How to get better accessibility from InDesign
[Sponsored post by our 2022 partner Circular Software]
Ken Jones of Circular Software offers information and good news for InDesign users struggling to make accessible ebooks.
Adobe InDesign is failing to create EPUBs to the standards required for modern accessible publishing. Despite being widely used by publishers of all sizes as the industry standard page layout tool for PDF and print production, InDesign is found to be not fit for purpose for those wanting to make accessible EPUB publications.
Whilst Adobe InDesign can export to EPUB, the open standard for accessible digital publications, by using InDesign alone, publishers are left with errors and a lack of accessibility.
This is a problem. Particularly as publishers of inaccessible ebooks sold into the EU will soon become open to prosecution as part of the upcoming European Accessibility Act.
My company Circular Software is making InDesign better by filling the accessibility gaps left by Adobe and developing tools and workflows that allow publishers of any size to prepare, check and convert their InDesign files to WCAG AA accessible reflowable EPUB3 and WCAG A accessible fixed-layout EPUB3.
Let’s have a look at some of the specific areas, the problems and their solutions.
1. Section markers and landmarks
Being able to effectively navigate an ebook is a large part of accessibility. Section markers and landmarks are used to identify and navigate major parts of an EPUB. e.g. the cover, table of contents, and the start of the main body matter.
InDesign offers no way to add section markers and landmarks.
Circular Software tools add visual section markers and landmarks to InDesign pages which are then added to your EPUB.
2. Page Lists
Marking the start of each page of the physical book into the EPUB makes it possible to navigate ebooks to their print book equivalent.
InDesign offers no way to add page markers or page lists.
Circular Software automatically adds page markers and page lists to every EPUB.
3. Reading order
When faced with a well designed but complex spread an experienced sighted reader will quickly make subconscious decisions on the reading order.
Unfortunately, at a code level, the reading order of an InDesign page bears no relation to the position of the objects on the page or the styling used, but instead is presented in a reverse stacking order. It is not easy to understand the reading order or to influence it without affecting the design.
InDesign has the Articles panel where users must manually add and reorder content. This cannot be shown outside of InDesign and has no affect on fixed-layout EPUB.
Circular Software adds visual and editable reading order markers to the page that translate into the reading order for both reflowable and fixed layout EPUB.
4. Table of Contents
Many publishers do not use InDesign’s generated Table of Contents. This leaves them with only a visual table of contents on the page which is not accessible. Also, because fixed layout EPUB has a separate HTML page per book page, any longer book with a TOC spanning several book pages requires an additional TOC for the ebook navigation.
InDesign requires user to make a complex internal table of contents which can then not be edited.
Circular Software users can add and edit a table which then is converted to an accessible multi level contents page in their ebooks.
5. Semantic meaning
‘ARIA roles’ are the modern method used to indicate the meaning of content. They are becoming widely used on the web and are recommend within EPUB.
InDesign offers no way to add ARIA roles.
Circular Software automatically adds useful ARIA roles to every EPUB.
6. Heading hierarchy
The level and ordering of headings is another important semantic feature in the textual structural of ebook content. Assistive screen reader users can skip through content at their chosen heading levels.
InDesign offers no way to view or check the applied heading hierarchy and even removes heading tags from fixed-layout EPUB.
Circular Software has tools to visually label heading tags in InDesign and automatic checks that flag when hierarchy is applied out of sequence. Heading tags are then applied to every EPUB.
7. Image Descriptions
Textual descriptions of important images and figures should be added as short ‘alt text’ and longer ‘extended descriptions’ so their meaning can be delivered as text, braille or by voice when appropriate.
Whilst InDesign does allow the addition of alt text, it must be applied individually to every image and it is only possible to view in a hidden away InDesign dialog box. There is currently no method to add extended image descriptions
Circular Software tools identify and prepare all images for descriptions, which can then be imported in bulk and shared with others for approval.
8. Image Anchoring
By positioning images into the text flow in InDesign they then appear at the relevant place in the reflowable EPUB content.
There is no way to check if images are anchored into text
Circular Software checks and flags any images that are not anchored for reflowable ebooks
9. Text Contrast
Poor contrast between text and background colours can affect everyone but greater contrast is of greater importance for those with sight difficulties.
InDesign offers no way to check text contrast.
Circular Software has tools that automatically display the contrast ratios of selected InDesign content and whether they are within accessibility guidelines.
10. Accessibility metadata
By declaring just how accessible (or not!) an EPUB file is, we can inform the retailer and reader about the features that the ebook has before purchase or download.
InDesign offers no way to add this required metadata.
Circular Software users fill in a ready made Accessibility Metadata Panel.
11. Preflighting
Just as with print, the preparation of a file is best done within the editing software rather than fixing it later in the output. Checking that a file is ready for accessible export whilst still in InDesign is a great benefit.
InDesign offers no accessibility related preflight checks.
Circular Software offers a choice of ready made accessibility checklists for reflowable, fixed-layout and PDF output by running reports and flagging any issues in InDesign.
12. Validation and testing
Once an EPUB is exported it should be checked for validation against the EPUB standard and then for accessibility issues.
InDesign offers no method of validation.
Circular Software automatically connects with epubcheck and ACE to show validation and run an accessibility report on exported EPUBs.
Dozens of accessibility tools and checks are now built into Circular Software to help bring accessibility into your InDesign workflow with no coding required.
I’d like to invite you to meet me, Ken Jones, at the Circular Software stand at Frankfurt Book Fair 2022 or to schedule an a online call for a chat, a demo, to see examples of accessible EPUBs made with Circular Software and to get access to these new tools.
[Cover photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán from Pexels.]
