 Live stream is getting going and I'm going to continue to play the music until 12 30 so the live streamers couldn't change as well. Oh, I was talking but I was on you welcome back everyone and welcome live streamers. We're going to dive right into our next session which is another ePublic accessibility demonstration. This one is focusing on fixed layout books. There's a little bit of overlap with some stuff that Kai covered early on in his video, but this video really does it a much deeper dive into fixed layout which is, you know, fully different format. And either way the videos are designed in a way that they can really stand alone so for the future. This is excellent but it'll be you'll notice a little bit of overlap but it's okay. Big thanks to Melissa for putting this together and we'll she'll be able to take some questions after the video plays which is going to be right away open video share screen and enjoy. Welcome to Fixed Layout ePublic Accessibility Demonstration. My name is Melissa Castillou and I am an Accessibility Consultant for NELS and I'm talking to you from Jodjage known as Montreal where I live. I would like to begin by acknowledging that I am located on unseeded indigenous lands and that Jodjage is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. This presentation aims to give you a little insight into accessible fixed layout electronic publications. So for today I will start by a simple introduction to what is fixed layout. After that I will be explaining the limits of this format in terms of accessibility. And once we have established these limits and we understand the context where fixed layout is appropriate or not, I will show you some elements you should include to address some common accessibility issue. The presentation will be followed by a 10 minute long Q&A session and also the PowerPoint will be made available after the summit with all links to online resources for more information. What is a fixed layout ePublic? It is mainly a format of digital publication where the print layout is preserved in the digital edition. It is somehow the opposite of reflowable ePublic such as presented by my colleague Kai in the previous demonstration. For people who are not familiar with the difference between fixed and reflowable layout, we could say that fixed layout ePublic is comparable to ePublic format where the layout would stay consistently the same. On the other hand, reflowable ePublic could be compared to a regular web page where you can change font type, size and color and where also you could zoom in and out while the content automatically adjusts to the window and I will be demonstrating these two things in a minute. Advantage and limitation of fixed layout. So fixed layout has its advantages such as total control over the book display for the publishers. This is why books such as children books, comic books, photo books are produced mostly in this format. The format enables a heavy usage of graphic and design elements. That being said, these advantages have a pretty heavy cost in terms of accessibility. There are two main issues that will be discussed today. First is the fact that reader can't adjust the visual layout to their needs. So aside from making sure the content is as readable as possible, it is not possible to fully remediate this issue even while following the best guideline ever. So it is important to be aware of this before considering the second main issue is related to screen reader user. So in fixed layout, most of the time each word is usually wrap in span tag. So the screen reader would read each word one by one and we'll look at this issue closer now. So let's first talk about visual adjustments. I would like to illustrate the difference between reflowable and fixed layout book in terms of the visual adjustment possibilities. So here I have a reflowable book and I'm at chapter one and the first paragraph is written in very, very small font and this is an issue. I can't read it. It's too small. So what I would do is to go in the reader preference and I'm in the eReader vital bookshelf and then I would choose the text size that I prefer. So for me, now I would choose the larger one. So here we go. So what's happening is that the text has been enlarged and it's also been adapted to the size of the window. Here, again, we have another issue. The line spacing between the line is too small. So it's all crammed together. So it's easy. I go again in the reader preference and I choose a larger line spacing and here we go. We have like a really readable text and this really illustrates the possibility of reflowable layout to be adjusted to the reader needs. It is a very different story indeed when it comes to fixed layout. So here we go. So here we have a fixed layout book with a very similar issue. We have a paragraph that is in such a small font that it's really hard to read. So let's do the same thing that we did for the reflowable and go to the reader preference. Here we don't have the same feature to enlarge the font. The only possibility is to enlarge the page. That means the font is not going to adapt to the same size of the page. That is problematic for readability. For instance, you may have to go from right to left and then right to left again to be able to read like line by line the text and also depends on the quality of