Incorporating Additional Accessibility Features

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The accessibility features in Word were created and developed over time to help make the program usable 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 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:

1. Select your text, and then click the arrow to the right of the Font Color button, on the Formatting toolbar.

2. On the color palette, click a different color.

3. 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. When you're creating your document, be sure 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—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 documents. 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 then click the General tab. Clear the Provide Feedback With Sound check box. Note, however, that selecting this option will affect all the programs in the Microsoft Office System, so disable the option only if you don't want to play sound with any of your programs.

• You can change the sounds that are used by making changes in the Control Panel. Double-click Sounds And Audio Devices in the Control Panel. In the Sounds tab in the Sounds And Audio Devices dialog box, click the event in the Program Events list to which you want to apply the sound. Click the Sounds arrow, and then choose the sound you want to use. 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 event is triggered.

  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 email 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 that you can add notes, suggestions, and instructions to documents, forms, or brochures, as well as using Word's dictation features to display menus, choose commands, and enter text with voice commands.

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