High Priority Documentation

Last updated by chelsea.christiansen 2 months ago

High Priority Documentation

This guide provides procedures and best practices for ensuring course materials (PDFs, PowerPoints, and images) are clear, legible, and accessible for students who use magnification tools.

PDFs in ABBYY FineReader

Cleaning a PDF in ABBYY FineReader

Some PDFs may contain specks, shading, page creases, or other visual obstructions. Since magnification is a visual accommodation , it is not necessary to achieve perfect OCR results. The auto-OCR function is sufficient. Instead, we will focus on cleaning up the visual appearance of the document.

Using the Image Editor

Open the PDF in FineReader.

Navigate to Tools → Image Editor (or right-click a page thumbnail → Edit Image ).

Use the following tools to enhance document clarity:

Brightness/Contrast : Improves faint or faded text.

Deskew : Straightens crooked scans.

Remove Noise : Clears speckles, dust, and scanner artifacts.

Crop : Removes margins, black edges, or scan borders.

Background Whitening : Enhances text visibility.

Eraser : Manually remove distracting flakes, shading, or specks.

✅ Always crop and erase unnecessary shading to produce a clean document.

OCR and Export

Use auto-OCR ; perfect recognition is not required.

Do not erase professor notes or underlining.

Handling Pixelated Images

Attempt enhancements in ABBYY (see above).

If legibility cannot be improved, contact the instructor for a better-quality copy.

PowerPoints

Color and Backgrounds

Use high color contrast (dark text on a light background, or vice versa).

Avoid relying on color alone for emphasis. Use bold, underline, or labels.

Use solid backgrounds . If slides contain distracting textures or gradients, consult Rifat for guidance.

The walkthrough below will show you how to appropriately adjust text color contrast.

How to adjust text color contrast:

aggi

This text is written in a light color, against a light background. This makes it difficult for students with low-vision to read. We will fix this issue by darkening the color.

Highlight the text you would like to darken or lighten. From the menu that appears, select the text color drop-down.

Select More Colors to adjust the brightness of the text.

Move the scale up or down to adjust the brightness of the text. The box in the bottom right corner will show you your new color vs. the current color. Select OK when you’re satisfied with the new color.

How to sharpen an image:

Right click on an image you’d like to sharpen, then select Format Picture.

Under Picture Correction , adjust brightness, sharpness, contrast, etc. Use your best judgment to ensure that the image looks similar to the original version while improving clarity.

Navigation Aids

Ensure each slide has a consistent title so students can track their location when zooming.

Add section headers to provide clear structure.

Testing for Clarity

Zoom to 200% using Windows Magnifier or PowerPoint’s zoom function.

Confirm:

Text remains legible without excessive scrolling.

Charts and diagrams retain clarity.

Sufficient contrast is maintained.

Font Adjustments

Minor font size increases are acceptable.

Slight color contrast adjustments are permitted without professor approval. If the appearance significantly changes, contact Rifat for further guidance.

JPEGs and PNGs (Images)

In ABBYY FineReader

Ideal for preparing images for OCR or improving clarity.

Open Image Editor and apply:

Brightness/Contrast to clarify faded scans.

Remove Noise to eliminate speckles.

Background Whitening to highlight text.

Deskew to correct crooked scans.

Crop to remove black edges or margins.

Under Preprocessing Options (before OCR), enable auto-contrast, deskew, and noise removal.

In Adobe Acrobat

Useful when images are embedded in PDFs.

Go to Scan & OCR → Enhance Scans .

Use Recognize Text to convert pixelated text into selectable text.

Adjust contrast and despeckle settings as needed.

If OCR is unsuccessful, right-click and select Edit with External Editor (e.g., Photoshop).

In PowerPoint

Go to Format Picture → Picture Corrections :

Slightly increase sharpness.

Adjust brightness and contrast.

Note: PowerPoint cannot adjust and correct pixilated images. If the image remains blurry, replace it with a higher-resolution version or OCR and retype the text.

General Principles

Alt text is not required for magnification purposes.

Minor adjustments (contrast, font size, shading removal) may be made without professor approval.

Accessibility scores do not need to be perfect, but documents must appear clean, accurate, and visually clear.

When in doubt, ask for guidance , as changes impact all students in the course.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which accessibility errors should I prioritize?

For large PDFs : Skip alt text, but add tags if possible (quick improvement).

For PowerPoints: Focus on slide titles, section headers, and contrast.

Do I need to remediate in Acrobat after ABBYY?

Small PDFs: Yes.

Large PDFs: No.

Should I erase professor notes or underlining?
No, doing so might prevent the student from gaining additional context or information that they would need in the course.

What if the font is difficult to read?
This should be rare. Address such cases individually.

What if a picture is highly pixelated?
Enhance if possible. If not, let Rifat know, and he will contact the instructor.

If an image has unreadable text, should I add alt text?
No. Images with unreadable text affect all students, so it is more important to contact the instructor for a clearer image. It is not necessary to add alt text to these images. Let Rifat know if it looks like the professor should be asked to upload a clearer image.

How do I know if a PDF is suitable for magnification?
Manually review each page. Ally Accessibility Checker will not provide sufficient information.

Are slide titles required in PowerPoints?
Not strictly for magnification, but they are recommended as they require little time and improve navigation.

What tools do students use for magnification?
There are a variety of screen magnification tools available, including software for desktop computers and specialized tools. Popular software includes the Zoom feature on Windows and Apple products, or software like ZoomText and Magic, that provide additional features. Every student will use different tools, so it is best to keep files as generally accessible as possible.

How do I fix text color contrast issues on PDF’s?
To change text color contrast issues, open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat, select “Edit a PDF ”, highlight the text, and select a different color . (Preferably, the same color, but a darker or lighter shade of it as needed).