[stylist] Tech Writing: Ten Steps To Make Accessible Word Documents For PDF Production

[Homme, James]

Hi Donna,
You hinted at part of the problem. My audience may be blind people, or a combination of all kinds of people, who have Word 2003, 2007, 2010, and 2013. Since it's an article, I debated about making little sidebars with procedures for doing some things, and to strike a balance, I think I will put in enough text to help my audience get to the right places, at least enough to discover how to do some things. 

And as a reader, personally, I really hate articles with short descriptions and hyperlinks to who knows where, just to learn how to do something. I'm OK with enough hand-holding to allow me to get through learning something without breaking my concentration on the task at hand. This kind of thing has more to do with usability than good writing. Good writing in this field is a far cry from the kinds of things we talk about on this list, and I'm OK with that. I don't intend to do anything more, except here and there, other than try to make my writing more clear. You should have seen my writing when I was a new programmer. Oh boy.

Jim 



-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Applebutter Hill
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 10:04 AM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [stylist] Tech Writing: Ten Steps To Make AccessibleWord Documents For PDF Production

Jim,
Do you mean adding more than "save" such as giving them the old Word 2003
keystroke alt+f,a, or do you mean just telling them to save it and not
assuming they are smart enough to know that?
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Homme, James
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 7:06 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Tech Writing: Ten Steps To Make AccessibleWord
Documents For PDF Production

Hi,
I struggled with how much to assume my audience already knows. My manager
suggested that I fill it out with short procedures on how to do some of the
things I mention, such as when I say to save a template file, even if it is
a sentence or two to point the reader in the right direction. Does that
sound reasonable?

Thanks.

Jim



-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris Kuell
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 7:33 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Tech Writing: Ten Steps To Make Accessible Word
Documents For PDF Production

Jim,

Although I'm not in any way an advanced (or even moderately advanced)
computer user (for instance, I've never even used, never mind made, a
template in word) your instructions seem logical and easy to follow to me.
My only editorial suggestion is to kill the comma after 'that' in:

c.       Save the document with a file name, that contains no spaces or
special characters.

chris


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