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Mini: Making Things More Accessible · Why We Do What We Do

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we Do what we Do. Welcome
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to Why We Do what we Do Mini. I am
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: your host Abraham and I'm your O Shane. We are
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a psychology podcast. We talk about the things that humans
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and non human animals do. In these mini episodes. We
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  Speaker 1: just take a short topic and we get in there
• 0:30
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• 0:31
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• 0:34
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• 0:35
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  Speaker 2: It's just a bite size. It's a bite size us.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I apologize to listeners if my voice is
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: sounding a little off. I am a little under the
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• 0:48
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  Speaker 1: nothing to compare it to, so as far as you're concerned,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: it's just sultry goodness. But for everyone else who's more
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  Speaker 1: familiar with the rich, leathery tambur of my normal voice
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  Speaker 1: with weather, yeah, of all the things, Yeah, the vegan
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  Speaker 1: with a leathery voice. Anyway, this is a medi It's
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  Speaker 1: a short one. If you would like to support what
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  Speaker 1: merch like and subscribe, rate, review, tell a friend, join
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: us on Patreon. I'll talk more about those things at
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  Speaker 1: the end of this discussion. But this one's a little
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  Speaker 1: unique among the minis, mostly in the sense that we
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  Speaker 1: are currently in the middle of a suite of episodes
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  Speaker 1: about disability and accessibility, and for the most part, we
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  Speaker 1: really hadn't planned to have the minis follow suit and
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  Speaker 1: beyond that same topic. It was really just going to
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  Speaker 1: be our full length discussions. But there was one discussion
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  Speaker 1: that is either going to be published before pretty soon
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  Speaker 1: before or after this episode drops, and the content for
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  Speaker 1: this felt like it didn't belong in that episode, so
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  Speaker 1: we decided to put it into a mini. So this
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  Speaker 1: one will be about accessibility and disability.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, and we're so excited about it. I think this
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  Speaker 3: will be really cool, especially somebody who does a lot
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  Speaker 3: of presentations. Yeah, I'm really excited to learn about some
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  Speaker 3: new tools and like to really make this make this
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  Speaker 3: really like, really make my presentations pop very good.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is going to be a how to type episode.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about how to plan for designing
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  Speaker 1: with accessibility in mind, and the materials that you create,
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  Speaker 1: particularly around the Microsoft Office Suite, but it'll be around
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  Speaker 1: multiple things. But yeah, that's going to be sort of
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  Speaker 1: the main point of this.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do it.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So just diving in here, I'm going to try
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  Speaker 1: and keep this as light and fun as possible while
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  Speaker 1: also being like it's a how to, like it's really informative.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, there's some features that are fairly identical
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  Speaker 1: across various Microsoft Office Suite platforms that we'll get to.
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  Speaker 1: But one of the things to know is as you're
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  Speaker 1: designing a PowerPoint, So people who use powerpoints, particularly if
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  Speaker 1: you're giving a presentation, all slides in a PowerPoint must
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  Speaker 1: have a title, even if you end up blocking the
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  Speaker 1: title with an image or something else, or you could
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  Speaker 1: even potentially put the title on there and then wipe
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  Speaker 1: it out so it looks invisible. Ensure there is a
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  Speaker 1: title on the slide, and there's a specific reason for that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Screen readers are common accessibility tools for people with visual impairments.
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  Speaker 3: So people who have enabled screen readers can use the
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  Speaker 3: screen reader to describe slides and other documents to them.
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  Speaker 3: So there are some important considerations to ensure that the
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  Speaker 3: screen reader works as well as possible.
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  Speaker 1: And having the title is one of the ways. And
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  Speaker 1: I don't think we mentioned this later, but all slide
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  Speaker 1: titles should be unique from one another. So if you
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  Speaker 1: are doing like let's say you're presenting on a study
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  Speaker 1: or something, it might be methods Slide one of three,
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  Speaker 1: and then your next slide is method Slide two of three,
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  Speaker 1: or it could be Methods continued if there was only
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  Speaker 1: two slides or something. But every title needs to be
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  Speaker 1: unique so that people understand as they're using their screen
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  Speaker 1: reader that they're onto a new slide as they go.
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  Speaker 1: But one of the tools that also works with the
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  Speaker 1: screen readers is called alt text alt t ext. This
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  Speaker 1: is a brief description of something, usually a visual something
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  Speaker 1: or other. All images must have alt text to facilitate accessibility,
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  Speaker 1: and particularly for those screen readers, unless they are decorative.
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  Speaker 1: As long as the image is essential to the content,
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  Speaker 1: then it should have all text. But if it's not,
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  Speaker 1: you can simply click on the image and select it
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  Speaker 1: as decorative.
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  Speaker 2: So to add all text.
