textbook:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Include the EPUB format as one of the download options.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure that digital text is machine-readable.<\/li>\n<li>Tag navigation elements, especially headings and subheadings, such as H1, H2, H3, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Describe images using alt text.<\/li>\n<li>Tag tables with HTML markup, such as to indicate the header and data cells.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\">Additional Resources<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/accessibilitytoolkit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit<\/a>: Provides an overview of basic concepts, starting with Universal Design, and continues with basics in best practices for organizing content, images, and more.<\/li>\n<li>DAISY <a href=\"https:\/\/daisy.org\/info-help\/guidance-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Consortium\u2019s Guidance and Training<\/a>: Standards to support publishing practices for the benefit of increasing access for individuals with print disabilities. Their <a href=\"https:\/\/daisy.org\/activities\/software\/pipeline\/pipeline-2\/download-and-installation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pipeline Download<\/a> is a cross-platform, open-source framework for converting text documents into accessible formats for people with print disabilities.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/idpf.org\/epub\/30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)<\/a>: Maintenance agency for EPUB.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/aem.cast.org\/creating\/national-instructional-materials-accessibility-standard-nimas.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS)<\/a>: Standard developed in the United States to assist with the production of accessible content in higher education. The NIMAS standard is based on the DAISY standard.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.section508.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act<\/a>: Requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible to people with disabilities.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/WAI\/intro\/wcag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview from W3C<\/a>: Aims to provide a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.<\/li>\n<li>If you have questions about open textbook accessibility, contact your accessibility resource centre. Resources at Concordia University include the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.concordia.ca\/students\/accessibility.html\" target=\"\u201d_blank\u201d\">Access Centre for Students with Disability<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.concordia.ca\/accessibility.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Accessibility Hub<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples attributions\">\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>This section is adapted from <a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.pub\/authoropen\/chapter\/accessibility\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Accessibility: Authoring Open Textbooks<\/em><\/a> by BC Campus and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/press.rebus.community\/otnmodify\/chapter\/step-4-determine-access\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Modifying an Open Textbook: What You Need To Know <\/a><\/em>by the Open Textbook Network (<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY 4.0<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1015","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":1013,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6217,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1015\/revisions\/6217"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1013"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1015\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1015"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1015"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/pressbooksuserguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}