Accessibility Checks - Reflowable EPUB

This free checklist helps when adding accessibility information in the styling, structure and setup of your InDesign document prior to exporting for Reflowable EPUB.

Fonts are all active

This check makes sure that all fonts that are referenced in the document are currently active on the Mac and available to be used by InDesign.

To see a list of missing fonts choose the Type > Find/replace font

Fonts with a warning symbol are missing.

Fonts activated through Adobe Fonts (formerly Typekit) are not missing and are not flagged by this check.

To activate fonts on your Mac we recommend using professional font management tools such as Extensis Suitcase, or Font Book, which is a free font management tool that comes with your Mac.

Fix this problem by finding and activating the fonts used in InDesign or in some cases by substituting for other fonts.

Adobe InDesign Font help
Apple FontBook help

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Fonts are not Type 1 PostScript

This check flags up when Adobe PostScript Type 1 fonts are used in the InDesign document.

PostScript Type 1 fonts, as their name suggests, were intended for print production using Adobe PostScript. They are an old font format which have largely been superseded by the later OpenType format as PostScript Type 1 fonts not supported in digital and web publishing.

Adobe have announced they are to stop supporting PostScript Type 1 fonts in any new software released after 2021.

Different versions of InDesign will show PostScript Type 1 fonts slightly differently using either a red or grey ‘a’ symbol is used.

PostScript Type 1 fonts show their Type as ‘Type 1’ on the Type>Find/replace fonts menu

Fix this problem by finding and activating a different font format in InDesign or in some cases by substituting for other fonts.

Adobe InDesign Font help
Apple FontBook help

Links are present and up to date

This check make sure all InDesign links are OK. No image links can be missing or modified.

‘Links’ are extra files which are referenced by an InDesign document. Although links can be other file types, such as text, typically links refer to images placed into an InDesign document.

Icons are shown under the status column in the Links Panel. (InDesign Menu > Window > Links) to indicate a problem

= Missing Link

Links can go missing if renamed, moved or your computer is disconnected from them if held remotely e.g. on a file server.

= Modified Link

Links become modified if edited outside of InDesign e.g. resized or colour adjusted in Photoshop.

Fix this problem by selecting the link(s) in the InDesign Links panel and choosing to update or relink.

Adobe links and embedded graphics help

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Text is not overset

This GreenLight check looks for 'overset text' sometimes called 'overmatter' - text that is contained inside the InDesign document but does appear on the page.

Overset text is usually caused if the entered passage of text is either too long or too big to fit within its text frame. InDesign shows a small red plus to indicate overset text, but that can be easily missed and means looking at every page in turn.

GreenLight will take you to place on the page where overset text can be found and highlight it.

Fix overset text by enlarging the text frame, threading the overset frame to another frame most likely on another page, or by reducing the type size or spacing applied to text or editing the text.

Tip: To see and edit overset text without altering the layout of flow of text on the page, place your text cursor into the story then use InDesign’s Story Editor (Edit menu > Edit in Story Editor).

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No [Basic Paragraph] styled text

Run this GreenLight check to make sure that no text has the [Basic Paragraph] style applied.

The [Basic Paragraph] style can cause problems when copying and pasting content from other documents. If this has been edited or other styles have been created based on this style chaos and confusion may ensue when copying and pasting text between documents that have different definitions of the style.

Unfortunately, you can't delete [Basic Paragraph]. but it is best practice to avoid it: never use it, never edit it, and never base other styles on it.

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No text style overrides ignoring tracking (exceptions)

This GreenLight check flags any text in InDesign that been ‘overridden’ from it’s base Paragraph and Character styles, aside from tracking. Exception can be made.

The use of text styles efficiently really improve consistency and speed us up in InDesign, especially for long or complex documents. When a text style is applied to the words on the page it is still possible to modify the text manually e.g. by modifying the font, size or styling.

If text has been altered by hand in this way InDesign refers to it as a style override. You can switch on style overrides in InDesign using the ‘Style Override Highlighter’ button.

With this check, GreenLight can take you to place on the page where overridden text can be found and highlight it.

Remove text styling overrides from the selected text by clicking the ‘Clear Overrides’ button in Paragraph and Character Style panels. There are lots more options available in the InDesign Help document at the end of this article.

GreenLight offers a ‘Clear all text style overrides’ tool to remove text overrides throughout a document in one click.

Adobe InDesign help on applying and removing text style overrides

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Text contrast has been checked

This check flags when the Text contrast tool has not yet been run for the active InDesign document. Run the Text contrast tool from the GreenLight Accessibility Tools panel to pass this check.

