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Terrill Thompson [email protected] http:// staff.washington.edu/tft @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Terrill Thompson [email protected] @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

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Page 1: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Terrill [email protected]

http://staff.washington.edu/tft@terrillthompson

Making PDFsAccessible

Page 2: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

An Informal Survey

• Google search:– “Purdue filetype:pdf site:purdue.edu”

• Randomly selected 20 PDFs • Selected PDFs from different sub-domains

Page 3: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Results...

Page 4: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Results

• 17 of 20 (85%) are not tagged• 3 of 20 (15%) are tagged• 0 of 3 tagged PDFs is fully accessible• Only 1 of 6 PDFs created with Adobe

PDFMaker is tagged (accessibility is enabled by default in PDFMaker)

Page 5: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Maybe the glass is empty after all

Page 6: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Conclusion

• PDF Accessibility is a major problem• It is not difficult to create a tagged PDF• Therefore, the problem is likely caused by lack

of awareness• The problem could be addressed by:

– Massive educational effort– Stronger policies

Page 7: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

It is not difficult to create an accessible tagged PDF

Page 8: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

What makes an electronic document accessible?

• Text alternatives for non-text content

• Information, structure, & relationships

• HTML, Word, & PDF all support these features

Page 9: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Adobe PDF

• Three general types: – Image– Image with embedded fonts– Tagged (optimized for accessibility)

Page 10: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

To Create an Accessible PDF

• Use an authoring tool that supports: – Creating documents with headings &

subheadings– Adding alt text to images– Exporting to tagged PDF

• Use these accessibility features anytime you create a document

Page 11: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

In Word, Add Alt Text to Images

Page 12: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

In Word, Use Heading Styles

Page 13: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Export to Tagged PDF

• Use “Save as…” > “PDF” – In Microsoft Word and PowerPoint 2010

(Windows only)– Beware the “Minimize Size” button

• Use Adobe PDFMaker plug-in– In Microsoft Word and PowerPoint prior

to 2010 (Windows only)– Adds an Adobe menu & toolbar to Word – Installed automatically with Adobe

Acrobat

Page 14: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Other Authoring Tools that support Tagged PDF

• Adobe InDesign• Open Office• LibreOffice• Corel Word Perfect• Lotus Symphony• Maybe a few others:

– http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2011AprJun/0061.html

Page 15: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

With Adobe Acrobat, you can make an accessible PDF from an inaccessible

one

Page 16: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

PDF Accessibility Repair (General) Workflow

1. Recognize text (if needed)2. Tag document (if needed)3. Touch up reading order, alt text, etc. 4. Touch up structure

– especially, add or modify headings

5. Create links from URLs6. Specify language7. Do a full accessibility check

Page 17: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

PDF Forms• Use Adobe Acrobat Pro to add or edit forms

interactivity• Key accessibility goals:

– Tab order is correct– All fields have labels (tooltips)– All checkboxes have tooltips that include the

overall group prompt– All radio buttons have the same name, a

tooltip for the full set of buttons, and a meaningful button value for each option

– Colors are used to provide clear visual indication of focus

• Markup the form fields first. Then add tags.

Page 18: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Adobe LiveCycle Designer

• Build forms from scratch• Key accessibility goals are the same

as with any PDF forms• Start with a blank document (don’t

use a template – they’re not accessible)

• Careful: Tags can’t be edited later with Acrobat Pro!

Page 19: Terrill Thompson tft@uw.edu  @terrillthompson Making PDFs Accessible

Where to Learn More

• Adobe Accessibility– http://adobe.com/accessibility

• WebAIM on PDF Accessibility– http://www.webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/

• California State University PDF Tutorials– http://tinyurl.com/y2dnyl2

• Karen McCall’s book– http://www.karlencommunications.com/

products.htm• WebAIM Discussion List

– http://webaim.org/discussion/