the image but the text may not be readable at all. So that illustrates the issue that can emerge from not having the possibility to adapt content. So we will see it soon a way to make the font as readable as possible but keep in mind that with fixed layout the reader doesn't have the possibility to adapt the font to their needs. And now let's look at a small video about the Spantag issue. Books that allow for reflowable content are usually easy to navigate and read with assistive technology. When play is pressed the content is well narrated. In this text we have studied the effects of a number of invasions, conquests, and waves of settlement in the history of English. In contrast, books produced in fixed layout presented choppy and disjointed reading experience. Introduction, capital T, the industry. You surely have noticed that the reading experience with fixed layout is very choppy. This is because in order to keep the layout each word will be put between Spantag. So that means it makes it unreadable with a screen reader. There is some way to remediate this issue such as putting the full sentence between Spantag instead of each word. However, keep in mind that there is readability issue with screen reader for a fixed layout book. In short, fixed layout advantages have a heavy cost in terms of readability and accessibility. Especially for people with print disability, therefore you should choose wisely. I added to the slide the two button meme. The first panel show two big red button called fixed layout and reflowable. The second panel show a man sweating profusely trying to decide which button to press. And the caption says fixed layout may lead to total devastation. To avoid a catastrophe, here's some advice to decide if your book content justify the user fixed layout or not. So if your book layouts must stay the same because it has meaning in itself and I'm talking here about the layout, you can use fixed layout. We can think here example of a comic book that is reliant on its organization and appearance for meaning. The frame of the page decides the orientation and the panel's position actually convey meaning. Therefore, reflowability would affect the ability of the reader to comprehend the content. That would be an excellent reason to do a fixed layout. A children picture book would also justify a user fixed layout. On the other hand, a novel with mostly text and some images here and there does not justify the user fixed layout. Even a book with many images within the textual content would not justify for fixed layout because the layout does not contain meaning in itself. Now that we know the access to the limits of fixed layout and that we should use it only if necessary, we can continue safely. Let's imagine our book need total layout control, how to make sure it does not lead to total devastation in its accessibility. So here are some recommendations for more accessible fixed layouts. The first key point if I can say it like that is alternative text or image description. Fixed layout have usually a lot or even consists entirely of images. Ensuring that the information conveyed by images is accessible to all reader is top priority when making fixed layout as accessible as possible. So having good image description is super important. The image description guideline is the same for fixed layout and reflowable layout. However, fixed layout are susceptible to have some specific challenges when it comes to describing and I have two examples for you. My first example of complex images concern context and structure. So I have included a strip of my Felda comic book and my Felda is looking at an earth globe while her father read the newspaper. It has four panel and in the first she asked where are we? In the second panel the father says here see while pointing at Argentina at the bottom of the globe. In the third panel my Felda look absolutely shocked and even scared and say but then we live upside down. The fourth panel with my Felda the globe and her father is now upside down. My Felda says my word I think from now on I'll feel more attached to this ground. This trip is a good example of content that need a description that require to go further than describing the individual images. This trip needs a description that take in consideration the spatial organization of the panel. The fact that the last panel is upside down revealed that my Felda literally feel her world has been turned upside down and because of this we now understand why she say that she feel more attached to the ground and also we can understand the comical aspect of this strip. The second example of complex images concern image where there is many element in one image. For the second example I have taken an image from the Smurf comic book and the image show a riot at a football match and there is many thing happening at once. There is some Smurf football player that look confused on the pitch while on the crowd there is many Smurf fighting, shouting to each other. There are some object being thrown, there are many dialogue bubble across the image saying foul, cheat, same to you and on. This kind of image there is many different action happening at once is actually quite a common place in fixed layout. So the challenge here is to describe the image and provide context. Given that the description is not