Alternate Formats - Technical Advice

This is advice for creating and request documents in alternate formats. Following this will help us process your request quicker, and deliver the best results for your audience.

Headings in MS Word documents

A heading structure is when any headings in our document are ranked. A clear and consistent heading structure helps your readers navigate the document and provides important information about the text. It is especially important for people using assistive technology, such as screen readers.

How to create a heading structure

The size and prominence of each heading should reflect how import it is.

You can set and edit the heading structure using the ‘Styles’ option in the MS Word ribbon, and the ‘Home’ tab.

The title of your document should be Heading 1 – this shows it is the most important information on the page, and the first piece of content. Remember to also add a summary.

Your next heading should be Heading 2 – this indicates a new section. You can have multiple sections, all at Heading 2. If you want to add a section within these, you can use Heading 3.

Do not skip a heading size (e.g. go from 1 to 3), as this will be confusing for people using assistance technology.

Your internal documents policies may set out the specific font, colour and size of each heading level. These can be adjusted in the ‘Modify’ setting when you right click on the specific heading level in the ‘Styles’ section of the ribbon.

Providing a short/tiny URL and a hyperlink or long URL

When you send us a document to be produced in alternate formats, all hyperlinks or long URLs must also have shortened or Tiny URLs.

Short URLs make it much easier for people to access the link or web address if they can’t activate or select a link, e.g. if it’s a printed document or video. Short/tiny URLs also help keep the flow and structure of documents with large fonts.

Example of including a tiny URL in a document for alternate formats:

If I was using the link to the form for requesting alternate formats, the web address is quite long and hard to remember or copy for those who cannot activate or select a link (https://msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/work-programmes/accessibility/alternate-formats/form-for-requesting-alternate-formats.html).

Instead of just the long hyperlink, I would also provide a TinyURL in the document for alternate formats like this:

• “… When requesting alternate formats, you must complete the Form for requesting alternate formats [or this link http://bit.ly/3PNpUWu]…”

How to provide accessible contact options

To make your contact options accessible you need to provide a:

• web address
• email address
• free-call phone number (and hours of operation)
• text number (for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who find it hard to communicate on the phone)  
• link to NZ Relay.

Here’s an example of how this might look:

“To provide your feedback, please contact us using the following options:

• email us at Example@gmail.co.nz
• call us between 9am and 5pm weekdays on 0800 123 1234
• if you’re Deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, have a speech impairment or find it hard to talk, you can:
  • text us on 020 123 1234
  • use the New Zealand Relay Service nzrelay.co.nz

More information is also available at www.example.co.nz.”

Alternate text for logos and images

Alternate text (often referred to as alt. text) is how blind, deafblind, vision impaired and low vision people get information about the logos, images, and other graphics in your documents. The alternate text is read out to users by screen reader software.

Alternate text must be included on all logos and any other essential images in documents for translation/transcription.

To add alternate text, open the context menu for the image in MS Word.

How to do this:

• right-click on the image
• select “Edit Alt Text” or “View Alt Text” (depending on the version you are using)
• enter a text description of the image.

The alternate text should provide the same information that a sighted user gets when looking at the image or graphic. Your description should say:

• what kind of image it is, e.g. a photo, logo etc.
• a short summary of what the image is of, e.g. a graph, dog etc.

a summary of the important information the image represents, e.g. “This is a photo of the dog that found the drugs…” “This is a graph showing a 200% increase in sales in 2023…” etc.