How to produce and read accessible iBooks eBooks for everyone - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

How to produce and read accessible iBooks eBooks for everyone Paris, August 22-23 2014 Bart Simons Steven Breughe Jeroen Baldewijns

Who are we? What do we offer?  Blindenzorg Licht en Liefde : non-profit organisation for visually impaired people → AnySurfer : the Belgian web accessibility project accessibility techniques for a variety of document types, training sessions, accessibility audits, accessibility label → Blind d mobiel : advisory service on assistive technology consultancy services for users of assistive devices, testing of assistive devices

Accessible Digital Office Documents (ADOD)  Suite of practical, easy-to-use papers, explaining techniques for producing accessible documents with office applications  Based on WCAG !!  An initiative of the Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University, Canada with collaboration of AnySurfer  Versions available for: MSWord (Win/Mac), Pages, OpenOffice, GoogleDocs, Acrobat Pro, Adobe InDesign 

iBooks  We conducted a study on: → Producing accessible iBooks with iBooks Author ⇒ ADOD-document with accessibility techniques → Reading accessible iBooks with the iBooks app on iOS and Mac OS X devices  Why iBooks? → iOS and Mac OS X are highly accessible via VoiceOver → iBooks become more popular in education → iBooks Author is free and offers accessibility features → Nice addition to existing collections of Daisy books

Producing iBooks  iBooks Author provides all necessary accessibility features: accessibility description, styles, language settings, captioning for video,…  Accessibility based on WCAG:  Same accessibility principles  Different techniques to apply those principles in the iBooks Author app

Producing iBooks  Set of 13 accessibility techniques: Use accessible templates Use headings Specify the book’s language Use styles Provide text alternatives for images Use structuring features Provide text alternatives for widgets Make accessible tables Provide captioning for video Make accessible charts Make content easy to see Check accessibility Make content easy to understand

Producing iBooks  Provide text alternatives (images, charts, tables, widgets, shapes, backgrounds, … ): → Inspector > Widget inspector > Layout

Producing iBooks  Specify the language:

Producing iBooks  Available as an ADOD document  Free download: http://inclusivedesign.ca/ accessible-office- documents : “ adod ” 

Reading iBooks Platforms :  iBooks app for Mac: currently not accessible with VoiceOver  iBooks app for iPhone or iPod touch: only books from Apple iBook Store  iBooks app for iPad

Reading iBooks Accessibility features :  Magnify text, customise font, etc.  Listen to VoiceOver  Connect a braille display

Reading iBooks Advantages :  Most books are optimised for portrait mode but others work in landscape as well  Choose from table of contents  Continuous reading by flicking down with two fingers; pages turn automatically  Remembers position after closing book

Reading iBooks Advantages :  Alternative text for images  Text divided into columns  Glossary terms  Buttons to enlarge image or launch video

Reading iBooks Disadvantages :  Does not always change voice for other languages  Does not allow to navigate by heading  Announces a heading but not its level

Conclusions  Possible to create iBook according to accessibility standards  VoiceOver support needs improvement in Mac OS X  Some navigation features are missing in iBooks app for iOS