Accessible Document Specialist Certification Exam Prep
Sucess Criterion Content written as clearly and simple as possible to ensure that additional content is
available to aid the understanding of difficult text or establish a testable measure
If content is more advanced than lowery secondary level supplemental content
(7-9 years of schooling) then what is required?
Lower Secondary Education Reading Level 7-9 years of schooling
Primary Education First 6 years of schooling
Upper Secondary Education Level 10-12 years of schooling
Advanced Education Level More than 12 years of schooling
Plain Language/Easy Read Text that uses short paragraphs with one topic, common words and short sentences
so that it is easier to read and understand content
Unicode Fonts A computer font that maps glyphs to code points defined in the Unicode Standard. It
assigns a unique number (code point) to each character of a language, as well as
punctuation, etc.
Unicode Mapping Text must be mapped to Unicode in order to be accessible. Most modern fonts use
these.
Font Type Characters should be sans-serif, not italic, oblique, script, highly decorative, or
unusually shaped.
Font Size 11pt is standard, don't go less than 9pt.
Font Resize reader must be able to resize text to at least to 200 percent without loss of content
or functionality
OpenType most accessible unicode font; type uses unicode character encoding
Unicode Font Styles If you don't use, then characters can be read or rended incorrectly by AT
Hyphen Combines two fragments of a compound word or is used for a word at the end of a
line (screen reads don't voice them)
, Accessible Document Specialist Certification Exam Prep
En-Dash Connects two items in a series, such as 9-5 or January-March. Most screen readers
will voice them as "dash" but others as "to" or "through"
Em-Dash Indicates a change in thought within a sentence, for example: Recent computer
technologies — from EPUBs to assistive technologies — require Unicode. Most
screen readers do not voice them but will pause and drop in tone like a period
Minus sign most screen readers will voice as "minus"
Non-text color contrast requirements Visual information required to identify user interface components/states and
graphics required to understand the content must meet 3:1 ratio against
background color
Active User Interface Components (contrast requirement) If component is selected or focused, it will need to have 3:1 contrast ratio
Boundaries (contrast requirement) isn't required for controls but if the visual indicator of the control is the only way to
identify it, then it must meet 3:1 contrast ratio
Use of color Changing only the color (hue) of an object or text without otherwise altering the
object's form will need to have color contrast between objects to differentiate
Focus Visible Must have sufficient contrast against adjacent background when component is
focused
Inactive User Interface Components not required to meet contrast; is visible but not currently operable (ex: submit button
at bottom of form that can't be activated until all required fields are completed)
Graphics/Standalone Icons (contrast requirements) Only need to pass contrast when required for a user to understand the content
Required for Understanding If a person needs to perceive a graphic or part of a graphic in order to understand
the content
When items don't have to pass contrast ratio -Text embedded or overlayed with graphic conveys same information
-Aesthetic purposes, don't need to understand content
-Graphic is part of a logo or brand name
Dynamic Examples (required for understanding) When mouseover/tap/focus on each graphical object, needs to already pass
contrast before pop up text appears
Infographics (accessibility requirements) Text contrast for values in chart and long description to discuss what is going on
Sensory Characteristics people who are blind/low vision may not be able to understand information
conveyed by shape and/or location so additional information to clarify is required
, Accessible Document Specialist Certification Exam Prep
Info & Relationships (tagging structure) Sighted users perceive structure and relationships through various visual cues like
bold, italic, headings in different fonts, etc. but those with disabilities cannot see
that. Tagging structure helps tell those relationships to a screen reader
Info & Relationships (work arounds) Some technology doesn't provide a way to programmatically communicate certain
info & relationships, so add a text description
Ex: "all required fields are marked with an asterisk (*)"
Heading describes the content that follows it, like a headline. Screen readers rely on the
page's underlying semantic structure for navigation
Heading 1 Main content heading, typically a title
Heading 2 major section heading
Heading 3 subsection of heading 2
Heading 4 subsection of Heading 3
Semantic Elements Markup structure where elements are used according to their meaning, not because
of the way they appear visually
-Ex: table tagged as a table, content as a paragraph
Tags that can be semantically empty -TD to maintain table structure
-LI to maintain list strucutre
-Span ActualText for white-space characters; metadata properties, attributes
-Div provides metadata properties and/or attributes
-Document a single page document with no content
Auditory Presentation (AT) AT use of different voice or pitch in an auditory presentation of an item for emphasis
(bold, italics, question marks, periods, etc.)
Regions (used by ARIA Landmark Roles) web pages have visual structure such as <header>, <nav>, <main> <aside> and
<footer> programmatically defined in structure of page
<section> and <article> tag structure use can be useful to contain blocks of content
ARIA Accessible Rich Internet Applications
ARIA Landmark Roles provide an easy way for users of assistive technology understand the programmatic
structure of a page and skip over content they're not interested in. For instance, if a
site's header, global navigation, main content area, and footer are marked up as
landmarks, a screen reader user can easily skip to the landmark they're interested
in without having to work their way through all the preceding content
Sucess Criterion Content written as clearly and simple as possible to ensure that additional content is
available to aid the understanding of difficult text or establish a testable measure
If content is more advanced than lowery secondary level supplemental content
(7-9 years of schooling) then what is required?
