Equidox Software Videos

My name is Dan Tuleta, Senior Sales Engineer  with the Equidox accessibility team. Today   I'm going to be giving a quick demonstration  of our Equidox PDF accessibility software.   Equidox is a web-based application that can  be operated directly through your browser. It   also uses a concurrent user licensing model,  which allows for a larger number of users to   share access. It is only limited to the number  of people who are logged in simultaneously.   Another nice aspect of being web-based  is that Equidox allows for collaboration.   You can share documents with other  users in your account, and you can   even have multiple users remediating  the same document at the same time. The first thing I will do is import  a document. I can open my folders and   select a document or multiple documents to  drag and drop into the import screen. Once   the document finishes uploading to the  cloud, a blue import button will appear.   Pressing this button will trigger an automated  process where Equidox will begin to analyze the   document for either existing tag structure or, if  the document has not yet been previously tagged,   Equidox will automatically identify things like  text, images, hyperlinks, and even fillable form   fields. Returning to the document list, I can  now see the document that I just imported. When   I click on the document, I will arrive at the  document detail page. From here, I can see a   thumbnail of all pages in the document and adjust  some of the basic properties of the document,   such as the title, the author, or the language  attribute. There is also an Images tab that   allows me to add alt text or artifact any  images in the document from one location. If I click on the thumbnail for the  one and only page in this document,   I will enter the remediation page, where I  can make changes to the reading zones on the   document. The reading zones are represented by  these yellow boxes that cover up the content,   and they will ultimately create the PDF tag  structure when we export the document. Since   this document was untagged to begin with, most  of the zones on this page say "TX" in the upper   left-hand corner to indicate that they are text  zones. I can also see zones with the IMG label   to indicate where the images are located. In the  upper right-hand corner of the zone, I can see   a number that reflects the reading order of the  page. If I am unsatisfied with the size, location,   and number of reading zones on the page based on  where Equidox has auto-detected the content, I can   use the zone detection slider to adjust the way  that Equidox analyzes the page. If I slide further   to the left, Equidox will be much more focused  and create very granular reading zones, whereas   if I slide further to the right, Equidox zooms  its focus out and gives me much larger zones. The purpose of the slider is to give you different  options as starting points, so there's less manual   work required to establish zones and manipulate  their size and location. Another very important   feature of Equidox is the button that looks like  a computer monitor. When I press this button,   a separate tab will open in my browser and show  me an HTML preview of the page I'm currently   working on. The reason this HTML preview is  important is because this is a simple and   linear representation of how a screen reader would  read the content on this page. If I were to stop   working and export the document, I can use this  HTML preview to validate the accuracy of my work,   because this HTML represents what the PDF  tags will become when I export the document. Returning to the PDF page, I'm going to start  adjusting my zones to create the proper tags   on this document. The first zones that I  like to set are headings. The main title   on the top of this page, in the large bold  font, is going to be my heading level one.   Under the zone properties, I can use the  dropdown menu and change it to a heading,   or I can use keyboard shortcuts. In  order to set a heading level one,   I can simply press one on my keyboard, and I  will repeat that step with my heading level   twos and my heading level threes by hitting  two and three, respectively, on my keyboard. Returning to the HTML preview, I can now see  the headings identified by this large bold font.   The next element I will work on is this nested  list, which you can probably tell from the HTML   preview is not tagged as a list at all. We use  computer vision and machine learning techniques,   and we have trained Equidox to identify list  items and nested list items automatically.   All I have to do is hit L on my keyboard to  set the element as a list and then use my   list detection slider. In just a second  or two, Equidox has located a list item   and multiple layers of nesting inside of them.  Returning to the HTML preview, instead of that   list being read as a strange run-on sentence  without any punctuation, it will now have a   proper list tag structure and be fully usable and  understandable for an assistive technology user. The next element to focus on is this table, which  currently looks nothing like a table at all in   the HTML preview. If this table was ignored, an  assistive technology user would hear all that data   read in a random order without any ability to  navigate or understand what they were listening   to. Tables are notoriously difficult and  time-consuming to tag properly. However,   with Equidox, all I need to do is click and drag  to create a single zone on top of the table. Next,   I will hit "T" on my keyboard to change it  to a table and double-click on the zone to   open the table editor. Inside the table editor,  there are now some green grid lines that Equidox   has drawn for me. I can click to manipulate the  location of these grid lines, but I prefer to use   the table detector. Similar to the list detector,  the table detector sliders are also using computer   vision and machine learning to identify  the location of all the cells in the table. If I take a look at the HTML preview of this  table, I will see that instead of having a   random string of information, I have a real table  structure with rows, columns, and table data.   However, there are a couple of other things  I need to do to make this table perfect. The   years 2023 and 2024 need to be spanned or  merged across multiple columns. To span,   I simply select the cell where the  span begins, hold shift on my keyboard,   and select the cell where the span ends. Next,  I just hit "S" on my keyboard. I will repeat   this process for the other part of the table.  Returning to the preview, I can see that all of   those extra cells have now been consolidated. The  other thing I need to correct on this table is to   identify that there are two levels of column  headers. Not only is the year a column header,   but the individual quarters within each year  need to be tagged as headers as well. By default,   Equidox assumes that each table has a single  column header and a single row header. In this   example, we have two column headers, so I just  have to hit the up arrow to change the column   header from one to two. Lastly, Equidox is able  to provide an accurate table summary by simply   hitting this check box. Although not necessarily  a requirement, certain accessibility checkers will   flag tables for not having table summaries.  We have automated this task for our users. One final look at the HTML preview will  show that both of the top two rows and the   far left column are in bold font, confirming  that those cells will be tagged as headers,   while the standard font will be correctly  tagged as table data. Returning to the full PDF,   I cannot forget about the two images on this  page. In the upper left-hand corner of the page,   we have our Equidox logo. I can add alt text to  this image by typing into the description field   that appears when I select the image zone. Halfway  down the page, I have another image of our logo,   but this time there is a dog in the picture.  This is not a document about dogs, and there's   nothing critical being displayed in this image  that will allow an assistive technology user to   better understand the information on this page.  So I might elect to artifact this image to avoid   filling up the page with redundant alt text. I  can artifact this image or any zone by hitting   backspace on my keyboard. The zone will disappear,  removing my responsibility to add alt text to it.   The visual representation of the image will still  be there in the PDF, but an assistive technology   user will skip past it because it will not  be included in the tagged reading order. If I now take a final look at my HTML preview,  I have just one final issue to fix: my reading   order is not exactly what I want it to be. We can  see that the table has found its way to the very   bottom of the reading order because I manually  drew that zone. If I return to the page editor,   I can press the reorder button, and Equidox will  reorder the page with the default top-to-bottom   reading order. There are also multi-column layout  options depending on the structure of the page.   You can select individual zones to reorder  them, and there's even a method for selecting   multiple zones to reorder zones in clusters for  pages requiring very complex reading orders. One final look at the HTML preview will show that  the reading order is correct, and I can save my   work and close out of the document. The final  step is to export the PDF. Keep in mind that with   Equidox, you can also export the PDF as an HTML or  an ePub file; however, the majority of our users   prefer to maintain the PDF structure. By pressing  "Generate PDF," Equidox will produce a brand new   document for me. This document will be exactly  the same as the original except it will be tagged,   fully accessible, and most importantly, fully  usable for assistive technology users. Keep   in mind the original version of this document  was completely untagged and therefore useless   to a screen reader user, and of course, fully  non-compliant with all Web Content Accessibility   Guidelines. The version we just exported from  Equidox, however, is fully and accurately tagged,   100% compliant, and completely usable for  people who rely on assistive technology. Equidox also offers an add-on feature that I would  like to briefly mention. This feature is called   "Zone transfer," which allows users to instantly  transfer the reading zones from one version   of a document to another version of the same  or similar document. There are a couple of   different methods of doing this, but the simplest  way is to just copy and paste the document ID out   of the URL and paste it into this text field  on the user interface. This functionality is   extremely valuable for our customers who generate  documents from consistently formatted templates,   make last-minute revisions or typo  corrections to documents, or if they   just find themselves working through a backlog  of documents that have a lot of similarities. For more information about how Equidox Software  Company can help you with PDF accessibility,   email us at EquidoxSales@Equidox.co  or give us a call at 216-529-3030,   or visit our website at www.Equidox.co.