attached with one single item these images would require a long and complex description. I encourage you to go look at the guide to image description on accessiblepublishing.ca for more information about image description. Another important element for fixed layout accessibility is good navigation. Many of the EPUB accessibility feature found in reflowable EPUB can still be used in fixed layout. The first step for great navigation is happening in the EPUB navigation document which is a mandatory component of EPUB package. It allows publisher to include a human and machine readable navigation layer which increase usability and accessibility for the reader. Here three main feature to keep in mind, adding a table of content, a page list and landmarks. Adding section marker and landmark to dense file major section of the publication example cover page table of content can further increase the accessibility. Here a very very short demo of navigation in a fixed layout book. Here I have open the fixed layout book called the adventure of polkadot made by Leah. On the left side we can see some table of content that had been added into the navigation file. I can click to the cover page on the title page and I will be redirected to the title page copyright dedication and another part of the book. So this is what the nav file allow you to do in your e-reader. Also if you add page list I can go on the top right and write down page 7 and enter and I will be redirected to page 7. I could also write page 1 and be redirected again to page 1. So this is a small demo of the navigation possibility with fixed layout. Now let's talk about reading order. Each page of a fixed layout EPUB is an individual XHTML page and pages are presented sequentially in the order that they are listed in the spine element of the package document. An EPUB needs to offer access to the content in some specific order. This is quite obvious you wouldn't want an EPUB that start by the conclusion and finish by the introduction. It is usually quite straightforward also within the textual content order as it would go from left to right and top bottom. The issue is that many fixed layout publications don't necessarily have an obvious reading order or their logical progression through the content don't follow the regular one. You can find design where there is multiple readable objects on the same page in a quite chaotic manner. Here as an example is again the smurf football riot where there is many dialogue bubble. The reading order is not obvious. For viewer, the visual page, the reading order can be inferred by different visual cue including size, style and font. Without a properly coded reading order the screen reader which is which rely on machine readable information would read in a regular order which can make it very confusing. It is therefore important to take time to ensure that thoughts has been put into the reading order for the textual content. Accessibility recommendation. The recommended best practice solution here is to adjust the reading order of the elements within the XHTML page and preserve the design using CSS. So design CSS, semantic structure in the XHTML page. Next is a structural hierarchy. So headings are a key way for reader who use assistive technology to get a feel for how the book is laid out. It is important to be able to know when a new section begins and navigate efficiently between sections. Therefore a predictable structure of cascading headings is crucial to any accessible EPUB. In a book, level one heading should be used for major section such as chapter and a title of subsection within chapter should be marked up with level two heading and etc. So now let's talk about readability. Readability of fixed layout content is so important for accessibility and particularly for users with low vision or learning disabilities. Readability could be defined as an easy and enjoyable reading experience. As I mentioned earlier, fixed layout does not allow visual adaptability and students reader can't customize the textual content to their need and preferences. It is so important to consider best practices to create books that are as readable as possible. The first piece of readability is fund selection. So there isn't a specific fund that is good for all user needs but certain fund characteristics would increase legibility. So when planning fund selection in fixed layout, consider the following. First, the fund type. There is no specific fund type and again like no one size fit for all but one recommendation would be to use fund type without serif that augment legibility. After fund sizing, a 16 point fund would be sufficient for most content and if there is a lot of textual content it is actually recommended to consider a larger body fund size like 18 point to ensure readability. And at last, the fund weight. Using a two light fund can be an accessibility issue and make it hard for some user to read. Similarly content that is too bold or heavy can also have its own issues. Next piece, color contrast. Here I have an example of a fixed layout book that have a readability issue. The book page consists of an image displaying a bulldog waiting to get on the couch. At the bottom of the image there is a paragraph of text in black fund and the text background is a beige blanket with many fold which makes it very