Accessibility

Since June 2020, all our EPUB editions have been created in line with WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines. We format our books in accessible ways, e.g. we do not use columns as a standard layout and any tables are carefully formatted. We have improved navigation for text-to-speech software and we create HTML that produces a clearly structured text in which elements are specialised according to their function. We have also added metadata that tells a reader using accessibility aids what type of content is included, and whether or not the book is accessible for them. All our images have full captions, and most books published since summer 2022 include alt-text for images.

Our EPUB editions are made accessible thanks to an Open Source plug-in created by Luca Baffa and maintained by OBP, which can be freely accessed on GitHub and used by anyone.

RNIB Bookshare

We also supply all our EPUB editions to RNIB Bookshare. Bookshare members can acquire accessible editions that enable them to:

  • Listen to books with high quality text-to-speech voices
  • Hear and see highlighted words on screen
  • Read with digital braille or enlarged fonts
  • Create physical braille or large print
  • Read directly from your Internet browser
  • And more!

Membership of RNIB Bookshare is free to educators in the UK who are supporting print-disabled learners and allows you to download curriculum resources, including textbooks and accessible images. There is a small charge for schools outside of the UK supporting print-disabled learners. Find out more.

Future plans

Accessibility in all its forms is important to OBP. As a small press with limited resources, there is always more we would like to be able to do to increase the accessibility of our books. For the next stage of our development in this area, we will prioritise:

Making all editions text-to-speech readable. At present, we have focused mainly on our EPUB editions but we would like to make sure that our HTML, XML and PDF editions are as accessible as possible too. As with all our developments, any software we create to facilitate this will be Open Source for others to use and adapt freely.

Open Access and accessibility

Finally, a reminder that all our books are Open Access and published under a CC licence, which means they can be modified according to the terms of the licence. If anybody with the time and the expertise would like to take advantage of the open licence to create more accessible editions of any of our books (and, even better, to let us know that you have done so) we would be delighted.

Reports

VPAT® 2.4 Rev (EN 301 549) - Download PDF

Contact us

If you have any questions or comments about the accessibility of our books, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Production Manager, Luca Baffa (luca@openbookpublishers.com).