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Creating an accessible bar chart in the Pages app: iOS 11
Step-by-step instructions on how to create an accessible bar chart in the Pages app.
Here are step-by-step directions on how to create a bar chart in the Pages app. There are a few minor changes in iOS 11 from previous versions. Bar charts created in Pages are fully accessible with VoiceOver.
Teacher Hint: Creating an accessible bar chart is a relatively easy process in Pages. Students should be introduced to digital bar charts and how to create their own digital bar charts in elementary school using simple data. Bar charts – and the tech skills required to interact with bar charts – are important skills for online assessments. These digital skills are foundation skills for more complex spreadsheets and graphs for high school and college level work! A bar chart created in Pages on the iPad – a touch screen device- is interactive, meaning that a student can drag his finger around the screen which builds spatial skills. Accessing charts and graphs on a computer using JAWS is only auditory and requires strong spatial skills.
Creating a bar chart in Pages
Update: In iOS 17, the Tool Bar at the top of the page is slightly different. Select the Insert Chart button (pie chart symbol) > select 2D bar chart.
- Open a new Pages document.
- Select the Insert button (Plus symbol).
- Select Charts button in the popup menu.
- Select 2D Chart.
- Swipe left or right to view possible chart colors and select your desired chart. (I chose the first chart (bar chart) in blue.
- The chart template appears. Tap on the Chart.
- Select the Edit Data button in the popup row.
- Screen now shows chart data in a spreadsheet format (grid).
- Delete data and replace with desired data.
- Note: Currently, all the bar charts have two regions. If only one region is desired, delete everything in the Region 2 row.
- When done entering the data, select the Done button.
- Select the Format button (paintbrush image).
- Chart button:
- Add a Chart Title: toggle on Chart Title. Tap on the Title to open the textfield. Replace with desired title. (Note: Opening the textfield can be tricky – try tapping slightly below the ‘title’ text.)
- X Axis:
- Options of adding grid lines and tick marks.
- To add x axis label, toggle on Axis Name. Tap on Category Axis text and replace with desired label.
- Y Axis:
- Options of adding gridlines, tick marks and change the value scale of Y axis numbers.
Resources
- iOS 11 introduced a new accessible feature called ‘shapes’. These are images of objects (circle, horse, apple, etc.) that can be added like a sticker to a Pages document. Currently, Shapes can not be added to a table in Pages; however, you can add Shapes to a table in the Numbers app. For details, see the Teaching Positions in a Table: iOS Activity post.
- For more information about bar charts including a video that demonstrates interacting and creating a Pages bar chart with VoiceOver, see the Digital Transitions #4: Bar Charts (Fall Leaf Activity) post.
- For step-by-step instructions of how to create a bar chart in Pages using iOS 17, see Gingerbread Man First Bite Chart Activities.
By Diane Brauner
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