Datasheet

People who use assistive technologies are accustomed to text-only substitutes and, therefore, will
respond well to the text-only alternatives you provide.
There are a number of ways you can use text to substantially improve your reports' accessibility:
• Provide text equivalents for objects in reports.
• Provide text alternatives for reports.
• Ensure that text is written and formatted clearly.
Text is a useful tool for creating accessible reports. Most assistive technologies require text input,
including screen readers, speech synthesizers, and Braille displays. You can easily resize and format
text, and text is the most flexible medium for import and export.
27.2.2.1 Providing text equivalents
When you create reports, there are many opportunities to use text equivalents to clarify non-text objects.
• Place a descriptive text object next to a non-text object, and be sure to add them to the report in
consecutive order (for more details see Placing objects in order).
Whenever possible, a text equivalent should communicate the same information as its corresponding
object in the report. If a report displays data in a pie chart, for example, include a text box next to
the chart that summarizes its contents.
Describe the purpose of the non-text object. For example, if an image performs an action when you
click it, describe the action. For a button that opens your web site, provide a text box labeled "Click
to view our web site".
• If a report includes audio links, provide a transcript for significant audio clips.
• If a report links to a multimedia or video presentation, provide a transcript. You may also want to
provide captioning for the audio portion and an audio description of the visual portion. Captioning
should be synchronized with the audio.
27.2.2.2 Providing text-only alternatives
If there are too many non-text objects on a report, or if you do not have the resources to integrate
accessible design into all of your reports, then you can provide complete text-only alternatives. For
reports that represent data using only charts and graphics, for example, you can provide a link to a
text-only alternative that provides the same data in data tables and text objects.
Whenever possible, a text-only alternative should provide the same information as the original report.
The information conveyed through images in the main report should also be described using text objects
on the alternative report.
2011-05-16674
Creating Accessible Reports