Creating accessible documents is not as complicated as you might think: many word processing and/or spreadsheet programmes already offer an integrated accessibility test function.

MS Word

A click-by-click guide with screenshots can be found here. If you have any questions or problems with these instructions, the Service Centre for Students with Disabilities is available for support. In general:

• Use a sans serif font ("sans serif").
• Avoid very thin or very thick fonts.
• Ensure sufficient letter and line spacing (1.5x).
• Use high contrast (black type on a white background, e.g. no red-green combination).
• Avoid using colour as the sole distinguishing feature.
• Do not insert images for decorative purposes only. If necessary, you must provide images with alternative text. With an alternative text, supporting programmes can read out the image information for visually impaired students.
• By default, only add data to tables, not text. Screen readers cannot process tables with text content well.
• Tables should have a simple design and include information on the header rows and columns - otherwise it is not possible to orientate yourself within the table.

Format templates are important when creating headings so that visually impaired students can navigate well in documents and screen readers can read the text correctly (a description of how to use format templates can be found on this homepage).

• Think about a logical structure in the headings
• Use the "Heading 1" style for main headings, "Heading 2" for subheadings and "Heading 3" for subheadings. No heading levels should be skipped.
• Before publishing your file, use the "Check for accessibility" function in the "Check" tab

You can also enter properties such as title and author in Word documents to make it easier to distinguish between different documents and work in them. This is done via the document properties.

MS PowerPoint

Illustrated click-by-click instructions are available on this page for all the points listed below. If you have any questions or problems with these instructions, please contact the Service Centre for Students with Disabilities for support.

• Avoid purely decorative visual elements. An alternative text must be provided for all necessary objects so that their message can also be understood by people with visual impairments. Support the visual elements with text that refers to the visual objects if necessary.
• Alternative text should reproduce the central elements of the image in 1-2 sentences, especially if the visual element contains text.
• Pay attention to the order of the slide objects. The order in which the various elements are inserted determines the order in which reading aids reproduce the content of a slide.
• Use link texts and so-called tooltips to make it easier for users of screen displays to find links. Quick info appears when the mouse pointer is moved over the link, image or text.
• Use colours sparingly and ensure that they are not the only source of information.
• Use font and shape colours with high contrast.
• Always add a title to your slide so that it is easy to find via the navigation, for example.
• Think about simple table structures and table or column labelling. Without these, it is not possible to open up tables completely.
• Fonts should be sufficiently large (at least 18pt) and sans serif.
• If you include videos, these must be subtitled or central content must at least be available as an audio-video description.
• Before publishing your file, use the "Check for accessibility" function in the "Check" tab

PDF export

In most cases, the documents are not distributed in their editable basic version, but as a .pdf document for better compatibility and a certain degree of editing protection. To enable accessibility here too, so-called "tagged" documents must be created. In MS Office, this can be ticked under "Optimal for electronic distribution and accessibility" as an option in the "Publish" dialogue of the export function. In this way, accessible Office documents do not lose the necessary properties when converted to a PDF document.

In Mac OS, the "Save as" option provides an additional menu with the key point File format. There, the option "Optimal for electronic distribution and accessibility" must be selected before exporting.

Videos are categorised as accessible if they are

• are integrated barrier-free, i.e. can be accessed and operated without any problems,
• are provided with subtitles and
• important information is also accessible to blind people via an audio description.

If you think about accessibility as early as the video production stage, you may be able to dispense with expensive alternatives later on.

Creating subtitles

Subtitles make videos usable for students who either have hearing impairments or whose native language is not the same as the language of the video. In some situations, subtitling is also very useful for students without disabilities, for example if a video is to be watched in a quiet working environment.

On its video portal, the university offers the option of uploading videos, editing them and adding subtitles, among other things. To do this, a transcript of the video is combined with time stamps and uploaded in a text file. The IMT has created step-by-step instructions for this process so that it is not difficult even for people with little technical experience.

The video platform YouTube also automatically provides subtitles for videos uploaded there. However, these are not immediately ready for use, but still need to be checked and edited. Instructions and examples can be found on the website of the BIK for All project or directly on the YouTube help pages .

When creating subtitles, the same quality standards must be applied as for the spoken word. In concrete terms, this means

Subtitling on the web should be based on the subtitling standards for the German-speaking world. These were developed by the public broadcasters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland together with associations for the hearing impaired. The standard specifies both the presentation and form of subtitles as well as their content. The most important requirements are

in presentation and form

• Subtitles should be displayed at the same time as the sound and as lip-synchronised as possible
• Divide lines according to units of meaning
• Position at the bottom centre (if there are already text overlays here, at the top centre)
• High-contrast, easily legible font on background
• Minimum reading time: 2 seconds or reading time of 13-15 characters per second
• Number of lines: 2 lines

for content design:

• Close to the original, reworded if necessary without loss of information
• New German spelling
• Present number as number; high number with full stop after the thousands digit
• Important audio information, e.g. thoughts, off-screen speech, sounds: in brackets
• Quoted text: in inverted commas
• Speaker with name and colon, assign different colours to speaker text in conversational situations
• Name music style, e.g. (jazz music)
• Mark song lyrics with hash marks (#)

Audio description

Audio description makes videos understandable for blind and visually impaired viewers. A narrator describes what can be seen in the image and provides information about the plot, people or locations, as well as text overlays. The speech is combined with the original sound of the video; the descriptions are spoken during the pauses in the dialogue. This technique is currently only used in a few productions; technology tools are still being developed. Alternatively, it is possible to replace audio description by adapting subtitles accordingly and outputting them via a screen reader.

In addition to the impairments, the respective educational biographies are also different, which results in different requirements for participation in courses. Offer students the opportunity to contact you or staff members with questions so that they too can successfully prepare for examinations.

Make sure that the requirements for examinations are realistic and in line with the information in the course descriptions and that substitute achievements also match the formulated competences.

If students approach you with an approved compensation for disadvantages, ask which compensation has been granted. This often involves an extension of writing time or a separate examination room, but differently prepared examination materials or an assistant may also have been approved. If you have problems organising the examination with compensation for disadvantages, the staff at the SmB Service Centre will be happy to support you. Please ensure that you contact them well in advance so that the support can be realised.

There are several ways to check the accessibility of documents and websites that have already been created.

• The Microsoft Office suite products have an in-built accessibility check function. It can be activated in the"File" tab under"Check for problems" with"Check accessibility". The next step opens the results of the check, including possible solutions. You can find a descriptive video on the Microsoft Office support pages.
• The SiteImprove software offers automated website tests for digital accessibility that strictly adhere to the international standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), so that accessibility problems can be easily recognised and rectified at all levels of compliance. Paderborn University has purchased its own licence for the software. If you are interested, please contact Dr Seibert at the IMT.