making pdfs accessible
DESCRIPTION
Making PDFs Accessible. Terrill Thompson [email protected] http://staff.washington.edu/tft @terrillthompson. An Informal Survey. Google search: “ Purdue filetype:pdf site:purdue.edu ” Randomly selected 20 PDFs Selected PDFs from different sub-domains. Results. Results. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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An Informal Survey
• Google search:– “Purdue filetype:pdf site:purdue.edu”
• Randomly selected 20 PDFs • Selected PDFs from different sub-domains
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Results...
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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)
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Maybe the glass is empty after all
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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
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It is not difficult to create an accessible tagged PDF
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What makes an electronic document accessible?
• Text alternatives for non-text content• Information, structure, & relationships• HTML, Word, & PDF all support these
features
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Adobe PDF
• Three general types: – Image– Image with embedded fonts– Tagged (optimized for accessibility)
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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
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In Word, Add Alt Text to Images
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In Word, Use Heading Styles
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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
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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
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With Adobe Acrobat, you can make an accessible PDF from an inaccessible
one
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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 headings5. Create links from URLs6. Specify language7. Do a full accessibility check
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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.
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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!
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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/