How to make your flipbooks accessible?

Making your flipbooks accessible to people with disabilities requires some effort from both us and you. In this article, we describe what we have done. As much as we'd want to help you make your flipbooks fully accessible, some things are simply out of our hands. Therefore we also added some guidance about what you can do yourself to make your flipbooks accessible.

What we have done

Keyboard operability

We have ensured that the interface can fully be operated by the keyboard. For example, you can use the Tab key to navigate through all the interface options, use Enter instead of the mouse key to open e.g. the Table of Contents, and then use the arrow keys to move up and down in the ToC.

Keyboard shortcuts

We have organized our interface in such a way that keyboard navigation is not only possible but logical and intuitive. We support all the usual keyboard shortcuts for

• Help (F1 function key)
• Print (Ctrl+p on Windows and ⌘+p, on Mac)
• Download (Ctrl+s / ⌘+s)
• Search (Ctrl+f /⌘+f)
• Zoom (Ctrl++ and Ctrl+- / ⌘++ and ⌘+-)
• Full screen (Ctrl+Shift+f, ⌘+Shift+f)
• Close any dialog window with the Escape key

Support for assistive technologies

We have organized our HTML code in such a way that it is interpreted correctly by e.g. screen readers. Note that this only concerns the interface around the pages. The pages themselves are not readable by screen readers yet. That is why it is important to provide an accessible PDF for download.

Support for accessible PDFs

You can add a fully accessible version of your PDF, compliant with ADA or WCAG standards. We add the standard icon for accessible content to the interface, which will be reached on the first tab stop. So when visually impaired users press the Tab key, they can download your accessible PDF immediately.

If you are interested in learning how we comply with the A and AA levels of WCAG 2.1, please refer to our WCAG VPAT assessment.

What you can do yourself to make flipbooks accessible

Add an accessible PDF

You can add an accessible PDF in both FlippingBook Online and FlippingBook Publisher. We also have some useful tips on how to make your PDF more accessible.

Be mindful when adding additional content to your flipbook

If you embed images or GIF animations in your flipbook, they will not be present in the (accessible) PDF that you provide for download. If these images or animations contain essential information (i.e. they are more than just decorative), then we advise adding a static image in your PDF with a descriptive alt-tag that describes the picture or the animation in the GIF.

If you add videos, then there are 2 things to consider:

• make sure that any videos that you embed are subtitled for hearing-impaired people. These users will probably view the regular version with the page-flipping effect.
• Add a link to the online video in your accessible PDF where you plan to embed the video in your publication and/or add equivalent non-video content.

Check the contrast between your text and background

Make sure there is sufficient contrast between text and background when modifying colors in the book's interface. Accessibility standards like WCAG don’t require specific contrast ratios at the minimum level, but having good contrast between is a big help to e.g. color blind people. For example, our ‘Asphalt’ Skin ticks all the boxes for even WCAG’s AA-level accessibility.