Welcome to the Documents and Resources page! The items found here represent the culmination of the work done in recent years (2018-2024), supported in part by the Government of Canada’s Social Development Partnerships Program – Disability Component. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.
Contents
- Accessible Publishing Information and Tools for Publishers
- Reading Apps and Platforms
- Accessible Publishing Summit Reports
Accessible Publishing Information and Tools for Publishers
Resources
Visit our page on Resources for Publishers.
Reports
- Publisher Audits (2018-2019): As a part of their grant-funded work, NNELS hired accessibility testers – people with print disabilities who would assess the accessibility of documents, reading platforms, library apps, websites, and more. The accessibility testers were provided with ebook samples from dozens of publishers. For each individual publisher, they tested the books and wrote reports on the issues and barriers to accessibility that they ran into. From these audits, they developed a best practices guide which lists the most common problems and offers solutions for addressing these common issues.
- epubtest.org: NNELS supported DAISY on expanding the language options of their epubtest.org initiative. This site is the go-to place to find reading system accessibility evaluations, and is now available in French as well as English.
Tools
- App & Scripts for EPUB Accessibility (June 2019, updated regularly): Within this GitHub repository, you will find technological solutions for the automation of some tasks that can be used on EPUB files to improve their accessibility. These scripts can also be modified by anyone to suit specific needs.
Please note, beyond bringing these scripts to the community, NNELS is unable to offer support on installation or troubleshooting related issues. - Ace Desktop App: NNELS supported DAISY’s initiative to further develop Ace (the free, open-source EPUB accessibility checking tool by the DAISY Consortium). This is now available for people to try out in both English and French, and integrates the Accessible Publishing Knowledge Base.
Reading Apps and Platforms
Reports on Library Reading Apps
(2019-2024)
The Accessibility Testers were tasked with using and testing library reading applications, and they reported on their functionality and usefulness for readers with print disabilities. Click here to access the reports, as well as to read an overview of the reports and their results.
Find the Right Reading System
- Reading Systems Tutorials for Screen Reader Users (2019): These videos, made by NNELS Accessibility Testers, offer brief demonstrations on how to use the reading platform or app, as well as provide commentary about the usefulness and usability of the programs.
- Comparison Guide of Commercial Reading Applications (2020)
Accessible Publishing Summit Materials
These materials were developed during the Accessible Publishing Summits. Dozens of stakeholders from the ebook production and distribution chain have come together annually to discuss accessible publishing and its advancement, and these materials share what has been discussed and worked on.
2024
Recorded Demonstrations
The 2024 accessibility demonstrations all focused on the experience of screen reader users attempting to discover and read accessible content from different sources.
2023
Reports
Recorded Demonstrations
The 2023 accessibility demonstrations showcased the “diversity of reading”, by having three accessibility testers demonstrate reading the same book using different hardware and software.
- VoiceOver and Apple Books on iOS | Text transcript
- JAWS and VitalSource Bookshelf on Windows | Text transcript
- NVDA and Thorium Reader on Windows | Text transcript
2022
- Summit recordings: 2022 YouTube Playlist
2021
- Summit recordings: 2021 YouTube Playlist
2020
2019
- Executive Summary
- Summit Report