Converting an Existing Syllabus into an Accessible Document

Steps to convert an existing syllabus so that it is accessible to screen reading software:

1. Open an existing syllabus in Word 2007. Click the Office button in the upper left and choose File --> Save As... to save the document with a new name. If necessary, change the file type so the document will be .docx. If you get warning about possible changes to the layout, click OK.
2. Sample of the document to be converted:
   
   
    
3. The document contains bold text that appear to be headings, but a quick look at the Document Map shows that there are no hierarchal headings specified. To view the Document Map, click on the View tab on the Ribbon and check the Document Map option in the Show/Hide group.
   
   
    
4. To view the styles currently in use in the document, first you need to display the Styles Task Pane. To do so, first click on the Home tab of the Ribbon. Click the small icon in the lower right of the Styles group to show the Styles Task Pane.
   
   
    
5. If you only want the styles in use to show in the Styles Task Pane, you may need to click the Options... link in the lower right of the task pane. In the Style Pane Options dialog, be sure that In use is selected in the Select styles to show: dropdown list and click OK.
   
   
    
6. These are the styles currently in use in the document. Notice that many of them are just fonts, which are not really styles.
   
   
    
7. To remove all style formatting from the document, select all of the text by pressing Ctrl a. Click Clear All at the top of the Styles Task Pane. After checking the Show Preview option at the bottom of the Styles Task Pane, this is how my task pane appears:
   
   
    
8. The document should be clear of all styles. Depending on how the Normal style is configured, a document clear of all styles will appear similar to below. The Document Map should be empty.
   
   
    
9. Begin by selecting the title and clicking the Title style in the Ribbon.
   
   
   
   
    
10. To apply the headings, be sure that the heading text and actual information appear on separate lines.
11. Apply the different heading levels (Heading1, Heading2, and Heading3) so the document will have a hierarchal organization structure. The Document Map will reflect this.
    
    
     
12. The document shown above would appear like this with Word 2007 default styles applied:
    
    
     
13. Any images that are inserted or pasted into the document should have an Alt attribute. Use these steps to add the Alt attribute to an image:
    1. Right click on the image and choose Size...
    2. Choose the Alt tab near the top of the Size dialog.
       
       
        
    3. Replace the default text (usually the filename of the image) in the Alternative text: textbox. Use descriptive text so that screen reading software is able to describe the image. If the image is simply decorative, use a blank space for the Alt Text so that screen reading software will know to skip over the image.
14. All tables should have table headers. Use these steps to ensure that they do:
    1. Place the cursor anywhere inside the table and click the Table Tools Design tab on the Ribbon.
       
       
        
    2. In the Table Style Options group Make sure Header Row and First Column options are selected.
       
       
        
    3. Move the cursor up to the top header row and click the Table Tools Layout tab on the Ribbon.
       
       
        
    4. Select the Repeat Header Rows option in the Data group.
       
       
        
    5. With these options chosen, the table will have a heading row at the top even if it spans multiple pages.