Now it will be discussed how you can use the "Save as Web Page" method of publishing a Excel spreadsheet to your best advantage in creating accessible HTML versions of your spreadsheet.
This section will detail:
Before saving your document as a web page, there are certain things you can do to improve the accessibility of the finished product. These techniques are mentioned below:
Excel separates the contents of the document into distinct pages. You will notice the page tabs appear at the bottom of the application, as shown in Image 5:
Image 5: Shows the page tabs within Excel
In this example your Excel document, example.xls, consists of four pages: Sheet1, Chart1, Sheet2, and Sheet3. By default, Excel opens a blank document for you with the three pages.
It is recommended that you individually name each of the pages that have content placed within them, as to improve the structure of the Excel document. These page names will also serve to act as descriptions for the accessible HTML webpages you will produce later in this module.
Image 7: Renamed page tab within Excel
For the sample spreadsheet, follow the above steps and rename the pages as follows:
You do not need the fourth sheet, "Sheet3"; it is recommended you right-click on this page and select the "Delete" option to remove it from the spreadsheet.
When you are finished, your spreadsheet should resemble the one displayed in Image 8:
Image 8: Correctly named page tabs in Excel
You will now work with the three sheets containing content. Now that they are properly named, you will continue with properly formatting the contents of each page.
Excel, like all Office software products, allows you to embed images and other media elements into your document. You have the option to insert built-in clip art or an image from a file, create "Word Art" or use drawing tools to create other shapes.
One of the first things that comes to mind when most people talk about web accessibility is alterative text for images. For users whose browsers cannot support images, visually impaired users and those who have elected not to download images, it is vital to have a text equivalent for any images in your document.
Excel 2000 and XP both provide an option to insert alternative text for any images or drawing objects you create. By default, Excel will try to assign appropriate alt text for each image, but it is important that you review it to make sure the text is meaningful and appropriate.
For this example, open the third page of your sample spreadsheet and scroll down until the image of the textbook is visible.
Image 9: Alternative text option for images within Excel
Image 10: Sample alternative text description for an image within ExcelIf you do not specify alternative text for an image, most screen readers will read the image file name, possibly confusing the user. Therefore, it is important to create an accessible description for each image within your Excel spreadsheet.
Many screen readers use hyperlinks for the user to navigate between pages. Hyperlink text must be meaningful even when read out of context. For example, hyperlinks such as "Click here" provide little information to the user information when browsing the page. You should quickly scan through the document and make sure that the text of each of your hyperlinks makes sense if read out of order or separately from the surrounding text.
You can examine your
sample Excel file ( 
,
71 KB) to see the resultant changes.
The next page will discuss how to add text and hyperlinks while converting Excel to HTML.
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