Operation Manual

Creating Accessible Reports
Improving report accessibility
C
Crystal Reports User’s Guide 543
Using punctuation
To improve the logical flow of spoken text, you may need to add extra
punctuation to create pauses. Without extra punctuation, screen readers may
read several text objects as one continuous sentence, making the content
difficult to understand. For example, information in data tables may be read
without stop. To prevent this, you can break up information in data tables by
inserting periods between fields.
Certain punctuation marks are read aloud, which may be distracting if used
too frequently. For example, when a screen reader reads a colon “:”, it may
read it aloud as “colon” instead of a pause. You can change the amount of
spoken punctuation in your screen reader’s settings.
To troubleshoot your report’s punctuation, it is good practice to read the report
using a screen reader. Do objects run together too quickly? Or are there too
many pauses? Are any punctuation marks read aloud? Does this improve or
deter from the usability of the report?
Formatting text
After you create text equivalents or alternatives for non-text objects, ensure
that the text is clearly written and easy to read. Observe the following design
guidelines:
• Use a larger font.
Although people with visual impairments can use the Zoom feature to
increase the size of the report, they will not need to magnify the report as
much if the font size is larger. For example, chart labels or legends can
appear in a small font by default. For general legibility, it is good practice
to use a font larger than 8 point. For accessibility, ensure that text is
larger than 11 point.
• Use a “sans serif” font.
Simple fonts such as Arial and Helvetica can be easier to read than serif
fonts like Times or Palatino.
• Choose left or justified alignment.
Left-aligned or justified text is easier to read than centered or right-
aligned text.
• Ensure that text follows the guidelines for color usage. For details, see
“Color” on page 544.
Note: You can allow users to choose different font settings using a parameter
and conditional formatting. For details, see “Accessibility and conditional
formatting” on page 548.