Creating Accessible Flyers Using Adobe InDesign

Introduction

Due to their visual nature, flyers are mostly inaccessible in their physical form. As a result, accessible versions of the flyers must be created that can be presented or distributed electronically, but this does not necessarily mean that two versions of the same document need to be created. Adobe InDesign has the functionality to add programmatically determinable structure to export an accessible PDF version of the flyer.

Creating and Applying Structure Styles

1. Create a new Paragraph Style.
2. Select Type in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
3. Select Paragraph Styles; this will open the Paragraph Styles pane.
4. In the bottom right of the new pane, select the Create New Style button (a square with a plus symbol inside). The default title is Paragraph Style 1.
5. Double-click the new style (or right-click/alt-click then select Edit “Style name”); this will open the Paragraph Style Options window.
6. Rename your style to match the desired structure type (i.e. “title,” “heading 1,” “paragraph,” etc.).
7. Select Export Tagging at the bottom of the Options list on the left side of the window.
8. In the PDF section, select the corresponding Tag from the dropdown menu.
   1. “P” is for basic paragraph, “H” is for titles, “H1” is for heading 1.
9. Repeat the steps for each Paragraph Style.

Lists and Tables should be automatically labeled by InDesign.

Adding Exportable Alt-Text for Images

1. Select the image.
2. Select Object in the menu bar and then select Object Export Options to open this window.
3. In the drop-down menu, select Custom for the source and then type in the Alt-text in the text box.
4. Select the Tagged PDF tab.
5. In the Actual Text Source drop-down menu, select Custom and then type in the Alt-text in the text box.
6. Select Done.

Adding Links to Graphics or Text

1. Select the image or the text that will be a link.
2. Right-click/alt-click the selected object, select Hyperlinks, then select New Hyperlink; this will open a new window.
   1. If the object is text that is itself a URL, select New Hyperlink from URL and skip the remaining steps.
3. Ensure the Link To drop-down has the correct destination type selected. URL for webpage, email for email address, etc.
4. Type or paste the destination information in the Destination fields.
5. Select OK.

QR Codes

Remember that best practice for using QR codes is that they can be provided in addition to an easily accessible visual web link as well. Bit.ly (no affiliation with MSU Denver) is one service that can provide short URLs as well as QR codes.

Ordering Elements for Screen Readers

Adding a logical reading order should be one of the last steps before exporting. In other words, it is easiest if the flyer design is complete before adding the reading order.

1. Select Window in the menu bar at the top of the screen and then select Articles to open the Articles Window.
2. Ctrl+click/Command+click the Add Selection to Articles button (plus symbol button) to add all the items to an Article.
   1. If you wish to have multiple sections with separate reading orders, select the items for each section by shift-clicking with the selection tool on the elements for that section, then click the Add Selection to Articles button.
3. Select and drag the elements so they are in a logical order from top to bottom.

Exporting the flyer as PDF

1. Select File in the menu bar and then select Export; this will open a new window.
2. In the Save as type drop-down menu, select PDF. Print is for flyers without interactive elements outside of links. Interactive is for digital flyers with interactive elements.
3. Select Save.
4. Open the PDF flyer in Adobe Acrobat. Check the accessibility tags, the reading order, fix if necessary, and then save as an accessible PDF/A.