With the expanded use of EPUB3 these last couple of years, accessibility can and should be built into every ebook from the planning stages to final delivery. This practical workshop will demonstrate how you as editors and designers can ensure your books are on target to meet accessibility guidelines, while actively adding value to your digital content and taking responsibility for enhancing the reading experience. March 22, 2017

1. BORN ACCESSIBLE
A11Y FROM THE START

2. A11Y FROM THE START
A11Y FROM THE START
Accessible Publishing Is Good Publishing

3. A11Y FROM THE START
WHY MAKE BOOKS ACCESSIBLE?
Use
▸ For readers with print disabilities
▸ For readers who are situationally disabled
▸ But, what a11y features are supported by
reading systems?

4. A11Y FROM THE START
WHY MAKES BOOKS ACCESSIBLE?
Business
▸ Reuse of books/archival access
▸ Marketing: Content that is more usable
is more valuable
▸ Futureproofing
▸ Financial
▸ Legal requirements

5. A11Y FROM THE START
WHY MAKES BOOKS ACCESSIBLE?
Philosophical
▸ Democratic
▸ Make books as rich as possible
▸ Enhanced experience
▸ Streamlined Workflow

6. A11Y FROM THE START
COLLABORATION
How can workflow participants collaborate?
▸ Business
▸ Organization
▸ Supply Chain

7. A11Y FROM THE START
AREAS OF A11Y CONCERN
▸ What a11y features should your book include?
▸ Structure
▸ Images
▸ Navigation
▸ Print design adaptation
▸ Special Features

8. A11Y FROM THE START
DEFINE STRUCTURE
▸ When designing for print, designer should remember that
structure is on an equal footing with aesthetics in digital.
▸ Internal head structure (h1–h6)
▸ Text must be in natural reading order
▸ Identify sidebars/pullquotes: aside
▸ Identify footnotes/endnotes: aside
▸ Semantic markup of all elements: fig, figcaption; glossary

9. A11Y FROM THE START
▸ If design element conveys meaning for print, adapt for e.
▸ <i> vs <em> vs <cite>: editor to indicate
▸ <i> Eloise planned to travel on the Queen Mary.
▸ <em> She had to sail on Monday.
▸ <cite> As they left port, she thought of the movie Titanic.
▸ <b> vs <strong>: editor to indicate
▸ <b>The ship’s log<b>. The captain of the ship maintains the log.
▸ <strong> Warning</strong>: The ship will capsize at 0200 hours.
STRUCTURE: DESIGN + EDITORIAL

10. A11Y FROM THE START
EPUB:TYPE
▸ Editorial indicates in ms while marking for
typesetting (establish house style guide)
▸ Designer/typesetter apply to mechanical, or
▸ Developer apply based on editorial guidance
▸ from within InDesign
▸ in XHTML

11. A11Y FROM THE START
LANGUAGE
▸ What is the dominant language
▸ Are there exceptions?
▸ Editor marks in manuscript + developer executes
▸ Special pronunciations (from Garrish; SSML)
▸ Record or record?
▸ Editor marks in manuscript + developer executes
▸ Not supported yet, but will they be?

12. A11Y FROM THE START
NAVIGATION
▸ Inside-the-book TOC needed even if not included in print edition.
▸ How many levels to use in the in-book TOC?
(use ‘hidden’ to remove unwanted levels)
▸ Consider UX for in-book TOC: multi levels on smart phone
are ugly and hard to use
▸ Remember, all will be available in device TOC
▸ Landmarks
▸ As many as possible

13. A11Y FROM THE START
NAVIGATION
▸ Extra nav lists
▸ Tables
▸ Illustrations
▸ Audio
▸ Video
▸ Page List
▸ When ebook corresponds to print volume
▸ When ebook will be used in classroom along with print edition

14. A11Y FROM THE START
IMAGES
▸ Is an image decoration or meaningful?
For a decorative instance:
▸ Developer: use empty alt tag;
role: presentation)

15. A11Y FROM THE START
IMAGES: CAPTION + ALT TEXT
▸ Meaningful images
▸ Is the image thoroughly described in text or caption?
▸ Mention text reference in alt tag.
▸ If brief additional content helpful, supply alt tag.
▸ Developer: pull alt text (from Structure in ID; from Bridge;
from image metadata)
▸ Developer: include aria-describedby for lengthy,
complicated descriptions

16. A11Y FROM THE START
IMAGES: WHAT MAKES A GOOD ALT TAG?
▸ Helpful geographical description:
The estuary scenery is a mix of salt marsh
and tidal creeks flanked by industrial
complexes.
▸ Less helpful: Power lines in the morning sun.
▸ Helpful environmental description:
The large pylon lines tower over woodland
and are visible for many miles around
▸ Less helpful: Pylons in a field.