Text thread pages follow on

This GreenLight check flags any text threads that are not linked to the same page or the following page.

Text threads in InDesign chain together multiple text frames so they can contain a long passage of text (InDesign calls these stories). Text frames that have been 'threaded' can appear on the same page or span across multiple pages and spreads.

For long text led publications it is not unusual for the entire main text to be one long thread of text frames covering dozens or hundreds of pages.

For ebook accessibility the sequence that text frames are threaded together is expected to be in sequence.

Unusual text threads that jump over pages or thread content backwards in page order have been found to affect the successful creation and the subsequent reading order of reflowable ebooks.

Show text threads shown in InDesign InDesign View Menu > Extras > Show / Hide Text Threads (tip: make sure a text frame is selected to see it's threads)

This GreenLight checks and flags if the

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Threaded text frames are shown to be out of sequence with page order in InDesign

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InDesign help on Text Threads

All styles have export tags

This check flags when Paragraph Styles in the InDesign document do not have an export tag applied.

In InDesign, export tags control how Paragraph Styles are mapped to the document tags used in EPUB and HTML and in PDFs. Using export tags clarifies the structure of a document for accessibility purposes but has no visible effect on the exported file.

Choose Edit All Export Tags from the Paragraph Styles panel menu.

GreenLight dialog showing the results of running the All styles have export tags check.

Headings applied in sequence

This check flags when heading styles in the InDesign document have been applied out of sequence.

By marking paragraphs with a suitable export tag we add extra semantic meaning to the text of our publications.

The sequence that headings are applied is important for navigation, for example a screen reader user may choose to scan through a long section of text by only reading the headings and subheadings. Heading hierarchy is the term used to mean headings are applied in a predictable and logical way.

There are up to six levels of heading available in HTML and therefore in EPUB. From heading level 1 <h1> to heading level 6 <h6>.

When ACE, by DAISY reports on well made accessible documents it checks that heading hierarchy is applied in the correct sequence. For example a top level heading <h1> tag followed by paragraph <p> tags is to be expected but a heading level 3 <h3> tags should not be used unless it has been preceded by an <h2> heading (which itself has been preceded by a heading level 1 <h1> tag)

This GreenLight checks and flags whether heading are applied in sequence.

If headings are not applied in sequence then the user is taken to their location on the InDesign page and the text is highlighted text.

A dialog shows that a paragraph of text has an h3 tag but id preced by an h1 tag.

The recommended method to manage and apply headings is to use Paragrah Style effectively.

More info on heading hierarchy from the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Images are described

This check ensure that all images have an image description applied, or have been marked as decorative (EPUB) / artifact (PDF).

Adding alt tags to images in InDesign provides a text description of the image for users who are visually impaired and are using screen readers. This allows them to understand the content of the image and the context in which it is being used in the document.

To add an alt tags to an image…

Select the image
Choose Object>Object Export Options.
Select the Alt Text tab.
Enter a description of the image in the Alt Text field.
Click OK to save the alt tag.

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Images are anchored

This check ensures that all images have been anchored into the text flow, to indicate where in the reading order they should appear.

Accessibility metadata added

Checks that the Accessibility metadata panel has been added.

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Accessibility metadata, such as text descriptions of images, makes it easier for people with disabilities to access and understand the content of a document. This check will verify if such metadata has been added to the active document.

Section markers added

This check is to make sure a basic level of sections or landmarks infomrastion have been added to your InDesign documents.

Tables have header rows

This GreenLight check flags tables that don't have a header row applied.

Converting the first row of a table to a header row makes the table more accessible for users who are visually impaired or who use screen readers to navigate content. Screen readers can identify the header row and read the column names out loud to the user.

A header row will repeat at the top of a page or column.

All objects are inside bleed

This check ensures that all objects are on the page or within the bleed area. Any objects that are completely outside the bleed area are flagged.

The ‘pasteboard’ is an area is outside of the InDesign page or spread which can be used to hold objects whilst working on page layouts.

When files are ready to output, having objects hanging around on the pasteboard, which serve no purpose, can cause problems and confusion. Also it means the file is larger and more complex than it needs to be. Extra image links, swatches and fonts might be used, word counts and text extraction could be affected.

This check verifies that all items are wholly or partially on the spread or within the bleed area. Objects that are only on the pasteboard and outside of the bleed area are flagged.

Fix this problem by moving objects within the bleed area or deleting them. A GreenLight tool is available to remove all pasteboard objects at once (GreenLight menu command Tools > Print Tools panel > Delete pasteboard objects)

Adobe InDesign help on setting bleed

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