Tagging Text and Using OCR for PDF Accessibility Readable, well-structured text ensures that  users can understand content easily. Screen readers read text aloud in the  order it appears. Reading order, which may not be digitally set as it is  visually available for those who can see it, can dramatically impact how assistive  technology users understand the content. Additionally, it is important to correctly  tag the languages for any text. If there are sections of the text in varying languages,  these must be set for each language change. Many PDFs are actually images — scanned  documents that have no selectable digital text at all. Assistive technology cannot  read text that has been scanned unless it has been processed through Optical  Character Recognition or OCR. OCR’d text needs to be carefully checked as it  can contain content and spelling errors. Using Equidox to tag text is  very easy. Start by adjusting the Smart Zone Detector to select text zones. Easily set the language for each text zone. Adjust the zone order to create logical reading  order. You can use the reorder button to set a left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order,  or edit the individual zone order using whole numbers or decimals so that there is no need  to change the order of each individual zone. If text is presented as an image, Equidox can  OCR the text and provide editable results. Simply select the image to be OCR’d, click convert to  text, and Equidox will provide editable results. An HTML preview shows how  the text will be presented to assistive technology users  in the correct reading order. To view more PDF accessibility  videos, subscribe to our channel. For more information on how Equidox  can make PDF accessibility easy, visit our website at www.equidox.co

