ADA Compliance: Making Documents, PDFS and Webpages Accessible

Importance of ADA Compliance

ADA compliance is a vital part in ensuring that documents, PDFs and webpages are accessible to ALL our BC users. It is very frustrating for students and staff when they are not able to access/read an important document/webpage. Millions of people around the world have a disability that affects their access to information on the web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities.

Read more about web accessibility: https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php

Cleaning Up Outdated Documents

All documents on the Broward College public website and Connect will need to be updated in accordance with  the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 508 Federal Mandate. This is why it is important that you delete outdated/unused PDFs  and maintain all documents web accessible. If you need to retain any of these documents, contact Rob Hupf or Lorana McCray for information on storing those documents in OneDrive (Office 365). You will be responsible for following the guidelines for compliance for any new documents you add to your site in the future.

Deleting documents in connect.broward.edu

1. Log in to your site.

2. Next to your name, click on gear icon > Site Contents.

3. Scroll down and click on the Documents library icon.

4. Make sure to review all the stored documents.

5. Delete any documents that are no longer in use. You can do so by clicking the ellipsis (…) next to the document name. In the box (window) click the ellipsis (…) > delete.

Deleting documents in www.broward.edu

1. Log in to your site.

2. Go to the _docs folder and click to open.

3. Select the document by checking off the box on left of the document name.

4. Click on the Trash Can icon above the Name column.

Tutorials 

• Converting Original Documents: Make Word, PowerPoint, or Excel documents into accessible PDFs. 
  • Accessible-Documents-Tutorial
• Converting Existing PDFs: Resolve accessibility issues in existing PDFs.
  • Accessible-PDFs-Tutorial
• Resolving Basic ADA Problems: Ensure that your webpage doesn't have any of these issues.
  •  ADA-Basic-Guidelines-USER

Other Resources:

• Lynda.com: Creating Accessible PDFs by Chad Chelius
• InDesign Accessible Files: https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/products/indesign/pdfs/creating-accessible-pdf-documentw-with-adobe-indesign-cs6-v3.pdf
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4XdTqlNLio
• Illustrator: https://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/illustrator.html
  • Image alt: https://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/illustrator/images.html
• WebAIM Color Contrast: https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
• Contrast Checker: http://contrastchecker.com
• Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Checker: http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/using-acrobat-pro-accessibility-checker.html
• Creating Bookmarks in PDF: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-create-bookmarks-in-a-pdf-acrobat-file
• Creating bookmarks in Word: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbMsD-igyuQ

Further assistance submit a ticket: https://helpdesk.broward.edu/TDClient/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=14508