From the course: EPUB Accessibility Using InDesign

Introducing the big 10 of EPUB accessibility - InDesign Tutorial

From the course: EPUB Accessibility Using InDesign

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Introducing the big 10 of EPUB accessibility

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- [Instructor] I've broken down the work of making accessible eBooks into what I call the Big 10 of accessible eBooks. They aren't always discreet categories, naturally, but there is value in approaching them one at a time. Here are the topics I will be covering in this course. Separating style and content is fundamental to eBook accessibility. I will talk in depth about using HTML 5 tags instead of generic HTML, and the work your CSS should be doing for you. Rich navigation is a hallmark of EPUB 3 and will expand the reading experience exponentially, particularly for print-disabled readers. Structure is of key importance when considering eBooks from an accessibility point-of-view. Semantics is about how to make eBooks more machine-readable. I'll go over this in great depth. Let me talk about images. Images should always be pictures of some kind, not tables or text. I will go over some ways to get rid of bad habits in this department. Describing images is foundational to eBook accessibility. I will show you the various ways to describe images, both from InDesign and in the code. Building a print corollary page list into your eBook is an important part of the eBook's accessibility. I will show you a few different ways to accomplish a page list. Defining the language of an eBook is critical to it being voiced accurately by a screen reader or other assistive technologies. Accessibility metadata is a newish way to describe the contents of an eBook and to make it more discoverable to readers. And finally, I will show you a few workflow tools that support the work of making accessible eBooks. It may seem like a lot of steps and work to make your eBook accessible, but as I've stressed before, it's crucial if you want your eBook to be up to the proper standards, to be scalable, and most importantly, readable to everyone.

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