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  Speaker 3: When you add an image, you can select the format
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  Speaker 3: picture tab or click the right click drop down menu,
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  Speaker 3: select all text, and write a brief description.
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  Speaker 1: So for example, if you had an image of let's
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  Speaker 1: say a graph, you could say, this is a graph
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  Speaker 1: showing instances of this behavior, with the y axis going
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  Speaker 1: from zero to one hundred and as a percent of intervals,
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  Speaker 1: and the x access going from zero to twenty of sessions,
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  Speaker 1: and like that could be sort of the brief description
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  Speaker 1: of something that's like a quick description of what that
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  Speaker 1: thing is, and that case a graph, but it could
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  Speaker 1: be of basically something else, right, things that are like logos,
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  Speaker 1: you usually just going to mark as decorative right. Another
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  Speaker 1: tool that facilitates the screen readers able to access these
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  Speaker 1: is using the slide layout templates that come with PowerPoint.
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  Speaker 1: These are designed to organize text in the order that
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  Speaker 1: they're intended to be read by the audience. Similarly, in
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  Speaker 1: MS word, you want to use those header formats. They
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  Speaker 1: have like automatic formats to prioritize different texts, and you
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  Speaker 1: can modify the formats because one of the issues is
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  Speaker 1: you might select and be like, I don't want my
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  Speaker 1: text to look like that. You can create your own
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  Speaker 1: defaults so that when you select it it defaults to
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  Speaker 1: the formatting you want for that, or you can simply
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  Speaker 1: apply those headers and then modify the font however you
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  Speaker 1: want afterwards. That's how you go about using those templates
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  Speaker 1: and formats to ensure that the screen readers can follow them.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that makes sense.
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  Speaker 3: I think sometimes what we'll find is that, like when
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  Speaker 3: it comes to templates, they're super easy and super great,
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  Speaker 3: Like you can just kind of copy and paste in
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  Speaker 3: the templates too, which is really nice, which is a
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  Speaker 3: lot of times what ads do, Like ads will through
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  Speaker 3: that world will just kind of like drop in like
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  Speaker 3: you know, formats and then they'll just play like right.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Yeah, okay, we are back and we are continuing
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  Speaker 1: on with this very riveting discussion about how to make
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  Speaker 1: things more accessible.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so if you're not sure whether you have created
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  Speaker 3: accessible materials, you can use the check Accessibility feature which
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  Speaker 3: is built in the software platforms, which is really cool.
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  Speaker 3: So in Microsoft for Mac and PC, under the review tab,
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  Speaker 3: select check Accessibility. It will list the design features important
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  Speaker 3: for accessibility and identify where and to what extent what
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  Speaker 3: you have designed meets or fails accessibility standards in some
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  Speaker 3: direction as to how to improve that accessibility, which is
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  Speaker 3: really nice. It's like a tool that tells you, hey,
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  Speaker 3: like this doesn't quite like meet the mark, so let's
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  Speaker 3: do a little bit better.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll point out things like contrast is low, like
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  Speaker 1: improve your contrast ratio, or like this image doesn't have
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  Speaker 1: alt text at all text things like that, So they're
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  Speaker 1: really like it lists all of them and you can
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  Speaker 1: just go through and check on them. Truly handy. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that feature is actually not available by default in Google Docs.
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  Speaker 1: For this, you'll need to install a check accessibility add
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  Speaker 1: on for Google Docs. It is free, only takes like
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  Speaker 1: I'm minute to install now, like the other things, Google
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  Speaker 1: Docs does have some accessibility tools already built in for
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  Speaker 1: the user side, so they can select things from the
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  Speaker 1: accessibility menu, but as far as checking for accessibility, you
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  Speaker 1: have to install that as a separate add on.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. When it comes to fonts.
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  Speaker 1: That's whatever one's really here for. They're here for the fonts.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, like, yeah, for fonts, right, So when it comes
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  Speaker 3: to fonts, ideally, anything that's sans Sarah is ideal. So
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  Speaker 3: you've also got aerial Calibri or Calibri open sands to
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  Speaker 3: home of Veranda. They all sound like coffees as well. Verdonna, Verdona,
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  Speaker 3: Oh my god, whatever Verona.
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  Speaker 2: You know my Sharona, my Sharona Verdonna.
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  Speaker 3: So there are some accessible saraph fonts Century Gothic, Helvetica, Georgia, Times,
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  Speaker 3: New Roman, anything that just basically makes it so that
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  Speaker 3: the lettering is really clear and not like, you know,
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  Speaker 3: you're not guilding the lily by making it too fancy.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know what the serafs are?
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  Speaker 2: I have no idea I learn it. I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I'm so excited to learn right now.
