Accessible Publishing

Accessible publishing creates a better experience for all consumers.

Around 15% of the global population has a permanent disability^[1], including approximately 285 million people with a visual impairment^[2] and an estimated 700 million people with dyslexia, the most common form of learning disability^[3].

Publishing content that is accessible to all your potential readers makes good sense for a variety of reasons—ethical, legal and commercial.

The most important reason to publish accessible content is to help create an inclusive society for people with visual, auditory, physical, or cognitive disabilities. Accessibility is fast becoming a global standard as regulatory agencies and governments around the world introduce treaties and legislation to ensure equal access to information for all, and accessible publishing makes good commercial sense too.

Typefi has helped numerous organisations produce accessible publications with minimal additional cost and effort. In fact, the World Report on Disability, published jointly by the World Health Organization and the World Bank, was composed and produced in accessible formats with Typefi.

Build accessibility right into your publishing workflows.

Providing accessible content need not be expensive or time consuming. Using built-in XML-based structural tagging, Typefi enables you to automatically generate output in a wide range of accessible formats—all from the same source content you use for ‘standard’ publishing. These formats include:

• PDF/UA (PDF/Universal Accessibility)—a PDF specifically optimised for accessibility;
• DAISY (Digital Accessible Information SYstems)—an XML-based e-book format optimised for use with DAISY reading software;
• EPUB—a standard XML-based e-book format that can be read and manipulated on mobiles, tablets, desktops and e-readers;
• HTML and XML—can be used with accessibility software such as Text To Speech (TTS) and Braille conversion programs.

Typefi also supports the automatic production of content utilising best practices in accessible design, such as large print (14pt+), clear and open fonts with minimal styling and decoration, good contrast, and appropriate use of white space.

By publishing accessible content with Typefi, you can achieve automatic compliance with accessibility legislation in your region—including the European Disability Act, the Disability Discrimination Act (UK and Australia), and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (US)—and with accessibility standards such as the World Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and ISO 14289-1:2014 PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility).

You’ll also enjoy all the benefits of Typefi’s core features, including:

• Producing your content in your choice of over 30 formats for print, online and mobile in-house from a single source;
• Building your own modular, action-based publishing workflows from Typefi’s comprehensive action library to automate the things you do every day;
• Enjoying fast, seamless integration with Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Creative Cloud and any XML-based database or Content Management System (CMS);
• Publishing fast, flawless multilingual publications.

See a demo of accessible publishing in action!

This webinar recording explains in more detail why accessibility is important, and contains real-world demonstrations of how organisations are using Typefi to build automatic, standards-compliant accessibility features right into their publishing workflows without increasing composition costs.

VIEW VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

We hope this webinar will inspire you to work towards a more inclusive society where content is accessible to all. If you’d like to have a chat with us about accessibility or any other aspect of your publishing process, start by telling us a bit about your publishing challenges and we’ll be in touch!

More accessibility resources

Typefi resources

• Enabling Accessible Publishing program
• Typefi Blog: 7 simple ways to make your Word documents more accessible
• Typefi Blog: The silence of the image
• Typefi Blog: Overcoming the challenges of accessible publishing
• Typefi shortlisted for international accessible publishing award
• Typefi User Conference 2018: Accessible Publishing Workshop
• Accessible Publishing: What is it and how do we get there?
• Accessible publishing in six languages: Transforming UN publications
• Accessibility and law
• Technologies for accessible publishing

External websites

• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
• Marrakesh VIP Treaty (World Intellectual Property Organization)
• World Report on Disability (World Health Organization)
• Understanding WCAG 2.0 (W3C)
• Understanding WCAG 2.0 conformance (W3C)
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (W3C)
• Clear Print Accessibility Guidelines (CNIB)
• Clear Print Guidelines (Royal National Institute for Blind People)
• Accessibility guidelines for ALT text (Royal National Institute for Blind People)
• BISG Quick Start Guide to Accessible Publishing 2016
• Inclusive Publishing: Accessible Publishing News, Events, Resources & Advice (DAISY Consortium)

References:

1. World Report on Disability Factsheet. World Health Organization. Accessed 30 June 2016.
2. WHO Fact Sheet No 282: Visual impairment and blindness. World Health Organization. Accessed 30 June 2016.
3. Dyslexia International / Duke University Report. Dyslexia International. Accessed 10 May 2016.