Accessibility tools for documents in Layout by Zaweba
Alt text, decorative marking, table summaries, the Reading order panel and an Accessible preflight profile help Layout by Zaweba documents reach everyone.
An accessible document is one that works for people who read it with a screen reader, magnify it heavily, or navigate it from the keyboard. Making one isn't a single setting at export; it is a handful of habits while you build the pages. Layout by Zaweba provides the tools for those habits, and gathers them so they can be checked before anything goes out.
Alt text, decorative marking and table summaries
Alt text is the description that assistive technology reads in place of a picture. Every image that carries meaning needs some: what it shows and why it matters on this page. For a chart, give the finding, not just the chart's title. For a photo of a person, say who it is and what they are doing if that matters.
Decorative marking is the other half. Background shapes, rules, flourishes and mood photos that add nothing to the meaning can be marked decorative, and they are then skipped. That keeps the reading clean and quick, instead of a list of "image, image, image".
Tables can carry a summary, a short statement of what the table holds and how it is arranged. Someone listening to a large table cell by cell gets far more from it if they first hear that it compares prices across three years for five products, say. Pair summaries with proper header rows, so each cell can be read with its headings.
The Reading order panel
On a printed page, readers find their own way round main text, sidebars, captions and pull quotes. Assistive technology needs to be told the order. The Reading order panel sets it, so a sidebar is read after the paragraph it belongs to, not in the middle of it, and a caption is read with its picture.
The same panel sets the order for reflowable EPUB, so the work serves both outputs.
The Accessible preflight profile
Live preflight can use an Accessible profile. It checks the document against accessibility needs as you work, flagging things like pictures without alt text, in the same status bar count that shows other preflight problems. That turns accessibility from a final audit into something you fix as you go.
File info and EPUB accessibility metadata
File info holds the title, author, subject and keywords, which go into PDFs and EPUBs. A proper title matters for accessibility; it is what a screen reader announces when the file opens.
EPUB exports can also carry accessibility metadata, describing how accessible the book is. Stores and libraries can use it to tell readers whether a book will work for them.
A routine that builds accessibility in
Set up heading styles and the tags they export with before writing. Write alt text as you place each picture. Mark decorative items when you draw them. Give tables header rows and summaries. Keep an eye on the Accessible preflight count, and check the Reading order panel as each spread is finished. Fill in File info. At export, use the Accessible PDF preset, and use File > Check a PDF on the result to look over the structure tree.
Mistakes that undo the work
Turning text into outlines or pictures removes it from what can be read aloud. Keep text as text.
Alt text that just repeats the caption adds nothing. Describe what the caption doesn't.
Leaving everything to the last day makes accessibility a chore and invites shortcuts. Do it while the content is fresh in your mind.
Headings made with bold text rather than heading styles are invisible to navigation. Use styles.