difficult to read and cause readability issue. So here we need to consider color contrast. So it is important to follow the WCAG guideline for color contrast. This is especially important for visual content. It is strongly recommended to place text on a solid background or one that is neutral enough to increase legibility of the text. We could for instance improve the last example by adding a solid square background to the text content. Another piece of EPUB fixed layout accessibility is media overlays. Media overlay for EPUB allow for now publisher to synchronize text and audio. It would be possible for instance produce a children's book with human voice narration and attach the narration to the text. The other file would be divided in small clip and attached to the textual sentences or paragraph. Medaille helps reader who would have difficulty following the text of a traditional book. It is also quite useful for children who are learning to read. Well coded, the reader can look at the text being highlighted in the same time that they are listening to the narration. For dyslexic children and even adults having access to the content visually and verbally simultaneously is very beneficial for learning. So using resolverly is a great way to make up for some of the format limitations. The last piece here is accessibility metadata. As we know fixed layout are not perfectly accessible. It is therefore important to share the accessibility limits to the reader. And metadata are a bit like a list of ingredients at a supermarket on a food item. If for example you have a peanut allergy you need to know before you buy it and certainly taste it. So in the same way the allergic person will be so thankful to know they can't consume the product some reader will be happy to know in advance what to expect with the book. So as a producer and publisher don't be shy if your book is not fully accessible just indicate it in the metadata. In conclusion, here are some key points from this presentation. First remember that fixed layout format pose many accessibility issues. Also use fixed layout only if necessary and if you do follow the fixed layout accessibility guideline to improve image description, navigation, readability and accessible metadata. I have some resources for you so I encourage you to visit www.accessiblepublishing.ca for the guide to image description. I encourage you to consult also the websites W3C, EPUB, Fixed Layout Accessibility and the WCAG Cover Contrast guideline. Also note that in the Accessible Publishing Summit Google Drive there is a sample of fixed layout book. Thank you for listening and now we can go to the discussion session. Thank you so much, Melissa. That was fantastic. I think, yes, you can hear me. I stopped the video. Everything's going successfully. So we do have, as promised, 10 minutes for this Q&A session before we take another short break and it looks like we've got a hand up so we'll dive right in. Suzanne, please. Hi. I have a question from one of our students in the MPRO, and they're asking, does anyone know if title case, example, capital A, about our company, capital O, capital C, or sentence case about our company with lower cases O and C, capital A, is more accessible in online reading and are there best practices around that? Can you put the text in the chat what you mean versus what you mean? Yeah. Just so we can have that. And I'll start by saying, and then, Melissa, you can feel this, but there are a number of different screen readers and a number of different reading systems and so there's almost, we can't really say with any, you know, definitiveness what is the correct here, but yeah, okay. So I see it now. Yeah, I think I would say the thing that, yeah, it would really depend of the screen reader. Yeah. As far as title case versus sentence case, I think in general both would be totally fine and just as accessible. It's all capitals that you have to worry about. So when it's all capital letters, sometimes that'll be read out letter by letter, but as far as title case versus sentence case, there's not going to be too much difference, I think, regardless of the screen reader or regardless of the screen reader. Apologies for my grammatical mistake. Thank you, Suzanne or Suzanne student. Appreciate that. Do you have any other questions for? Oh, we've got Kate, everything inquisitive. Go ahead, Kate, thank you. Lots of questions. And if you don't know the answer to this, I can certainly bring it up with maybe somebody else who does, but I'm wondering. I loved your point at the end, you know, don't be shy if your book isn't fully accessible. Just make sure that it's clearly described in the metadata. I'm wondering how that comment matches up with accessibility acts that are coming through. I know we don't have anything really like legislation and accessibility. We don't have anything really solid right now in Canada around that, but with like the EU accessibility act, it's like, what are the minimum. Standards that somebody would have to meet in order to be in compliance with those. Is that something you're able to answer? Should I throw that to somebody else? So there's, it really depends like what the standard you're looking for. And there's like, there is degree. And I think for instance, if somebody else would then meet like the best standard, that's