InDesign How-To: Use the Articles Panel for Accessibility (Video Tutorial)

[@AnandaLaVita]

Thanks for this video, Dax. I'm going to share it with co-workers. I would add that some people aren't in the habit of having their frame edges and text threads visible as they work, so it's a good reason to make sure those two options are checked as "on" when doing this accessibility work. Also, something I personally love about the Articles panel is that if you don't select/include an item, it is ignored in the export as though it's an "artifact" (and you don't even need to tag it as such!).

[@tedpage5817]

The Articles panel is fine for screen reader reading order, but to ensure that reading order is correct for all assistive technologies you need to fix the layers panel order as well.

[@RoseGarlandWidell]

Good to know, thank you.

[@PDFA]

Yes. for people that use text-to-speech tools other than NVDA and JAWs, the Order Panel is how they digest the content.

[@katrsrose]

Is there really not a way to set them both in one go? I currently have some annual report documents I need to remediate after the fact and it's quite time consuming to have the repeat the same work in two different places to manually set accurate reading orders. (Even working with a pretty clean .indd to start with, with appropriate use of styles, text threads, etc.) I'm mostly designing for print, but sometimes a corresponding digital version is required-often as a surprise add-on at the end. Our org standards say they must be accessible, I can't keep up my normal workload anymore with how long the process takes.

[@a11y]

Surprises at the end are usually from objects not being anchored. But no, layers and Articles panel are two separate processes. JAWS and NVDA read the Articles Panel (Tag order) and older assistive technology read the Layers Panel (Read Order/Order) @@katrsrose

[@crusher1980]

@@katrsrose I seriously recommend using ChatGPT (Free), I even learned to code in C asking ChatGPT ,and right now also InDesign. If you have never used it you will be surprised how much and quick you can learn things.

[@ThiagoPereira-le5pp]

Amazing. Thanks for share. I'm in love with this program.

[@lovejko]

Thank you!

[@PDFA]

When I mention the Layers Panel as a way to set the Reading Order, this only applies to text-to-speech tools like Speechify, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Adobe Read Aloud ect. The Articles Panel is the way to set the Reading Order for NVDA and JAWS. Setting both ensures the most technology will be able to understand the Reading Order of the content regardless of which technology you use.

[@lfcorullon]

Dax is awesome!!!

[@piogal34]

Oh boy! I've been making separate articles for each text frame on a page >.< Thank you for the clarification video, Dax! And I think I heard Erica's voice on the end there :) Thank you so much for clear guidance!

[@CreativePro]

Glad it was helpful! And, yep...I snuck in there at the end! -EG

[@RoseGarlandWidell]

This is going to help me so much at work. Thank you! Can you recommend any other videos that also have helpful accessibility secrets?

[@CreativePro]

I would recommend anything by Dax Castro, Colleen Gratzer, or Chad Chelius online. We run an Accessibility Summit (see CreativePro Events) and Chad and Dax have a podcast on the subject, as well! -EG

[@jessebyerly5163]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d561kHmIe5t9oac

[@rmcinaz]

Would this (page 2 version) also work using a single text frame (using paragraph shading and borders and two columns)? I'm a big proponent of one text frame per page.

[@hard-rockweightloss2057]

Would be curious to see if your page 1 was in the right order. I've never been able to make articles work properly (without threading the text in indesign). Felt like the only other way we could make it work is by cutting and pasting everything in the page in the order we wanted. :(

[@PDFA]

You have to remember to check the box in the context menu for "Use for tagging order in exported PDF"

[@PDFA]

The reason it worked when you threaded was because, by default, InDesign uses 'construction order' of the objects on the page for Tag order. When you thread there is only one object so when you only have 1 item, you cannot get it wrong. LOL. Usually this is because you forget to check the box for "Use for Tag Order.." option in the dropdown menu of the Articles Panel.

[@TGFOchi]

@creativepro I have attempted this 5 or 6 times and placed all the content in Article method isnt working is there a setting missing in InDesign 2024?

[@CreativePro]

Did you choose "Use for Tagging Order" from the panel menu? Are you exporting to PDF? -EG

[@sophian6916]

@@CreativePro I have the same issue. Exporting 'use for tagging order' from the panel menu as an interactive PDF. When looking at my tags in Adobe Acrobat, it's still including all the artifacts I didn't add to the Articles. Am I doing something wrong?

[@PDFA]

@@sophian6916 Didn't include all the artifacts? You should not be adding anything that should be artifacted into the Articles Panel. Those things will be artifacted automatically when you leave them out of the Articles Panel.

[@katrsrose]

@@sophian6916For me, I have the opposite: a vector graphic that I included into the articles pane/list on four different pages(articles), and assigned alt text to in the export object options, is not showing up as tagged item in my pdfs-OR-for some pages it will show up but out of order and without the previously assigned alt text. I can't figure out why this particular item is being dropped.

[@a11y]

Are the vector graphics grouped elements? or a single referenced AI? Typically you see what you are experiencing when they are live graphic elements in InDesign that are just grouped. @@katrsrose