17. A11Y FROM THE START
IMAGES: TEXT AS ART
▸ Text as art (e.g., illustrated pie chart):
▸ alt=“pie chart showing 30% apples,
30% oranges, 40% plums”
▸ Title Page, e.g. Use
▸ epub:type:frontmatter title page
▸ alt=“book title, author, publisher”

18. A11Y FROM THE START
TABLES
▸ Rework for ebook use if feasible.
▸ Mark up correctly in XHTML.
▸ If using an image for tabular matter,
provide fallback (link to nonlinear content
or to website)

19. A11Y FROM THE START
MATH ML
▸ Math symbols are often expressed as images in
digital content rendering them inaccessible
▸ If expressed as MathML the symbols can be
accessed by a screenreader
▸ MathML consists of a number of XML tags for
marking up equations in terms of presentation
and semantics

20. A11Y FROM THE START
DESIGN
▸ Ebook design does not need to mirror print design
▸ It’s possible to create unaccessible EPUBs, so it’s
important to spend the time getting it right
▸ Design adaptation considerations
▸ Account for design and semantic elements not
needed in print (TOC; narrative pause; extra content)
▸ Move elements (e.g., copyright to back)

21. A11Y FROM THE START
DESIGN
▸ Color:
▸ Must not convey meaning.
▸ Contrast must be high enough to be visible on all
screens.
▸ e-ink
▸ night mode
▸ media queries to target devices/modes

22. A11Y FROM THE START
DESIGN
▸ Designer must use tools appropriately
▸ style sheets
▸ master pages
▸ text flow
▸ image management
▸ color management

23. A11Y FROM THE START
SPECIAL E-ONLY FEATURES
▸ Media Overlays
▸ Different from TTS (text-to-speech)
▸ Read-aloud materials
▸ Record audio: synchronized audio narration
▸ Implement in EPUB (using SMIL markup:
sync audio with text)

24. A11Y FROM THE START
SPECIAL E-ONLY FEATURES
Audio/video
▸ Provide fallback description for video.
▸ Use native HTML5 for controls if possible.
▸ Plan and design interface in advance. If custom controls are necessary
(image as button, e.g.) use ARIA roles, states, and properties.
▸ Subtitles + captions:
▸ Editor creates in manuscript
▸ Developer executes

25. A11Y FROM THE START
SCRIPTING
▸ All content must be available with or without script.
▸ Accessibility concerns
▸ And, many reading systems don’t currently
allow scripting (hello, Kindle)
▸ From EPUB3 Best Practices (Garrish/Gylling):
▸ Does scripted content include useful information,
or is it only diversionary.
▸ Can content be made accessible in a usable way, and can you
build a fallback to provide the same or similar experience?

26. A11Y FROM THE START
EXTRA CONTENT
▸ Richer backmatter
▸ Appendices
▸ Bibliography
▸ Annotations
▸ Indexes
▸ Hyperlinked backmatter (good or bad—what’s the link life?)
▸ Extra front matter
▸ TOCs
▸ Introductory material

27. A11Y FROM THE START
METADATA
▸ ebooks with accessibility metadata are discoverable.
▸ Include a11y metadata for any elements present.
▸ ONIX 3, Codelist 196 includes 23 a11y description
codes. Some are:
▸ table of contents and Index navigation
▸ Reading order
▸ Short and Full alternative descriptions

28. A11Y FROM THE START
RESOURCES
Books
EPUB3 Best Practices by Matt Garrish & Markus Gylling
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920024897.do
BISG Quick Start Guide to Accessible Publishing
http://bisg.org/news/297929/The-BISG-Quick-Start-Guide-to-Accessible-Publishing-Moving-Inclusion-Forward.htm
Accessible EPUB3, by Matt Garrish
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920025283.do
HTML5 & CSS3 Visual QuickStart Guide, 7th Edition, Elizabeth Castro & Bruce Hyslop
http://www.peachpit.com/store/html5-css3-visual-quickstart-guide-9780321719614
Reading System Support
http://epubtest.org/
Participate
https://www.w3.org/community/epub3/
Color
webaim.org

29. A11Y FROM THE START
RESOURCES
W3C
http://w3.org/accessibility
Images, alt text
http://diagramcenter.org/59-image-guidelines-for-epub-3.html
http://diagramcenter.org/standards-and-practices/accessible-image-sample-book.html
http://diagramcenter.org/poet.html
epub:type
▸ https://idpf.github.io/a11y-guidelines/content/semantics/epub-type.html

30. A11Y FROM THE START
CONTACT US
Sarah Hilderley
shilderley@gmail.com
@quarrypress
Kevin Callahan
www.BNGOBooks.com
kevin@BNGOBooks.com
@BNGOBooks