Configure Your Workspaces

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Overview

You will want to set up both your InDesign and Acrobat workspace with certain panels, scripts, default behaviors and options turned on to create accessible documents.

It is also recommended to have the MacOS program TextEdit pinned to your dock to easily convert formatted text to plain text and to bookmark TextFixer and ConvertCase.

Set Up the InDesign User Interface

Panels

Go to Window and open the following panels. It’s recommended to group them as follows, though you can group them any way you prefer and open any additional panels you use frequently.

  1. Pages, Layers, Links, and Articles
  2. Character and Paragraph
  3. Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, and Object Styles
  4. Effects, Stroke, Swatches
  5. Align, Pathfinder
  6. Buttons, Hyperlinks, and Scripts

Defaults

Ensure no documents are open (all documents are closed) and set the following presets to ensure default behavior across all InDesign documents:

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Watch a video showing how to set up these presets.

  1. View > Extras > Show Text Threads
  2. Type > Show Hidden Characters
  3. Window > Color > Swatches > add your default swatches
  4. CMD + B for Text Frame Options > Baseline Options > First Baseline Offset > Set to Cap Height
  5. Window > Type and Tables > Paragraph. > uncheck Hyphenate
  6. Window > Type and Tables > Character > set your default font
  7. Window > Styles > Character Styles > Create New Style > Basic Character Formats > check ONLY the option for “No Break”
  8. Window > Styles > Object Styles > More menu > New Object Style > create an object style with NOTHING applied to it except: Export Tagging, Alt Text, Tagged PDF, EPUB, HTML. Important: Under Tagged PDF, choose “Apply Tag > Artifact” or it won’t work

Scripts

Install the Helpful Scripts:

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Watch a video showing how to install scripts.

  1. Open the Scripts panel.
  2. Right-click on User Folder.
  3. Choose Reveal in Finder.
  4. Click inside the Scripts Panel Folder.
  5. Paste the script files into the User folder.

Set Up the Acrobat User Interface

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Watch a video showing how to set up the Acrobat Classic UI.

  1. Use Acrobat Classic, not the “new experience.”
  2. Ensure the Accessibility Tool, and Tags Panel are turned on.
  3. Turn on “Highlight Content” from the option menu in the Tags panel.
Figure 1: The Accessibility Checker in Acrobat
Figure 2: Turn on “Highlight Content” from the Tags panel in Acrobat.

Access Color Testing Tools

Download and install the Mac OS versions of the following programs:

Bookmark this webpage in your browser:

Adobe Color Wheel https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel

Access PC-Based Accessibility Testing Tools

Unfortunately, the tools used for accessibility testing are not available for Mac OS. A separate testing PC is recommended.

Download and install the following tools to your testing PC (or partner with an accessibility specialist for testing):

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