What is 可访问性 and 508 Compliance?

Section 508 compliance means your document meets the accessibility standard that allows most individuals to access this material without specific accommodation. 这也 allows computers to more accurately determine the material’s content, which means it will be seen as a more authoritative resource by search engines. State and Federal law require this level of accessibility for any 文档 created or used by all public 实体. Failure to meet these standards can be considered discrimination and can lead to legal recourse including the loss of federal funding.

The following section of this guide is by no means an exhaustive resource on creating Section 508 compliant 文档. Instead we will offer some best practices and useful tips that will help you create fully compliant 文档 with the least amount of 努力. 

For more information on Section 508 of the American Disabilities Act and creating 可访问的 文档, visit http://www.section508.gov/content/build/create-accessible-documents.

What Types of Documents Can Be Posted to the PCC Website?

The following 文档 types 是 permitted to be posted to the PCC website once they 是 fully 508 compliant:

    • PDFs 是 the most common document type
    • Word and Excel 文档 是 permitted
    • PowerPoint files 是 strongly discouraged as they will require the most 努力 and expertise to make compliant - upload at your own risk and responsibility

Does it really need to be a PDF?

Before diving in to what it takes to make a PDF 可访问的, ask yourself the following 问题: Does this content really need to be in PDF format?

If you created the same content using OU Campus, this website's content management system, it will simply be 可访问的. It may seem convenient to create your content in Word, save as a PDF and call it a day — but you're nowhere near done in terms of accessibility as you'll see in the following section. Consider the amount of 努力 you're going to put into making a document 可访问的 versus simply using our web content management system.

With OU Campus, you simply:

  1. 登录 directly from the page you want to edit
  2. 点击按钮 to start editing in a familiar rich-text-editor-like environment
  3. 键入或粘贴 在你的内容中
  4. 保存并提交 to be published

Making that into a PDF that's 可访问的, on the other hand, is an entirely different story...

If It Really Needs to Be a PDF

在那里 是 times when distributing content in PDF format is necessary. The most common reasons 是 when the content:

  • requires specific formatting for printing
  • requires a hand-written signature
  • should be easily distributable and viewable offline

The following page will provide you with some useful tips for creating 可访问的 文档. 

Creating Accessible Documents