Lower Secondary Education Reading Level 7-9 years of schooling
Primary Education First 6 years of schooling
Upper Secondary Education Level 10-12 years of schooling
Advanced Education Level More than 12 years of schooling
Plain Language/Easy Read Text that uses short paragraphs with one topic, common words and short sentences
so that it is easier to read and understand content
Unicode Fonts A computer font that maps glyphs to code points defined in the Unicode Standard. It
assigns a unique number (code point) to each character of a language, as well as
punctuation, etc.
Unicode Mapping Text must be mapped to Unicode in order to be accessible. Most modern fonts use
these.
Font Type Characters should be sans-serif, not italic, oblique, script, highly decorative, or
unusually shaped.
Font Size 11pt is standard, don't go less than 9pt.
Font Resize reader must be able to resize text to at least to 200 percent without loss of content
or functionality
OpenType most accessible unicode font; type uses unicode character encoding
Unicode Font Styles If you don't use, then characters can be read or rended incorrectly by AT
Hyphen Combines two fragments of a compound word or is used for a word at the end of a
line (screen reads don't voice them)
, Accessible Document Specialist Certification Exam Prep
En-Dash Connects two items in a series, such as 9-5 or January-March. Most screen readers
will voice them as "dash" but others as "to" or "through"
Em-Dash Indicates a change in thought within a sentence, for example: Recent computer
technologies — from EPUBs to assistive technologies — require Unicode. Most
screen readers do not voice them but will pause and drop in tone like a period
Minus sign most screen readers will voice as "minus"
Non-text color contrast requirements Visual information required to identify user interface components/states and
graphics required to understand the content must meet 3:1 ratio against
background color
Active User Interface Components (contrast requirement) If component is selected or focused, it will need to have 3:1 contrast ratio
Boundaries (contrast requirement) isn't required for controls but if the visual indicator of the control is the only way to
identify it, then it must meet 3:1 contrast ratio
Use of color Changing only the color (hue) of an object or text without otherwise altering the
object's form will need to have color contrast between objects to differentiate
Focus Visible Must have sufficient contrast against adjacent background when component is
focused
Inactive User Interface Components not required to meet contrast; is visible but not currently operable (ex: submit button
at bottom of form that can't be activated until all required fields are completed)
Graphics/Standalone Icons (contrast requirements) Only need to pass contrast when required for a user to understand the content
Required for Understanding If a person needs to perceive a graphic or part of a graphic in order to understand
the content
When items don't have to pass contrast ratio -Text embedded or overlayed with graphic conveys same information
-Aesthetic purposes, don't need to understand content
-Graphic is part of a logo or brand name
Dynamic Examples (required for understanding) When mouseover/tap/focus on each graphical object, needs to already pass
contrast before pop up text appears
Infographics (accessibility requirements) Text contrast for values in chart and long description to discuss what is going on
Sensory Characteristics people who are blind/low vision may not be able to understand information
conveyed by shape and/or location so additional information to clarify is required
, Accessible Document Specialist Certification Exam Prep
Info & Relationships (tagging structure) Sighted users perceive structure and relationships through various visual cues like
bold, italic, headings in different fonts, etc. but those with disabilities cannot see
that. Tagging structure helps tell those relationships to a screen reader
Info & Relationships (work arounds) Some technology doesn't provide a way to programmatically communicate certain
info & relationships, so add a text description
Ex: "all required fields are marked with an asterisk (*)"
Heading describes the content that follows it, like a headline. Screen readers rely on the
page's underlying semantic structure for navigation
Heading 1 Main content heading, typically a title
Heading 2 major section heading
Heading 3 subsection of heading 2
Heading 4 subsection of Heading 3
Semantic Elements Markup structure where elements are used according to their meaning, not because
of the way they appear visually
-Ex: table tagged as a table, content as a paragraph
Tags that can be semantically empty -TD to maintain table structure
-LI to maintain list strucutre
-Span ActualText for white-space characters; metadata properties, attributes
-Div provides metadata properties and/or attributes
-Document a single page document with no content
Auditory Presentation (AT) AT use of different voice or pitch in an auditory presentation of an item for emphasis
(bold, italics, question marks, periods, etc.)
Regions (used by ARIA Landmark Roles) web pages have visual structure such as <header>, <nav>, <main> <aside> and
<footer> programmatically defined in structure of page
<section> and <article> tag structure use can be useful to contain blocks of content
ARIA Accessible Rich Internet Applications
ARIA Landmark Roles provide an easy way for users of assistive technology understand the programmatic
structure of a page and skip over content they're not interested in. For instance, if a
site's header, global navigation, main content area, and footer are marked up as
landmarks, a screen reader user can easily skip to the landmark they're interested
in without having to work their way through all the preceding content
