Adobe PDF Accessibility

AccessibleWeb@U Meeting, June 30, 2011

• Terrill Thompson, tft@uw.edu, Technology Accessibility Specialist
  • Slides are at http://staff.washington.edu/tft, along with slides of other presentations by Terrill
• Lawsuits relating to accessibility
  • The goal of lawsuits is to clarify what is required by law
  • NFB actively advocating and services
    • Actually aiming a vendors, which are not covered by law, while public institutions are
    • California State University actively screening products to be sure they are accessible before allowing them to be purchased
      • CSU Accessible Electronic and Information Technology Procurement - http://www.calstate.edu/Accessibility/EIT_Procurement/
      • Accessible Technology Initiative, June 10, 2011 - http://www.calstate.edu/AcadAff/codedmemos/AA-2010-13.shtml
• What makes an electronic document accessible?
  • Text alternatives to non-text content
  • Information, structure (good semantic markup), and relationships
    • Headings
    • Lists
    • Good structure gets passed on to assistive technology, which uses it to effectively present the information
  • HTML, Word, and PDF all support these features
  • Example: Accessible University Web site
    • http://staff.washington.edu/tft/talks/fileformats/syllabus.html
    • Because page is structured, voice browser (JAWS) can describe structure
      • CTRL- H lists headings
        • With JAWS you can jump by heading levels, thus using headings as a map of the page's content
      • JAWS identifies lists before speaking the list contents (if it is marked up as a lists)
  • Example: Word document - same page
    • To make a Word document accessible
      • Use the predefined styles for headings
      • To put alt text on an image - have alt text as one of the options
        • Recent versions of Word offer two fields, use the Description field (not the Title field)
        • Keep the alt text short and sweet
      • When making lists, use the list button
    • When you create a PDF, the structure can be passed to the PDF file by creating a "tagged PDF" file
      • Office 2010 will create a tagged PDF (When saving, click on options, and check the tagged markup box)
        • Mac Word does not generate tagged PDF. Have to go in afterwards with Adobe Acrobat Pro
        • In older versions of Office, can obtain add-ons that help to create tagged PDF
      • To create a tagged PDF, use "Save As PDF"
        • Using "Print" to a PDF will not created a tagged PDF
  • Three different types of PDFs
    • Image
    • Image with embedded fonts
      • Content could be all scrambled, has no tagging
    • Tagged (optimized for accessibility)
      • Tagged PDF has been around for a while, developed in response to federal requirement that files be accessible
  • To Create an Accessible PDF
    • Use an authoring tool that supports...
      • Creating documents with headings and subheadings
      • Adding alt text to images
      • Exporting to tagged PDF
    • Use these accessibility features anytime you create a document
    • Can tools be configured to be required to do the right thing?
      • Some HTML tools require alt text, headings, etc., but most other tools only offer the ability; you have to know about it and use it
  • Is sitechecker available to other campuses?
    • Can scan 50,000 pages
    • Contact Gina Hills about using the service
  • What tools support tagged PDF
    • Microsoft Word and Powerpoint 2010 (windows only)
      • Save As PDF
    • Microsoft Word and PowerPoint prior to 2010
      • Use Adobe Acrobat Pro
  • PDF Accessibility Check
    • Check whether document contents are an image
      • Is the document skewed?
      • Is the font clear or fuzzy
      • Try to select text on the page
      • If the content is skewed, the text fuzzy, or you cannot select text, the content is an image and will not be accessible
    • Check whether document is tagged
      • Using Acrobat Reader (a free tool)
        • Go to File > Properties (CTRL-D) and look for Tagged PDF
          • Even if says Yes, content may not be structured well enough
      • File > Properties (Ctrl-D) in any version of Acrobat; will say Tagged PDF: yes or no
    • Run an accessibility check
      • Using Adobe X Reader: Edit > Accessibility
      • Using Adobe X Pro: View > Tools > Accessiblity
  • PDF Accessibility Repair
    • Using Acrobat Pro
      • Recognize text (if needed)
        • Can you select words within the page
      • Tag document (if needed)
        • In Acrobat Pro: View > Tools > Accessibility
      • Touch up reading order
        • In Acrobat Pro, can change reading order of elements
      • Touch up structure (if needed)
        • Can scroll through document, select item, change tag for the items
        • Can add alt text to any element
      • Sometimes easier to delete all tagging and go through and retag it
      • Acrobat Pro has "Recognize Text" tool that scans images with text and generates text
    • Where to find Acrobat Pro's accessibility features
      • Recognize Text
        • View > Tools > Recognize Text
      • Read Out Loud (built-in screen reader; not very useful for blind users but may help to spot problems)
        • View > Read Outloud
      • Accessibility Tools
        • View > Tools > Accessibility
          • Prior to Adobe X: Advanced > Accessibility
• Discussion
  • PDF is way overused
    • Many times people create PDF by default
    • PDF is useful if you need the document to look the same for all users
    • Otherwise likely to be better off creating document in HTML