Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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What would be the best way for visually impaired people to take Text-based online courses? (self.Blind)
submitted by C0tt
I would like to ask the community for their opinions.
What would be the best way to get these modules across to visually impaired people?
Would narrating the courses be the best option?
What would be the best way to get these modules across to visually impaired people?
Would narrating the courses be the best option?
furtivepatach 5 points 5y ago
Make sure your platform works well with screen readers.
Warthil 1 points 5y ago
I will add to what others have said. Screen reader compatibility is important. I will mention a few specific things from my experiences with online courses and materials.
1. Sticking to PDF is good. However, make sure that if needed. the pdf has been OCR'd. If you can't highlight an individual word in a PDF it is a good sign that OCR is needed.
2. Convert those pesky PowerPoint type presentations to PDF as well. Most presentation software is compliant with screen readers but it is easier to deal with PDF. Review the document after you export it. Are notes still included? Does it flow?
3. When you are making notes in Word, Pages, etc. Plan to convert to PDF later. Try never to use tables for text. Tables can be navigable but they can also turn into a mess for a screen reader. The simple solutions is do not use tables.
4. Avoid adding text boxes. Again, they are not always bad but can get screwed up for a screen reader and may not be read at the appropriate time in the document.
5. If you add pictures make sure you provide descriptions that provide enough information. A bad description would be - This is a graph. A good description - This is a graph showing the consistent decline of the Canadian population in the last ten years from 32 million to 31 million.
6. Don't use bold or italics. Screen readers can pick this up but I don't have the verbosity level set that high.
6. Put heading in documents to divide sections. When I say heading I mean from Styles in Pages or Word. Usually called Heading1. These are not the same as bold or italics. They can allow a screen reader user to more quickly navigate through a document.
People can add a lot more I am sure. Don't shy away from text based. It can often be easier than narrating. It can allow for braille displays or daisy readers can generally read text if desired. Simple text based documents with headings are great and very flexible. More flexible than audio files.
Someone else mentioned making sure the platform is accessible. That seems to be a common problem. Another is the layout of course material files. Make sure files are named in a descriptive way. If there is a logical flow to folders or documents then number them.
1. Sticking to PDF is good. However, make sure that if needed. the pdf has been OCR'd. If you can't highlight an individual word in a PDF it is a good sign that OCR is needed.
2. Convert those pesky PowerPoint type presentations to PDF as well. Most presentation software is compliant with screen readers but it is easier to deal with PDF. Review the document after you export it. Are notes still included? Does it flow?
3. When you are making notes in Word, Pages, etc. Plan to convert to PDF later. Try never to use tables for text. Tables can be navigable but they can also turn into a mess for a screen reader. The simple solutions is do not use tables.
4. Avoid adding text boxes. Again, they are not always bad but can get screwed up for a screen reader and may not be read at the appropriate time in the document.
5. If you add pictures make sure you provide descriptions that provide enough information. A bad description would be - This is a graph. A good description - This is a graph showing the consistent decline of the Canadian population in the last ten years from 32 million to 31 million.
6. Don't use bold or italics. Screen readers can pick this up but I don't have the verbosity level set that high.
6. Put heading in documents to divide sections. When I say heading I mean from Styles in Pages or Word. Usually called Heading1. These are not the same as bold or italics. They can allow a screen reader user to more quickly navigate through a document.
People can add a lot more I am sure. Don't shy away from text based. It can often be easier than narrating. It can allow for braille displays or daisy readers can generally read text if desired. Simple text based documents with headings are great and very flexible. More flexible than audio files.
Someone else mentioned making sure the platform is accessible. That seems to be a common problem. Another is the layout of course material files. Make sure files are named in a descriptive way. If there is a logical flow to folders or documents then number them.
PhotoJim99 1 points 5y ago
Make sure it works well with screen readers and plain-text web browsers (like links2/lynx), so that people can either choose to hear the content (via voice) or read the content (via Braille).
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