Creating an Accessible PDF File from a NeoOffice Text Document Opening Welcome to Accessibility in the MLTI, your how-to source for making ed tech accessible for students with disabilities. I'm Cynthia Curry. Introduction Today, it is my pleasure to walk you through the tools and features of a NeoOffice Text document that you will need if you plan to convert it to an accessible PDF file. For a complete and, hopefully, compelling explanation of why accessible PDF is important, please refer to my previous podcast entitled, “Time to Think About the Accessibility of PDF Files.” And for an overview of what makes any word processing file worthy of being converted to accessible PDF, regardless of the program, please refer to my podcast, “The 'Dos and Don'ts’ of Creating Accessible PDF from a Word Processing File.” That podcast will give you the 'in's and 'out's, regardless of your word processor of choice. Tools and Features of NeoOffice Text Documents Other word processing tools that I’ll address in future podcasts include Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac and Pages 08. Today, our focus is NeoOffice Text files. 1. Applying Styles First, recall that the most important part of creating an accessible PDF file from any word processor is to rely on your program's Styles. Applying Styles to your document creates a consistent and predictable format and layout for all users, particularly those who will access your document using assistive technology. To open the Styles and Formatting window in NeoOffice, choose Format from the main menu and then Styles and Formatting. The styles that are built into NeoOffice will be listed in the window, and you can either use these or create your own. Note the icons across the top of the window. Each icon is for a different style category; in order from left to right, these are Paragraph, Character, Frame, Page, and List. To apply a style, go to your document, select the text, and then double-click the desired style in the Styles and Formatting window. For example, to convert the title of your document to a Heading 1 Style, place your cursor inside the text of your title, and then double-click on Heading 1 in the Styles and Formatting window. The settings for Heading 1 will automatically apply to the text you've selected. If the use and application of Styles is new to you, I recommend that you check out the NeoOffice wiki at neowiki.neooffice.org. Follow the NeoOffice Tips and Hints link to a number of tutorials on Styles and Templates. 2. Making Changes to Text Font and Size Recall that the best font choices for accessibility are those that are sans serif, including Arial, Comic Sans, Geneva, and Trebuchet. In NeoOffice, you can select fonts from the drop-down menu in the Formatting toolbar. If your Formatting toolbar isn't visible, then go to View in the main menu and choose Toolbars. Then, select Formatting. Unlike some other word processors, you won't get a preview of what the fonts look like. To see how the font appears, you'll need to select it, and then add text to your document. Don't forget to use a text size of at least 12 points. You can do this from the text size drop- down menu, which is also available in the Formatting toolbar, right next to the font menu. 3. Making Changes to Text and Background Color Remember that high contrast is good for everyone. To make changes to text color in NeoOffice, click the triangle on the Font Color tool in the Formatting toolbar. The Font Color window will display. To make changes to the background color of your document, go to Format in the main menu and choose Page. In the Page Style window, choose the Background tab to see a selection of colors. Click the OK button to apply your choice. 4. Inserting Images Including images in your document can be an effective way to visually convey meaning. Recall, however, that the use of images should be both effective and appropriate for your information to be accessible to everyone. Images should also be accompanied by alternative text, which is step 5. To insert an image in NeoOffice, choose Insert from the main menu, then Picture. The Open file window will display, from which you can navigate to the image on your computer. 5. Adding Alternative Text to Images Recall that alternative text tags are what users see and/or hear in place of visual images in your document. Alternative text is especially important to users of screen readers. To add alternative text to an image inserted in NeoOffice, click on the image and then select Format > Picture from the main menu. In the Picture window that displays, choose the Options tab. In the Name field, enter the word “Image.” In the “Alternative (Text only)” field, enter a description of your image. Keep it brief; say five words or fewer, being sure that the meaning of the image is appropriately and accurately conveyed. Choose the OK button when you're done. 6. Adding Descriptions to Hyperlinks Adding descriptions to hyperlinks is best practice because everyone appreciates a succinct title of where a link is going to take them. Recall that screen reader users benefit the most because without a hyperlink description, they'll hear the URL of the Web page read aloud, which more often than not is highly uninformative. For example, let’s say I want to link to a Wikipedia page about the accessibility of OpenDocument format. Its URL is quite unwieldy, so I’m going to type in my document the text that I want to appear in place of it, which is “Accessibility of OpenDocument.” Next, I’m going to highlight that text and choose Insert>Hyperlink from NeoOffice’s main menu. The Hyperlink window will display. Note that along the left side of the window you can select the type of hyperlink you are creating: Internet (for linking to the Web); Mail & News (for linking to an e-mail address, for example); Document (for hyperlinking to a spot in the current document); or New Document (for linking to a separate document on your computer). In this particular case, I’m linking to a Wikipedia page, so I’m going to choose Internet. In the Target field, enter the address of the link, remembering that copy and paste can be your best friends in time like this. Under Further settings, you can enter the text of the description for your link. When you're ready, choose the Apply button. 7. Applying Bulleted and Numbered Lists Again, consistency in format and organization in layout are critical to successful conversion of a word processing document to accessible PDF. The creation of lists can easily be accomplished well via NeoOffice's Styles and Formatting window. The final icon at the top of the window is List Styles. Choosing this will display a number of choices for a bulleted or a numbered list. Place your cursor in your document where you want the list to begin and double-click on the list type of your choice. 8. Creating Tables and Columns Tables and columns can be created by choosing the Table tool in NeoOffice's Standard toolbar. If the Standard toolbar isn't visible, choose View > Toolbars from the main menu, then select Standard. From the Table tool, you can select the number of columns and rows that you want. 9. Converting Your NeoOffice Text Document to an Accessible PDF File When your document is complete and ready for conversion, choose File > Export as PDF from NeoOffice's main menu. In the Save window, confirm that the file format is “PDF – Portable Document Format (.pdf).” Make sure your filename and destination are good to go, and choose OK. Closing That's it, folks. If you're interested in learning how to create accessible PDF from Pages '08 or from Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac, be sure to check out those podcasts in MLTI's accessibility series here on iTunes U. And thanks for coming by Accessibility in the MLTI. .