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Updated
12/30/2008
As more document preparation utilizing photos and desktop publishing are being
done in-house by Plant Materials Centers, it is helpful to know some of the tricks to obtain good
quality images and publications. When publications are posted to the
internet in an electronic format, they must meet Section 508 accessibility
requirements and NRCS document hosting requirements. Following these
guidelines will assist document authors in creating documents and publications that are
accessible, easily searched and identified
by Internet search engines, and also facilitate document processing for
Plant Materials Operations and Management System (POMS).
Document file properties are details about a file that identify
the document
by its content, such as title, author name, subject (a
narrative descriptive paragraph), and keywords and search terms
that identify topics and other important information about the file. The
information entered in the document
file properties will display on mouse-over without opening the file. Document
file properties
are also helpful to help organize your files so that you can find them easily
later. Document file properties are also used by
Internet search engines, thus
increasing the search ability of the document.
How to Add File Properties
-
Adding file properties can be done in two ways:
- With the document open, go to
File > Properties > Summary tab (MS Word) or Description >Metadata
(Adobe Acrobat) - Add the document information. When entering keywords and
search terms, separate by commas.
- Right click on the unopened file. Choose properties. In the dialog window under
the PDF Tab add the Title, Author and page description in the
subject and key words. Add this information under the Summary
Tab as well.
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It is important to maintain a consistent file naming convention
to easy identification and processing of electronic files. The National
Plant Materials Program Web Site houses thousands of publications.
Following file naming facilitates and simplifies the maintenance and
identification of these publication files. Follow these file naming guidelines on all files submitted to the National PMC.
Keep the file name as short as possible. It should never exceed
15 characters. It will be further identified at the National PMC
with an ID# from POMS once it is processed.
Using this file naming convention makes it easy to identify where
this file is from, what type of publication it is, and the year it
was published. A properly named file will name will indicate who, when,
and what.
-
File names are LOWER CASE.
-
Never use spaces or characters
other than a dash or underscore in the file name.
-
Don't exceed 15 total characters in the file name.
File Naming for POMS
-
The file name starts with the lower case acronym of your PMC
web site. NOTE: Use the
acronym used on your PMC
Web site. Example:
http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/ndpmc
= ndpmc
-
Identify the publication type with the two
letter publication type code found in the POMS
Publication
Types, Description, and Codes. Example:
The publication type code
for a release brochure is rb.
-
Identify the publication fiscal year.
Example:
fiscal year 2009 =
9
-
Identify a brief name, word, or acronym to identify the
document. The file name should never exceed 15 characters.
In this example the publication is an indiangrass brochure.
Example:
indiangrass =
ig
-
This example file name
ndpmcrb9-ig.pdf
is easily identified as an NDPMC indiangrass release brochure published in FY
2009.
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Keeping file size
to a minimum is important for Web storage and quick download purposes.
As a rule of thumb, document file size should not exceed 3 MB and the maximum
file size is 6 MB for documents that are hosted on NRCS Web sites.
- Resize image dimensions BEFORE they are
inserted into the document. Doing so will decrease the file
size of the document dramatically. Additional information on
this can be found on these pages.
All graphical elements and images in
publications and documents hosted on NRCS Web sites must have
alternative text.
- Alternative text is a textual description of an image or graphic.
- All graphical elements within your document must be tagged with
alternative text within the document.
- In most applications, you can right click on an object, image,
or hyperlink to set alternate text properties.
- In Microsoft Word, right click on the graphic, choose
format picture, click on the Web Tab in the Format Picture dialog box,
add the text in the Alternate Text box.
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All U.S. federal agencies were mandated under Section 508 of the U.S.
Rehabilitation Act to make their websites accessible by June 21, 2001. As
amended, section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires access to the Federal
government's electronic and information technology. The law covers all types of
electronic and information technology in the Federal sector and is not limited
to assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. It applies to all
Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use such technology.
