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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– Focused on international issues and usability
• It IS NOT– General recommendations– Intended for multimedia PDF or PDF with forms
Heuristics for…
• 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.
• Do not include internal links• Partition the document, since >2M.
– Offer the possibility to download full document or chapters.
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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 (for example TechDis guide), and a
short abstract for very big documents.
PDFs to be read on digital
• Slim images• Clear link anchors
Problems in Adobe Reader• Searching/Bookmarking 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
• Reflow images from Word 2007 doesn’t work • Language identification is not inherited• Complex tables can’t be marked in text
processors.• Page order• Conversion from PDF really buggy, especially
with Word 2007 templates.
International issues
• Plan for different paper sizes (A4 in Europe)• Indicate the title of the document [WCAG 2.0
requirement]• Indicate the language of the doc and parts [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.• More information at W3C internationalization
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. Editors don’t like it. Shortcomings in readers support.• 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
Extenstive planning: Duff Johnson START model
• Simply the layout• Tables should be as simple as possible• Alternate text for graphics and images should be addressed
early in the authoring process• Reinvent design elements that just won’t work in a screen
reader• Test with common screen reading software until you can
predict performance from looking at the tags alone.
Duff Johnson Adobe Acrobat PDF 2007 Conference
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
DaisyDoc
Who will win?
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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
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