Accessibility Tagging: Improving Inclusivity for People with Disabilities
What is Accessibility Tagging?
Accessibility tagging means adding special information to web content. To give persons with impairments a more accessible experience, assistive devices make use of this metadata. Accessibility tags tell you about the ease of using a website, including the organization and content like headings, links, and images.
Importance of Accessibility Tagging in Australia
Accessibility labeling helps people with disabilities use digital services and websites. People are paying more attention to making digital services accessible. They are also trying to understand the importance of accessibility tagging.
Accessibility labeling makes the user experience better for everyone, including those with disabilities. Accessibility-tagged websites and digital services are much simpler to use and navigate. More user-friendly for all users.
All government websites must follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Widely accepted standards for web accessibility, according to the e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF).
People with disabilities can use the digital world and access information, services, and resources.
Improving Accessibility for People with Disabilities
Accessibility tags make it easier for assistive technology like screen readers to give a better experience for people with disabilities by providing information about a page’s structure and content.
Websites and digital services can make sure they’re accessible to people with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive limitations by using accessibility tags.
Improving the User Experience for Everyone
It makes it possible for persons with disabilities to take part completely in the digital world and access information, services, and resources by enhancing accessibility for them. Accessibility tags help make digital services and websites accessible and usable. Having a website or digital service that is accessible to everyone can increase usage, engagement and improve its reputation.
Tagging Word Documents for Accessibility
Microsoft Word is one of the most popular word processing programs, but using it and understanding the text in a Word document can be challenging for people with impairments. Making a Word document accessible is essential to guaranteeing that everyone may use it.
Why is Accessibility Tagging Important in Word Documents?
Tagging gives assistive devices, such as screen readers, information about the organization and content of a Word document, making it possible to access the material in different ways. Even if they are blind, people with impairments can still read the document’s content thanks to tagging.
What Should you Tag?
To make a Word document accessible, label the following components:
1. Headings
Headings aid in organizing a document’s content and make it simpler for readers to comprehend the hierarchy of information.
2. Tables
It’s crucial to provide tags that describe each table’s structure and function because tables might be challenging for screen readers to understand.
3. Images
To help people who are blind to understand an image’s content, it should have a descriptive alt text.
4. Links
To aid viewers who are blind in understanding an image’s information, images should have descriptive alt text.
5. List items
To help users who are blind understand the structure of a list, mark the list elements as ordered or unordered lists.
How to Tag a Word Document
Here’s a simple guide on how to tag a Word document for accessibility:
Open the document in Word and select the “File” menu.
Click on “Info” and then “Check for Issues.”
Select “Check Accessibility.”
Examine the report to determine which elements in the document need tagging.
Use the built-in accessibility tools in Word to add tags to the document.
Conduct another accessibility check to confirm that all document elements have been properly tagged.
Making material accessible to all users, including those with impairments, requires using accessibility tags in Word documents. You may enhance the user experience and guarantee that the document is useable by adding descriptive tags to provide details about the organization and content of a Word document.
Accessibility Tagging Permission
Having accessibility permission means having access to and control over digital resources, such as websites, software, and documents. Regardless of ability, it is imperative that everyone can access and use digital content.
Why is Accessibility Permission Important?
When digital content receives accessibility clearance, assistive tools like screen readers can interact with it and offer alternative means of accessing information to people with impairments. Many persons with disabilities struggle to access digital content because of their movement, hearing, or visual impairments.
How to Set Accessibility Permission
Setting accessibility permissions for different types of digital content requires using different methods. To set accessibility permissions for a website, for instance, you might need to alter the code to include accessibility tags and make the website accessible with assistive technology.
For digital documents like Microsoft Word documents, you can configure accessibility permissions by adding tags to the document that describe its structure and content. Additionally, you can use the accessibility tools in the software to add tags to the document.
Tagging Photos for Accessibility
Making digital information accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities, requires adding descriptive tags to images, commonly called alt text. Alt-text descriptions for images allow assistive technology like screen readers to provide alternative ways for people with impairments to understand the information.
Why is Tagging Photos Important?
It is crucial to tag photographs because folks who have visual impairments, such as the blind or those with low eyesight, might not be able to view a picture on a website or in a digital document. People with visual impairments can better understand the material since alt text helps screen readers to translate the description of the image.
How to Tag Photos
The steps involved in tagging photographs vary depending on the software or platform you use. To tag photos in Microsoft Word, follow these simple steps:
Insert the photo into the Word document.
Right-click on the image and select “Format Picture.”
Select the “Alt Text” tab and enter a description of the image.
Save the changes to the document.
Making digital material accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities, begins with properly tagging images with alt text. You can ensure that digital material is accessible by using descriptive tags for photos.
Enhancing Accessibility Through Effective Tagging Strategies
By making websites and digital services accessible, people with disabilities can take part in the digital world and have equal access to information, services, and resources. Accessible tagging helps everyone use the digital world, no matter their abilities.
The future of making digital services accessible for everyone is bright because people are putting effort into it. The future of accessibility tagging in Australia is bright. We can expect an accessible digital world in the coming years with continued effort and advancement.
Sonia’s approach to translation reflects her 7 years of education in translation and interpreting studies. She has a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Translations and New Technologies from the University of Granada, Spain.
She arrived in Australia in 2014 and has been working with Australian organisations ever since. Sonia’s inquisitive nature and her love of culture and languages have led her to become a plain language judge in the ClearMark Awards celebrated in the U.S. and contributed to writing the Best Practice for Community Translations Guideline for AUSIT (Australian Institute of Interpreters & Translators). Furthermore, she is a NAATI-certified translator (Spanish and English), a committee member for the AUSIT Victoria Branch, and a board member of the Australasian Association of Language Companies (AALC).
Sonia is a veteran of scoping, planning, and executing multilingual translation projects to help organisations build relationships with their audience. She is a passionate trainer, known for helping, educating, and supporting clients as they develop inclusive communications techniques.