[music] >> Equidox PDF remediation software provides many time-saving features to streamline your workflow. Zone Transfer is our latest addition. It allows you to copy and paste zones from one document to another nearly identical document, making remediation almost instantaneous. Equidox then applies the tags on export. Here we have two nearly identical documents that I have uploaded into Equidox. These happen to be a mockup of meeting minutes that are similar every month. There are other reasons to use Zone Transfer. Ever remediate a document and then discover it needed a minor edit, or have you built a document that needs to be provided in multiple languages? Zone Transfer is a great tool for these kinds of similar documents. So the first step is to remediate the first document. Here I am setting a heading level 1, adding break lines, and tagging headings 2 along with these small lists. Equidox makes these tasks quick and easy. When the remediation is complete, I can check my work using the HTML Preview... then I’ll remediate page 2. Next, I will save my work and then go to the Output tab. Among my options, including PDF, which would generate a remediated copy of this document I just fixed, is a tab for downloading the zones. All I have to do is click the Download Zones button and choose a file name. When I click this Download Zones button, the zone layout is saved as a ZIP file. I can now go to my nearly identical second document and use that saved zone layout to remediate the second document. Simply click the Zone Transfer button and choose your saved ZIP file. There is no need to unzip the file because Equidox will do that for you... and then just click Upload. Now I'll open this second document. And here you see Equidox has opened the new document with the chosen zone layout that you've already applied. You can see the headings and lists are already tagged. A quick preview shows how the tags are applied. You'll notice the tags didn't line up exactly perfectly on page 2 because there is additional content on this second document. All that is needed is to add the necessary zones and output this second document ready to go. The first two-page document took me about 45 seconds to complete. The second took me less than 15, even with adding the missing zones. So for this set of documents, that is a third of the time originally spent. You can imagine how much more time would be saved on much larger and more complex documents or with recurring documents that are produced daily or weekly. Want to know more about this incredible time-saving feature of Equidox software? Contact us for a free demonstration. For more information about how Equidox Software Company can help you with PDF accessibility Email us at EquidoxSales@equidox.co Or give us a call at 216-529-3030 Or visit our website at www.equidox.co

Tagging Lists for PDF Accessibility Lists in PDFs can be challenging for  people who use assistive technology to read digital content. Lists must be  tagged so that assistive technology users can understand that the list  is not just a barrage of words. Screen readers will announce the  number of items and their order in a list as well as the list delimiters such  as numerals or bullets. Without list tags, they just hear a block of text with no context.  For nested lists, each child item must be tagged to each parent list item, which can be  quite labor-intensive using some tools. Tagging lists using Equidox software  is as easy as selecting the list, using the Smart List Detector slider, and watching  it automatically tag each level of the list. When you check the preview, you can see Equidox  software has correctly tagged the lists. To view more PDF accessibility  videos, subscribe to our channel. For more information on how Equidox  can make PDF accessibility easy, visit our website at www.equidox.co [Music]

