Accessibility Services (ZAB)
Check accessibility of documents
During studies, Information is conveyed in a variety of ways. Lectures accompanied by visual presentations, lecture notes in PDF format, and exercise sheets in Word documents are most likely well-known to you.
These formats can, however, be especially challenging for people with cognitive or physical impairments, as the content will not be easily accessible to them.
In light of this, we have provided guides on how to create accessible documents for various programs and platforms on this page. On the one hand, they describe how exactly documents can be made accessible and on the other, they show how accessibility can be tested using the in-built tools of different programs.
Clear structured pages and easily accessible content ultimately increases usability for all of us.
At present, this page still contains links to some instructions from external providers. We are in the process of replacing these with our own guides using both text and video, allowing active participation for everyone.
Word accessibility (checklist)
You can use this checklist (Word document) to check your Word document for accessibility. In the checklist, you can tick off which points you have already implemented for accessibility. In this way, you can also recognise open aspects and can subsequently implement and tick them off. In our implementation guide (Word document), you will find implementation tips and further information for each checkpoint. The links after the aspects will take you directly to the corresponding section in the implementation guide.
When creating a new document, it is recommended that the "Check accessibility" option in Word is activated from the start date and runs parallel to the creation process. In this way, major barriers can be recognised and removed immediately.
Excel accessibility (checklist)
You can use this checklist (Word document) to check your Excel document for accessibility. In the checklist, you can tick off which points you have already implemented for accessibility. In this way, you can also recognise aspects that are still open and can subsequently implement and tick them off. In our implementation guide (Word document), you will find implementation tips and further information for each checkpoint. The links after the aspects will take you directly to the corresponding section in the implementation guide.
When creating a new document, it is recommended that the "Check accessibility" option in Excel is activated from the start date and runs parallel to the creation process. In this way, major barriers can be recognised and removed immediately.
PowerPoint accessibility (checklist)
You can use this checklist (Word document) to check your PowerPoint document for accessibility. In the checklist, you can tick off which points you have already implemented for accessibility. In this way, you can also recognise open aspects and can subsequently implement and tick them off. In our implementation guide, you will find implementation tips and further information for each checkpoint. The links behind the aspects will take you directly to the corresponding section in the implementation guide.
When creating a new document, it is recommended that the "Check accessibility" option in PowerPoint is activated from the start date and runs parallel to the creation process. In this way, major barriers can be recognised and removed immediately.
PDF accessibility (checklist)
PDF is generally not a format in which content is created but made available. Formatting and settings must therefore already be made in the document to be exported. This tabular PDF checklist (Word document) shows you what you need to pay attention to in terms of accessibility.
In this checklist, you can tick off which points you have already implemented for an accessible PDF document. You can continue ticking off the points at any time.
It is also important to know that the steps described here are a good and important start towards greater accessibility, but they do not fulfil the legal requirements for a PDF document. These stipulate a so-called "UA-compliant" PDF document, which can currently only be produced using an additional, chargeable tool (e.g. axes4, CommonLook). For further information and a more detailed procedure for UA-compliant PDFs, there are additional checklists, e.g. from Barrierefreies Webdesign (2006).
Test Programme
PAC 2024
PAC 2024 is a free programme developed by the Swiss "Approval for all" foundation. The programme is available in German and English for Windows computers. PAC 2024 can be downloaded here free of charge.
Click on the icon on the left to select a PDF file to be checked. Alternatively, the file can also be dragged and dropped onto the icon. The result of the check is now displayed in the "PDF/UA" window. There is a more detailed version of this report and a PDF export that can be called up using the corresponding buttons. In addition to generating the report, the programme also offers three other functions which, among other things, show sighted people how a blind person would perceive the document and can be accessed via the respective button.
Detailed report
In the detailed report, the checkpoints are divided into more precise categories and the individual errors in the respective category are listed. It also graphically displays which section of the PDF generates this error.
Export PDF report
The report displayed in the "PDF/UA" window can be exported as a PDF file in a slightly edited form.
Screen reader preview
The screen reader preview shows visually in which order the elements of the PDF file are read aloud and under which tag the elements are stored. This can provide support for sighted people in particular to understand how such a document would be read aloud by a screen reader.
Logical structure
In this view, the structure of the tags in the PDF file is displayed in a tree structure. This corresponds to the structure in which the tags are created and which the screen reader converts into the text.
Document statistics
This button records how often a particular tag appears in the document.
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat ist ein Dokumentenbetrachter der ebenso Funktionen zur Prüfung auf Barrierefreiheit enthält. Das Programm ist für Windows und macOS in einer kostenlosen und kostenpflichtigen Version verfügbar. In der kostenpflichtigen Pro Version können Dokumente auf Barrierefreiheit geprüft werden, diese gibt es auch als eine 7-Tage-Testversion. Hier kann Adobe Acrobat heruntergeladen werden.
Auf den Arbeitsplatzrechnern des BITS der Universität Bielefeld ist Adobe Acrobat Pro installiert.
Um ein Dokument auf Barrierefreiheit zu prüfen muss initial über den Reiter "Werkzeuge" der Punkt "Barrierefreiheit" hinzugefügt werden, der von nun an in der rechten Werkzeugleiste auftaucht. In dem Barrierefreiheitswerkzeug kann die Barrierefreiheit des PDF mit dem Punkt "Prüfung der Barrierefreiheit" getestet werden. In der "Barrierefreiheitsprüfung" Ansicht werden nun die verschiedenen Fehler angezeigt. Mit einem Klick auf den jeweiligen Punkt wird der entsprechende Teil in der PDF markiert. Teilweise gibt es auch Funktionen mit denen diese Fehler gleich behoben werden können, wie zum Beispiel das setzen von Alternativtexten für Bilder. Mit der Funktion "Erläutern" wird man auf die Webseite von Adobe weitergeleitet die den entsprechenden Fehler und Lösungsmöglichkeiten genauer erläutert. Die tags des PDF können außerdem in einer tag- oder Inhalts-Ansicht visualisiert werden und es gibt die Option eine PDF automatisch zu taggen.