Learn about various alternative formats and how they benefit learners:
Text-Based Alternatives
Source File, the original document with its native formatting, allows users with specific software tools to manipulate the content according to their needs, such as adjusting formatting, extracting text for use with assistive technologies, or converting to other formats. For students who use screen readers or require specialized navigation, having access to the source file enables the most comprehensive access to educational content.
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a standardized format that preserves layout across devices. It often includes built-in accessibility features like tags and reading order structures. Well-structured PDFs with proper tagging and optical character recognition (OCR) ensure that text is machine-readable, making them compatible with assistive technologies while maintaining the original document’s appearance.
Text File, a plain text version without complex formatting, delivers clean, simplified text that works well with screen readers and assistive technologies. This format removes formatting distractions for students with visual processing difficulties or those who prefer distraction-free reading.
Enhanced HTML, a web-optimized version with improved accessibility features, offers better navigation, responsive design, and compatibility with assistive technologies. This format maintains visual elements while ensuring screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation.
Audio and Visual Alternatives
Audio Podcast, or a spoken version of written content, transforms text into speech. This benefits auditory learners, students with visual impairments, and those with reading difficulties or learning English.
Immersive Reader enhances the reading experience with customizable text display. The reader combines a simplified visual presentation with text-to-speech capabilities. Features like syllable highlighting and grammar identification make it especially valuable for students with dyslexia or other reading challenges.
Gradient Reader provides text with color gradients to improve readability and applies color transitions to make it easier to track lines of text and maintain focus. This format helps students with attention difficulties, visual tracking issues, or dyslexia.
Specialized Format Options
Braille, a tactile format for blind and visually impaired users, renders content for reading through touch, essential for students who use braille as their primary reading method.
Math Formats, specialized rendering of mathematical content, properly display equations and formulas in accessible ways. These are critical for STEM education, where complex notation might otherwise create barriers.
Language Translations, which converts content into different languages, support international students and multilingual learners in accessing materials in their preferred language.
EPUB, a digital book format with adjustable text flow, offers reflowable text, customizable font sizes, and compatibility with screen readers, making it ideal for digital textbooks and lengthy reading materials.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) converts image-based text into machine-readable format, enabling scanned documents and image-based PDFs to be accessible to screen readers and text-to-speech technologies.
POUR Guidelines
Alternative formats address the core accessibility principles outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), known as the POUR principles:
- Perceivable: Content becomes available through different sensory channels (vision, hearing, touch), ensuring information is presentable to users in ways they can perceive regardless of their abilities.
- Operable: Users can navigate and interact with content regardless of physical capabilities, with interfaces that can be operated by all.
- Understandable: Information is presented in ways that match different cognitive and language preferences, making content intuitive and simple for all learners.
- Robust: Content works reliably across different technologies and assistive devices, ensuring compatibility with current and future user agents.
These principles form the foundation of digital accessibility standards worldwide and align with legal requirements such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 compliance.
Alternative Formats Benefit Students and Educators
Alternative formats benefit all students and instructors, regardless of whether they have accommodations.
Alternative formats remove traditional learning barriers and allow students to independently access content that matches their needs and preferences.
For instructors and staff, alternative formats reduce the time spent creating individual accommodations. Rather than retrofitting materials for specific student requests, instructors can provide one version that automatically converts to multiple formats.
Learn more about alternative formats, or read some of our case studies where institutional leaders share their experiences with YuJa Panorama’s alternative formats.
