Accessible Documents with InDesign

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Introduction

EIR Electronic Accessibility is the training and compliance resource for accessibility at UTA. OLC Creative Services offers Self-Serve Courses to support primary training provided by EIR Electronic Accessibility. We cannot create accessible content or verify accessibility for groups outside our service area.

The Accessible Documents with InDesign course provides a step-by-step guide to creating accessible documents with InDesign in the context of a creative workflow using Mac OS and free tools.

The course is in sequential order. Use the Course Sections Menu to navigate the course.

The course does not provide legal advice nor promise compliance. It is based on the opinion that barrier-free, accessible content is most important and provides an excellent foundation in best practices for accessible InDesign documents. The course does not provide everything there is to know about accessibility or cover in-depth PDF remediation.  It offers detailed steps and methods used daily by OLC Creative Services and provides the methods that we have found successful.  Other opinions may exist. 

This course was developed 2022-2024 by Brenna L. Witt-Marett for the University of Texas at Arlington.

What Are the Requirements for Accessible Documents?

  • All documents (flyers, publications, handouts, et cetera ) provided digitally must be correctly structured to work properly with assistive technologies.
  • Documents that are intended for print only must follow best practices for readability, color choice, et cetera.
  • Documents must follow policies, procedures, legal codes, and federal laws. See Document Accessibility Policies.

Why Are Graphic Designers Responsible?

As the graphic design and user experience design industries evolve, it is becoming increasingly important that designers produce content that a broad user base can access, use, and understand.

All graphic design, whether an email graphic, a billboard, or a simple flyer, is user experience design. Good user experience design meets the needs of all users. Graphic designers should create a user experience that meets the needs of all users.

Graphic designers are creative thinkers and problem solvers, and accessible design leverages those skills. Graphic designers use their creative thinking and problem-solving skills to produce accessible designs.

All designs are opportunities. Accessible design does not require “ugly” visual design. It requires only that the design follow best practices to benefit all users and works with assistive technologies.

Graphic designers can approach each project as an opportunity to produce a compelling visual design that works with access technologies to benefit a diverse audience.

Graphic designers already have the skills to create accessible designs.

A venn diagram showing that graphic designers already have the right skills to create accessible designs.
Figure 1: A venn diagram. The skills to create compelling visual aesthetics and meet the client’s wishes are on the left. The skills to meet PDF/UA standards and user needs are on the right. They overlap in the middle with creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

What Are the Course Prerequisites?

Self-Serve Resources are cumulative. See the Self-Serve Courses page for the complete learning path.

Do not start this course until you have completed:

  1. EIR Accessibility training
  2. Inclusive and Accessible Content – Pay close attention to the section on headings.
  3. Accessible Colors
  4. InDesign Essentials via LinkedIn Learning – Pay close attention to the section on Paragraph Styles.

This course is intended for Graphic Designers with an intermediate InDesign skillset and assumes familiarity with:

  • How to work with InDesign on Mac OS
  • How to access various panels and set up an InDesign workspace
  • How to correctly set and use paragraph, character, and object styles
  • How to work with swatches and test color accessibility
  • How to work with layers and hyperlinks
  • How to use threaded text and anchored objects
  • How to work with parent pages and object export options

Is There a Video Tutorial?

This 1.5-hour “crash course” is offered to UTA users. It provides the high points, but the written material in this course goes into comprehensive detail with steps, screenshots, and video.

This was developed on March 28, 2024, in celebration of Accessibility Day at UTA.

Course Sections

Course Overview

  1. Understand Inclusive and Accessible Content
  2. Configure Your Workspaces
  3. Plan the Layout
  4. Work with Text
  5. Work with Visuals
  6. Create Drafts
  7. Learn Special Considerations for Publications
  8. Finalize the Document: Check, Set Reading Order, and Export
  9. Perform Post-Process in Acrobat
  10. Test the Document
  11. Make Additional Changes
  12. Explore Bonus Features
  13. Engage with More Resources

Checklist for Accessible InDesign Documents