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  Speaker 1: Sarah's are those little flares they put on letters where
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  Speaker 1: it's like at the bottom of the letter, like where
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  Speaker 1: an H might start is sort of flares out at
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  Speaker 1: the bottom or the top of the line. That's what
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  Speaker 1: a seraph is. And so any sans Sarah sands is
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  Speaker 1: French for without Yeah, so it just means without Sarah.
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  Speaker 1: So not all sands Sarah fonts are considered accessible, but
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  Speaker 1: sans Sarah fons are generally more accessible than Sarah fonse,
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  Speaker 1: with some of those exceptions that you read like Times
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  Speaker 1: in Roman.
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  Speaker 2: I love that.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Adobe also is not particularly well set up for
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  Speaker 1: checking for accessibility. To do this, what you have to
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  Speaker 1: do is go into when you if you're using Adobe
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  Speaker 1: and you're trying to check for accessibility for something you've made,
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  Speaker 1: You got to go into Tools, look for the accessibility panel,
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  Speaker 1: and then you can select from their accessibility check and
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  Speaker 1: then make sure you check options that are available for
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  Speaker 1: checking for accessibility, and then you click start checking, and
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  Speaker 1: then it will create from there a report of any
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  Speaker 1: issues that might require manual review or that could potentially
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  Speaker 1: even be fixed automatically. But it's it's more cumbersome than
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  Speaker 1: anything in Microsoft.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
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  Speaker 3: Now, appropriate contrast is important for people with visual impairments
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  Speaker 3: and without really, I mean, if you've ever seen like
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  Speaker 3: a PowerPoint that like the colors are too close or
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  Speaker 3: it's hard to read the lettering, you kind of go like,
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  Speaker 3: this is feah, it just sucks. There is a contrast
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  Speaker 3: checker which will include in the show notes I believe.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a you know, I won't read the whole
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  Speaker 3: thing here web aim dot org.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah is probably the best way to say that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So Now this allows you to select the color or
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  Speaker 3: use a dropper tool to click on a color for
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  Speaker 3: the foreground and background to determine the contrast ratio. It
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  Speaker 3: will tell you how accessible the contrast is per type
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  Speaker 3: of accessibility at standard and at different font hierarchies, which
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  Speaker 3: is really nice.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So there's like there's a single D and triple A
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  Speaker 1: accessibility standards. Triple A is like the most it is
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  Speaker 1: a very difficult standard to meet most of the time.
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  Speaker 1: If you're doing double A accessibility, you're doing a really
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  Speaker 1: good job. Yeah, and that's kind of the goal. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: if you can get to triple A, great, But this
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  Speaker 1: will tell you, based on the font size and the
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  Speaker 1: contrast ratio, how accessible the font is. The larger the font,
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  Speaker 1: the more accessible it's going to be, generally speaking. But
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  Speaker 1: of course, if you have font that's so gigantic that
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  Speaker 1: one letter takes up more than the entire screen, nobody
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  Speaker 1: can read that, you know, within reason, right, Yeah, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I think that's what we have to say in our
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  Speaker 1: riveting topic about how to use Microsoft.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know what, at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 3: it's going to make you a better presenter and make
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  Speaker 3: your materials much better for everybody involved.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, just to just as a way to consider, like,
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  Speaker 1: as you're making stuff, make it with the broadest possible
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  Speaker 1: audience in mind, and these are some things you can
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  Speaker 1: do to make that possible.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, nailed it perfect. All right, very good.
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  Speaker 1: Well, if you would like to tell us your thoughts
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: on accessibility, you can email us directly at info at
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: WWDWWD podcast. You can also reach us on the social
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: media platforms. If you join us on Patreon, then I'm
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: going to read your name in the list of names
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: of people who support us at the end of our
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: full length discussions, and at the end of the minutes,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: I'll say thank you, patron supporters. We appreciate you, we
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: love you. Yes. Otherwise you can support us. You can
• 11:16
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• 11:19
  Speaker 1: a friend, just like anything that like when you like
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: an episode, that makes it more likely that we show
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: up as a suggested thing in people's feed. If you
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: go tell a friend, then maybe they will listen to
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: episode and they'll be like, this was really boring, but
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: it's cool that you recommended it. Hopefully not. But I'm
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: just coming around the description of how you use Microsoft
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  Speaker 1: Office anyway. I think that is what I have to
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: say about that. Thank you so much to my team
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: of people without whom I could not make this podcast.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you all for listening. Thank you for recording with
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: me today.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Shane, Hey anytime.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: Is there anything that I missed or anything you'd like
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: to add before we wrap up?
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Nope, not right now?
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: All right, go forth and be accessible. This Sabram, It's Shane.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Why We Do What we Do? Mini is out. Bye.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: You've been listening to Why We Do What We Do.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: You can learn more about this and other episodes by
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: going to ww D ww.
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  Speaker 1: D podcast dot com.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks for listening, and we hope you have an awesome day.
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  Speaker 2: I think our front here right