for sure, because it's mostly for most parts like inaccessible, but there is a way to make it more accessible and I try to highlight this in my presentation, but yeah, there will be problem. And for instance, the fact that people are not able to change the visual appearance and myself, I'm just like six. I do have the six needs in terms of funds and line spacing. And because it's fixed layout, I can't change that. So that's one thing that it just comes with fixed layout and it has a problem. And I think there is a new development and like new technology that allows to push further accessibility of fixed layout. And needs are really one of them. However, it is important in the metadata to say, if to access the content, you need to do it visually. And if you can do it textually, and if there is in that sense that are not described, you will have to say that to access all the content. You would need visual to do it visually. So yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And actually, Christina Mussanelli has offered to give some input here as well. And she's very well versed with the European Accessibility Act. So I think I'd love to hear what you have to say. Christina, much appreciated. Hi. Hello. Now, just two more technical information related with the Accessibility Act. In the Accessibility Act, there are some already described requirements. And one is that the file should be, should allow the flowable option. So if you make fixed layout, this is not really in line with the requirement of the legislation till now. There are some kinds of books like some of that many comics, art book, children books that could be exempt by the legislation because it's known that the technical standards are not ready yet. But what is important is as Melissa has shown to make the title as possible as the state of the art of the technology. So if there is a fully accessible solution for fixed layout, they should be also accessible. In the meantime, what is important is that you make what is possible, let's say. So fixed layout, if you have a fixed layout school books, that is not exempt. So you don't have to produce fixed layout for books that can be done in a flowable version. But if you have comics, art books and children books, this could be exempt and the accessibility could be as much as possible. I don't know if I answered the question. That was awesome, thank you so much. Exactly, and that's why I spend so much time to make sure people understand what consists of good reasons to have a fixed layout and it's only if the content can be understood with the context of the layout, such as comics. But it happened that sometimes a publisher would produce their e-book in fixed layout just because they're used to the format of their print book and they just want to conserve it. This is not a good reason. And yeah, it needs to be put out there that fixed layout should be used only if necessary. Perfect, yeah, thank you. Yeah, and thanks for that question, Kay. That's kind of the big question of fixed layout. So thank you for bringing it up. And it looks like we have a question from Lindsay, Honeywell, Wilfred Deloria. So I'll throw it to you, Lindsay. Happy to answer from you. Hi, thank you. My question is related to the media overlays. I'm curious how they interact with the e-pub and if it's like separate files or how it's integrated, if it's embedded, I'm just really interested in how that works. And if that media overlays are also something that you could make work with your reflowable e-books as well as fixed layout e-books. Like if you had an audio version of a reflowable. So the answer is yes, you could use the Midaveli with a reflowable book. Often the reason why we don't see it often with reflowable books that have like a lot of texts is just it's quite time consuming because with my knowledge, you need to attach the audio to the text in the document and it's quite time consuming. So the Midaveli is quite a good solution for a book which is like children's book with very small text. So it's easier to attach like the audio clip to a sentence. So this is mainly why we don't sit in fixed layout but to be honest, that would be great for instance to have a human narrated book that use Midaveli with the actual digital text book. Yeah, I mean, to show you if that would happen and if there would be like a way to make it more semantics, that would be great. But to my knowledge, we're not there quite there yet. So yeah. Are the media, do you know if the media overlays in fixed layout, are they embedded or are they separate files that get packaged with the EPUB? I'm just curious how they work or do you know? I don't personally have a good handle on the technical side. Okay. And yeah, but there's probably someone here who knows. Okay, cool, thank you very much. So if someone could reach out to Lindsay. Oh yeah, probably. But I'm gonna actually draw, I know I've seen a couple raised hands. Maybe Wendy can answer Lindsay's question. But I'm gonna throw it to a break because people need breaks and that's what's gonna happen. So thanks everyone for coming. Thanks streamers for streaming. We're gonna pause the stream. We're gonna come back at quarter after the hour or quarter to the hour if you're in Newfoundland and we will stream again and have our last session of the day. Thank you so much.