Tagging Tables for PDF Accessibility Tables must have headers and a clear layout  to communicate data effectively. If not properly tagged, a table is a jumble  of words and numbers with no context. Screen readers read row and column headers  with each cell, helping users understand data relationships. Without this, the table becomes  incomprehensible. A data summary is often required to describe the content of the table, how many  rows and columns, and indicate any merged cells. Using Equidox to tag tables is as easy as a few  clicks. Select the table and press T on your keyboard to open the Table Editor. Use the Smart  Detector sliders to identify rows and columns. Tag headers and span any merged cells. Add a summary describing the table's  purpose. Equidox does this automatically, and you can edit to add additional content. Preview to confirm proper structure. To view more PDF accessibility  videos, subscribe to our channel. For more information on how Equidox  can make PDF accessibility easy, visit our website at www.Equidox.co [Music]

Tagging Form Fields for Accessibility Forms can be particularly challenging for screen  reader users. They experience forms in one of two modes: Reading Mode, where they can hear what the  various fields are on the form, and Edit Mode. In Reading Mode, an assistive technology  user can only read the descriptions of the form fields. In Edit Mode, they  can fill in the required information. While assistive technology users can  toggle back and forth between modes, this doesn't always land them in the corresponding  spot on the document. So all form fields must be specifically labeled (for example, Create Date  or Registration Date instead of just Date), and all form fields must contain a tooltip  that describes the information that is meant to be inserted into the field, including  the format (such as MM/DD/YYYY for a date). Without proper labels and tooltips, users won't know what to enter  or how to interact with the form. Equidox allows you to easily add  tooltips to fillable form fields. Simply select the form field  zone and type in the tooltip. Equidox also supports  checkboxes and radio buttons. To view more PDF accessibility  videos, subscribe to our channel. For more information on how Equidox  can make PDF accessibility easy, visit our website at www.equidox.co [Music]

Tagging Headings for PDF Accessibility Headings organize content and help users navigate  documents efficiently. Headings should be set up like an outline. Screen readers can use headings  like a table of contents or newspaper headlines, allowing users to jump directly to the  section they want. Without headings, users may have to listen to the entire  document to find what they need. Headings should not skip any levels. There should  never be a heading three without a heading level two, and there can only be one heading level  one per document, which should be the title. Using Equidox software, setting headings  is as easy as using a single keystroke. Heading level one: select the heading and hit 1. To view more PDF accessibility  videos, subscribe to our channel. For more information on how Equidox  can make PDF accessibility easy, visit our website at www.equedox.co [Music]

Adding Image Alt Text for PDF Accessibility Alternative text, or alt text, describes  images for users who cannot see them. It's crucial for conveying visual information to  screen reader users. The assistive technology reads alt text aloud, allowing users to  understand the content and the purpose of the images. If there is no alt text, they miss  important information or just hear “image.” Adding alt text falls under the perceivable  and understandable aspects of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG. Many  images can be described in just a few words. On this document we see a logo and two  additional images. Alt text for this logo can simply read “Equidox logo” or the logo  could be fully described to read “Equidox logo with tagline PDF Accessibility Solutions. The  ‘O’ in the logo features an illustration of a document with a check mark.” In most cases,  “Equidox logo” is sufficient information. The next image is a decorative cityscape icon  that contributes no additional information for this document. This image can be artifacted  so that assistive technology ignores it. The next image can be described as “black  and white Border Collie with Equidox logo.” This image also doesn't add anything new to the  document and could arguably be artifacted as well. Repetitive content, such as appears  in headers or footers on every page, does not need to be tagged more than  once. It's an unnecessary burden for an assistive technology user to hear the same  information over and over that would normally be skipped or ignored by a sighted user.  These repetitive images can be artifacted. It's important to provide alt text that  matches the context of the content each image is amplifying. For example, this  image of George Washington crossing the Delaware might be part of an article  about engravings in the 19th century, part of an article about Revolutionary War  history, or included in a document about George Washington himself. In the first, you might  mention the artistic techniques. In the second, you might include the date this occurred and  its significance to the war. And in the last, you might just say “engraving of George Washington  Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze.” For charts and graphs, often the best  practice is to include the data table from which the image has been derived.  Tables can be read by assistive technology, and you can simply write in the alt text  “refer to data table on this page for details.” Alternatively, some graphs can be explained very  simply. Alt text for this one can just read: “line graph showing an upward trend in cell  phone services from 2001 through 2010 with a corresponding downward trend in residential  phone services over the same period.” Maps can be another challenge to describe using  alt text. Often, the alt text provided reads simply “map of.” This is not especially useful  for an assistive technology user who might want to know how to get from point A to point B or  the location of a specific destination. However, if the information conveyed by the  map—directions or specifically cited locations like mailboxes or coffee shops—is  thoroughly covered in the text of the document, the alt text “map of mailbox locations”  might be perfectly appropriate. Remember the context of the map needs to  be considered. It's not always necessary to describe the entire map. The map below could take  hundreds of words to describe in the alt text. However, the best way to provide the intended  information for this particular map is to give clear directions to each point  listed on the map. So you might write: “map of the course of a marathon. Start at  the intersection of XYZ and ABC. Make the second left onto CDF Street. Turn right  at the fifth intersection...” and so on, describing the path of the marathon. This  is the information intended by the map. Organizational charts are another  tricky element to describe using alt text. The more complex the org  chart, the more words are required to accurately present the information. It  can become very cumbersome to navigate alt text describing an organizational chart  if there are large numbers of elements. Equidox software provides a unique solution  because it can create zones that will be digital tags on export. Many organizational  charts can be depicted using a nested list. Simply create a list zone and use custom  text to enter the elements of the org chart, and voila—easy-to-parse information for  an assistive technology user. The alt text for the org chart will then refer to the added  nested list zone for the necessary information. The nested list should immediately follow  the org chart image in the reading order. When writing alt text, always consider the  context of the image and why it's important to the specific document in which it's  located. It sometimes requires a fair bit of creativity to convey the information in  the most usable way. Consider how difficult it will be for an assistive technology  user to read through complex alt text, and keep it simple by conveying only  necessary, relevant information. Setting alt text with Equidox can be done  on individual pages or on the Images Tab, which allows alt text for images in the  document to be added all in one place. To view more PDF accessibility  videos, subscribe to our channel. For more information on how Equidox  can make PDF accessibility easy, visit our website at www.equidox.co [Music]