Federal agencies must ensure that this technology is accessible to employees and
the public to the extent it does not pose an "undue burden."
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If you encounter any problems with the files provided on this page,
please contact Leslie Glass at 701-250-4330.
These documents require
Acrobat Reader
Accessibility Tips and Plant Materials Publications Checklist (PDF; 564 KB)
Webmaster, NRCS Plant Materials Program
A Guide to Creating Accessible PDF Documents (PDF; ) General Services
Administration. Center for IT Accommodation
Ten Ways to Share Your Publications With the World: A Guide to Creating
Accessible PDF Documents in Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0 (Second Edition)
- Kent State University
Creating Accessible Adobe PDF Files: A guide for document authors (PDF; 4.7
MB) - Adobe
Advanced Techniques for Creating Accessible Adobe PDF files (PDF; 388 KB) -
Adobe
Guide to Creating Accessible Portable Document
(PDF) Files (PDF; 894 KB)
Department of Interior
Users Guide Adobe Acrobat 6 (PDF; 286 KB) University of Arizona
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Below are a few tips to assist in the creation of accessible documents.
These are general guidelines only.
- Consider the layout and design of your publication
before you start.
- Design the original document with accessibility in mind.
When the original document is created and tagged for accessibility,
those elements will be maintained when the document is converted
into a PDF document.
- Always use paragraph styles, such as Heading 1, Heading 2, and
Body Text when formatting text. These structured elements will
be tagged when converting to PDF.
- Use bullets and numbering to create lists and outlines.
These convert well to tags.
- Underlines are discouraged because the text will confuse users
who expect the text to be a link.
- Make sure that all hyperlinks have a short but sensible text
description. Don't use Link or
Click here.
- When you create hyperlinks, give them text descriptions
(alternate text).
To do this, right click on the link, choose Edit
Hyperlink, add text in the Text to Display box.
- A PDF document can be tagged for disability in Adobe Acrobat,
however, depending on the design and layout of the original
document, tagging the document after it has been converted to PDF
can be more time consuming.
For example: If a document has a text box with a colored background
and graphical elements within the text box (such as an image, lines,
or symbols) the conversion to PDF format will change all elements
within the text box an object. This object is no longer
recognized as text unless it has been tagged with alternate text.
If the graphical elements are tagged in the original document the
information will be included when the document is converted into PDF
format.
- Creating tagged documents creates accessibility and identifies
the document structure and its content to sight impaired individuals
using accessibility equipment such as screen readers.
- Create tables by using the Table feature (Table>Insert>Table).
- If the table layout has two or more columns, use Word's Columns
feature (Format>Columns) to layout the columns. Don't use tabs
or the Table feature to simulate multicolumn text. Columns
translate cleanly to a tagged Adobe PDF, while tabs and tables often
require manual repair work with the Touchup Reading Order tool in
Acrobat.
- Check if a PDF document is accessible.
To do this in Adobe
Acrobat, click Advanced - Accessibility - Quick Check.
- There is also menu tool in Adobe Acrobat that can assist in making
a document accessible.
To do this in Adobe
Acrobat, click Advanced - Make Accessible. See note below.
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- Creating tagged PDF documents by using Acrobat PDFMaker generally provides better accessibility results than creating untagged documents and then tagging them from within Acrobat. Acrobat PDFMaker
menu and buttons that appear in the interface of many non Adobe
Windows applications. This tool is installed as a command,
menu, and/or a toolbar within many authoring applications.
- The best way to create Adobe PDF documents from Adobe
applications is to use the application's Save As command or Export
Command.
- Many non Adobe Windows products do not support Acrobat PDFMaker
for creating Adobe PDF documents by using Save As, Export, or a
similar command. For these applications, you can use Adobe PDF
Printer, which enables you to create untagged PDF documents from any
application that can print. (File - Print - change printer to Adobe
PDF). You must then use Acrobat Professional to add tags,
hyperlinks, and other accessibility features to the PDF Document.
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