Incorporating Additional Accessibility Ideas | Microsoft Word Version 2002 Inside Out (Inside Out (Microsoft))

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The accessibility features in Word were created and developed over time to help make the program useable for a wide variety of users—including those with visual impairments, limited dexterity, and other physical challenges that make using a word processing program difficult. A number of the features in this chapter—such as the ability to enlarge command buttons, and the addition of keyboard shortcuts—can make the program easier to use. This section rounds out our customizing discussion by providing suggestions for ways in which you can make your documents more accessible to a wide variety of users.

Changing Text Color for Easier Reading

The color of your text and the color of the background on which it's displayed both play a large role in the readability of your document. You can change the color of your text easily by following these steps:

Select your text, and click the down arrow to the right of the Font Color button, on the Formatting toolbar.
Click a different color from the color palette.
Repeat as needed for other text sections.

Tip - Choose a good contrast

Experts tell us that the amount of contrast between background and text colors contributes as much to the readability of the text as the color of the text itself. Be sure, when you're creating your document, that there is a significant contrast between the text color and the color of the background of your document. If the two shades are too close, readers will find your document hard—or even impossible—to read.

Customizing Sound

Some people have difficulty hearing sounds that are easy for others to pick up; others are highly sensitive to certain kinds of sounds and might prefer that you not use sound at all in your document creations. You can tailor the sounds on your system to create the effect you want. You can customize the sound on your system with these simple procedures:

To disable sound, choose Tools, Options, and click the General tab. Clear the Provide Feedback With Sound check box. Note, however, that selecting this option will affect all your Office XP applications, so disable the option only if you don't want to play sound with any of your applications.
You can change the sounds that are used by making changes in Control Panel. Double-click Sounds And Multimedia in the Control Panel window. On the Sounds tab in the Sounds And Multimedia dialog box, click the event in the list in the Sound Events section to which you want to apply the sound. Click the Name down arrow, and choose the sound. Click Apply, and then click OK to close the dialog box. Windows makes the necessary changes in your sound settings, and you'll hear the new sounds you selected the next time the occasion presents itself.

Tip - Add voice commands

The sound events you hear while you're working on your document may be limited—you might hear a beep when you click a wrong command or a chime when a new e-mail message is delivered—but you can take sound a step further if need be. Word allows you to add audio clips and comments, adding real voice-over capability to your documents. This means you can add notes, suggestions, and instructions to documents, forms, or brochures, as well as use Word's dictation features to open menus, choose commands, and enter text with voice commands. For more about using voice commands in your Word documents, see Chapter 39, "Putting Speech and Handwriting Recognition Features to Work."