Ask the Expert: Accessibility features in Adobe InDesign

Accessibility features of Adobe InDesgn

In the recent update of InDesign, new accessibility features were introduced in the export of EPUBs, thanks to the joint work of the Accessible EPUB From InDesign expert group. In every new version the accessibility is increased by Adobe. 
Host Katie Durand and accessibility expert Gregorio Pellegrino answer all the questions related to this topic. 

Watch the video registration of this session. 

The expert

Gregorio Pellegrino is the Chief Accessibility Officer of Fondazione LIA on behalf of which he participates in international working groups on the accessibility of publications and format standards, in particular the W3C Digital Publishing Working Group, Transition to accessible EPUB (DAISY Consortium) and DIAGRAM standard & TIES Production group. He is the co-editor of W3C EPUB Accessibility 1.1, User Experience Guide do Displaying Accessibility Metadata 2.0 and EPUB Accessibility – EU Accessibility Act Mapping. He is the technical lead of the Accessible EPUB from InDesign Expert Group. 

Questions and answers

Do any of the InDesign accessibility updates also apply to PDFs?

Always export EPUB 3 out of InDesign, even if the legacy EPUB export option is available in InDesign. The features that are developed are specifically developed for EPUB. So they are only present in the EPUB export. 

What can be told about accessible maths and formula in InDesign?

Right now, accessible maths and formula are not in InDesign, but these topics are on the roadmap, the list of requested accessibility topics.  

What can be told about fixed layout e-books?

For most users it is helpful for having an accessible reading to be able to change the format, like font size, the font face, the colour, and the margin. These options are not possible with fixed layout e-books. On the other hand, fixed layout documents can be quite accessible for blind users that do not require special formats and only require a good semantic layout. Every development that has been done in InDesign so far was also released for fixed layout. 

Another improvement is page navigation. When e.g. font sizes are changed, the reference with a printed version gets lost. Hidden markers are added to keep the link to the printed version. These hidden markers are recognized by screen readers. However. this feature does not work with fixed layout e-books. 

Can the new accessibility features in InDesign help to ensure that complex publications (with tables, charts, special characters) are accessible?

The implementation of how to implement this specific type of content is a workflow issue or the way you use InDesign. When working correctly in InDesign it is already possible to make accessible tables and other complex content. Special characters can be used in EPUBs without any problems as long as they are part of the UTF-8 standard. There are some improvements on the roadmap with Adobe InDesign. 

An accessibility metadata panel is added in Adobe InDesign, which offers the possibility to select which accessibility features are present in the file when you export it to EPUB.  

For footnotes and endnotes the code on the backlink is improved. The backlink allows the user to return from the footnote to the main content. Complex images, complex charts that can be transformed in images where you put an alt text. 

The link attribute for language information is placed on the HTML tag, which is the main tag of the document. It is important, from an accessibility point of view to have the right title information for each file. When page titles are added, the shortcuts used by people with assistive technology, will navigate to the title element. 

Is it possible to incorporate both alt text and extended descriptions for images?

The option for alt text for the cover image is added, as well as the option to label images as decorative in a publication. There is no possibility to generate automatically generated alt texts yet within InDesign. There is no specific feature for adding extended descriptions. 

How far are we from being able to create an EPUB via InDesign that meets EPUB accessibility 1.1 requirements?

We are near to have a new EPUBs exported from InDesign that pass 'Ace by DAISY' without any error or warning. Ace by DAISY is able to check about 30% of the issues. It really depends on how professionals work in the industry. For example if you do not tag the headings correctly you get an EPUB that will pass Ace by DAISY, but the headings are not tagged, and so you are not conformant to EPUB accessibility. 1.1. Manual checks are required to to be sure that you are in line. So you can do all the work in InDesign, export a fully accessible EPUB with all the required semantics without having to dig into the HTML code. But there will always be need for manual checking. 

Are ARIA roles added automatically now?

Yes, for all the components that are managed directly by InDesign e.g. footnotes, endnotes, cover.  

No for specific ARIA roles for defining parts of the content, like chapters, sections etc,.  

What are the latest AI possibilities in InDesign?

InDesign has released interesting AI tools within the software in the latest versions, but not for accessibility. Check the Adobe website. 

What are the best practices for manuscripts, in order to ease the accessibility export to InDesign and EPUB?

There is no uniform an answer to this question. It depends on what the workflows look like and the preferences of professionals that are working in InDesign. Some prefer to maintain the tiles from the workflow. Some prefer to clean the workflow completely and redo all the styling manually. Define a good workflow that suits your specific publishing house.