Lab: Making PDF documents truly accessible

Mireia Ribera, Universitat de Barcelona Friday, Nov. 13 2009, 2:15 - 4:15 p.m.

12th Annual Accessing Higher GroundAccessible Media, Web and Technology Conference

November 10- 14, 2009

What IS and IS NOT this LAB

• It IS – Heuristic guidelines gathered through user

observation and multiple documents conversion.– Intended for plain PDF documents

• It IS NOT– General recommendations– Intended for multimedia PDF or PDF with forms

Heuristics for…

• Structure• PDF documents on the web• Documents to be read on digital• Documents to be read on paper• International issues

Structure

• Do not include table of contents. – Include bookmarks for documents >5 pages.– Hide or show bookmarks depending of your main

audience.

• Partition the document, since >2M. – Offer the possibility to download full document or

chapters.

• Include accessibility declaration page

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PDF documents on the web

• Indicate that the link target is a PDF document.

• Indicate file weight within the link. Optimize it.

• Name the file properly.

• Include reading advices, and a short abstract for very big

documents.

PDFs to be read on digital

• Slim images• Clear link anchors

Problems in Adobe Reader• Searching and Reflow incompatible• Presentation settings override user settings

PDFs to be read on paper

• Make 2 versions or more?– Regular– Large text– High contrast? Clear language?

• Indicate page numbers• Indicate URL and alternate presentations

Common pitfalls in automatic conversions

• Language identification• Spaces and ends of line• Page order• Complex tables markup (unavailable in text

processors) • Conversion from PDF really buggy, especially

with Word 2007 templates.

International issues

• Plan for different paper sizes (A4 in Europe)• Indicate the language of the doc and parts [WCAG 2.0

requirement]• Indicate the title of the document [WCAG 2.0

requirement]• Avoid the use of abbreviations (ASAP, FYI) and be alert

with cultural references (thumbs up, animal symbols)• Indicate month by letters 10/06/2009 vs. 06/10/2009• Preview different currency or postal addresses (ZIP,

state vs. postal code, country) in forms.

Limits and opportunities for PDF docs

• PDF standards timeline• Multichannel strategy• Sustainability• Users teaching

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PDF standards timeline

o July 2008: PDF as ISO 32000-1:2008 standardo October 2009: PDF/UA as a work in progress ISO standard

Include PDF in a multichannel publication strategy

• HTML still the most accessible and well known• Microsoft Word for documents to be edited; proprietary but a de

facto standard.• Adobe Flash or Microsoft PowerPoint very useful for cognitive

disabilities• DAISY very useful for blind people and people with dyslexia, also for

mobile agents.• PDF only:

– Digital rights management– Preserve layout– Digital preservation (PDF/A)– Special requirements in typography– Portability

SustainabilityAuthoring tools not easy => establish a priority policy

If possible, always keep master document

EXTENSIVE PLANNING for reducing costs– Simplify– Validation– Templates

Right now, PDF real accessibility means mostly Adobe tools

Users teaching

Lots of users don’t know how to use Adobe documents.

WebAIM screen reader survey

Trends on accessibility of PDF

• PDF/UA new coming ISO standard – Richer markup– Automatic validation (WCAG 2.0 robust 4.1.1)

• PDFXML version of PDF documents?– Conversions to other DTDs– Editing by software

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• PDF is here to stay

PDF

HTMLDoc

Who will win?

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! Thanks !

Mireia Riberaribera@ub.edu

! Tell me your experiences with PDF documents!

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References used1. http://www.adobe.com/pdf/about/standards/2. http://www.document-solutions.com/pdf/

agipdf2007_DuffJohnson.pdf3. http://olgacarreras.blogspot.com/2007/02/pdf-

accesibles.html4. http://www.wcagsamurai.org/errata/errata.html5. http://www.webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey/#pdf