Female Speaker: Equidox by Onix. Accessible PDF conversion. Reach everyone. Dan Tuleta: I’m Dan Tuleta, account manager for Equidox. Today's market is digital; we do our shopping, banking, learning, and information gathering online. Female Speaker: One of the most common online documents are PDFs. But these are not always accessible to people using assistive technology such as screen readers. Every business and organization wants to maximize their audience and target market; they need to reach everyone including people with print disabilities who use screen readers. It's required by law, but it's also best business practice. Dan Tuleta: Equidox is a web-based software tool that converts inaccessible PDFs into accessible documents that can be understood by assistive technology. It's really fast, very easy, and you can learn the basics in under an hour. Female Speaker: Here is a sample PDF document containing many of the most commonly occurring elements. All of these elements need to be properly identified, or tagged, in order for a screen reader to understand the content being presented. There are headers that enable screen readers to navigate the page without reading every single word. There are several images, a list, and a table. A tool that is most commonly associated with PDF documents is Adobe Acrobat. But remediating PDFs using Adobe to make them compliant with web content accessibility guidelines is a slow and painstaking process. Take a look at what is required to manually remediate this simple document using Adobe. Remediating elements such as tables can be laborious. This remediation is playing at 30 times speed. Using Adobe for manual remediation involves manipulation of a complex tag tree. This remediation has taken more than 15 minutes. Now, watch the same remediation with Equidox using the Sensitivity slider. All elements on the page are automatically detected. Elements such as headers are easily tagged. There are keyboard shortcuts for the most common functions such as pressing H1 for titles, H2 and H3 for subsequent header levels. Using alt text for images is easy. [music] Lists can be auto-detected in three simple steps. For tables, select the table and choose the Equidox table editor. Equidox will automatically divide the table contents into rows and columns which a screen reader can understand. A preview shows the table rendered in HTML. Elements can be quickly reordered in one step or you can do this manually. And we preview the remediated document, we see that the reading order has been set correctly, the headers are indicated, the list and table elements are correct, and alt text is properly combined and rendered for a screen reader. Equidox documents are previewed in HTML which means web accessibility checkers can be used to validate your documents. This entire document, with all its various elements, has been completed by an experienced remediator in approximately one minute. Dan Tuleta: Using Equidox can save you so much time, so much money, and frees up your employees to do other tasks. Converting your documents into accessible formats allows you to be compliant with legal digital requirements and reach everyone in your target audience. Equidox is the right tool to help you do that. Female Speaker: For further information about how Equidox can help you reach everyone, contact us and ask for a free demonstration. Visit www.equidox.co. Copyright 2018 Onix Networking Corp. All Rights Reserved. [music]