PDF Accessibility PrinciplesPart I

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Adobe Acrobat DC

Training Objectives Understand the benefits of a Portable Document Format (PDF)

Identify the accessibility tools available within Adobe Acrobat Professional

Explain key features of an accessible PDF

Evaluate converted PDF to identify inaccessible features

Today’s Topics

PDF Accessibility Principles Part I

• Introduction to PDF

• PDF Accessibility Tools

• Creating Accessible PDF’s in Adobe Acrobat Professional

• Hands-on Group Exercises

Portable Document Formats.

• What is a PDF? • What are the benefits of having a PDF?

Tools Set UpWith the newly converted PDF file open, first-time Acrobat Pro DC users will need to add some tools to the right-hand pane. Click Tools tab to add Action Wizard and Accessibility

Accessibility Tools

Action Wizard (1)

• Best suited for anyone new to accessibility or anyone with simple documents

• Features: • Title• Text Recognition• Language• Form Field Detection• Detect Images and Add Alt Text• Run a Final Full Check

Action Wizard (2)

The Make Accessible feature of the Action Wizard is designed to crawl through a PDF to detect headings, images, tags, reading order, etc. The easy to follow prompts will guide a user through the process of making the PDF accessible. This tool is ideal for basic PDF users.

• Click Action Wizard• Select the Make Accessible from the Actions List (right-hand

pane)• Click Start

After clicking Start, the Action Wizard will walk through each of the following criteria to build an accessible PDF.

Action Wizard (3)Step 1: The document description gives the document a proper title to be recognized by assistive technology. Uncheck the Leave As Is box and provide a title to the document. The remaining fields can remain blank and checked.

Step 2: The recognize text option will scan the document using the selected language. Select the desired Language and click OK.

Action Wizard (4)Step 3: Detect Form Fields. The Wizard will automatically detect form fields on the PDF. If the document has spaces for form fields, click Yes, Detect Form Fields. If not, click No, Skip this Step.

Step 4: Click the desired Reading Language and click OK.

Step 5: The Action Wizard can be set up to always detect for any image present in the document. Click OK to scan the PDF for missing alternate texts.

Note: If alternative text is missing, a window will appear to set the alternative text for each image. Type the description of each image in the box and toggle between images using the right and left arrow buttons. Click Save & Close when all images have proper descriptions.

Action Wizard (5)

Step 6: Run Accessibility Full Check. The Accessibility Full Checker will run a full scan for accessibility.

Click Start Checking to complete the scan. The results will display on the screen.

Action Wizard (6)Step 7: Accessibility IssuesAfter running the final step in the Action Wizard with the Accessibility Checker, the results are prompted on screen for review. The Accessibility Checker will detect and prompt any remaining issues. These issues are identified using specific icons to represent each type of issue: Passed (green check mark), Needs Manual Check (question mark), and Failed (X).

• Important: any issue with a Needs Manual Check or Failed will need to be fixed before the document can be considered accessible.

• Click the X in the right-hand pane to close the Action Wizard.

Accessibility Tool

Contains settings to build accessible PDFs and to support the reading of accessible PDFs

What are TAGS?

TAGS are the accessibility mark up all of the document text, images, object require. Tags are invisible identifiers that will tell screen readers an object is an image, header, text, link, and so forth.

What are Screen Readers

Screen readers are a form of assistive technology (AT) software that enables access to a computer, and all the things a computer does, by attempting to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the computer screen using text-to-speech.Normally used by someone who is visually impaired.

Types of screen readers

Screen reader program for Microsoft Windows that allows blind and visually impaired users to read the screen either with a text-to-speech output or by a refreshable Braille display.

Provides auditory descriptions of each onscreen element using gestures, a keyboard, or a braille display.

Adds spoken, audible, and vibration feedback to your device.

Screen magnifier for Microsoft Windows that allows you to see and hear everything on the computer.

Want to learn about Screen Readers? UDC and DRES offer Screen Readers

training and demo.

Benefits of using a screen reader

• provides access to someone who does not have useful vision, mobility or has a learning disability to access text on the screen

• offers same level of independence and privacy as anyone else

What’s the Difference?Remediate PDF Documents

• No tags or inaccessible scanned version • Incorrect reading order• No descriptive text (Alt-text) for images and graphics• Testing accessibility and fixing issues

Remediate Original Documents

• PDF keep accessibility tags from original document• Logical reading order• Descriptive text (Alt-text) for images and graphics• Use Built-in Accessibility Checker

TagsAccessibility markup for your document

Reading OrderHow do I tag my document for accessibility?

What is the Reading Order?The reading order defines how the document will be read to screen readers. If any item is incorrect, the document will not be read correctly. The reading order should be the same as the visual order.

Top

Bottom

Left Right

Text

What is Auto-tagging?• Use for long documents only• Not an accurate tags• Always validate tags

Tags Panel

Why is the Tags Panel important?

Keep the tags in a correct order because at times screen readers may follow the tag order instead of the reading order to review the document.

Accessibility Full CheckRun the Accessibility Full Check at the beginning and at the end

Read Out Loud

• Reads the entire PDF• Validates Reading Order

Building Accessible PDFs Part I

Step 1: Convert from an accessible document

Step 2: Check for Accessibility

Step 3: Add your Title and Language

Step 4: Add Tags for

• Headings

• Paragraphs

• Images

• Lists

Step 5: Fix Reading Order

Step 6: Final Accessibility Check

Step 7: Read out loud

Resource: PDF Checklist

Step 1: Document Conversion

Always start with an accessibledocument

• It’s always better starting with an accessible Word document

• For graphic design, start off with an accessible Adobe InDesign

• Or other software

Step 2: Accessibility Full Check

Start with an AccessibilityFull Check to know where your document stands.

Step 3: Add Title and Language

Are the title and language set?

Step 4: Adding Tags

How do I tag my:

• Headers?

• Regular text?

• Images?

• Links?

• List?

Adding Tags (1)Headers Text (regular text / paragraph)

How might this image appear to a person who has a visual challenge?

Normal vision Low vision Color blindness Blind or deaf-blind

Solution?

Alternative or Alt Text• A written description of images and/or objects

that can be read by a blind or low vision using screen reader technology.

• Screen readers and other assistive technologies can’t convert images into words/texts.

• Captions are universal and accessible for everyone.

• “Image of…”, “photo of…” is not needed.

• Be brief and descriptive text within 8 to 80 characters long

Tiny turtle eating a ripe strawberry.

Best practices for accessible images.

Adding Tags (2)

Images• Images are tagged as “Figure”

• Or images with short text underneath “Figure/Caption”

• Decorative images can be tagged as “Background/Artifact”

Step 5: Reading Order

Is the reading order structured correctly?

Step 6: Accessibility Full CheckRun the Accessibility Full Check at the beginning and at the end

Don’t forget a Visual CheckWas color contrast considered?

• Use the Colour Contrast Analyser to ensure accessible contrast• Coblis Color Blindness Simulator

Do not use color alone to convey information

Inaccessible Accessible

Colour Contrast Analyserfrom The Paciello Group

Step 7: Complete with Read Out Loud

• Is the document read in correct order?

• Is any text misread?

Accessibility Tips

• Always save your PDF as you add accessibility markup

• If content disappears from view, change the reading order

• When modifying extensive content in reading order, drag content down not up

• Remove empty tags

You CAN make a big

differenceBest education and

resources available to EVERYONE

providing ACCESSIBLE

Reflection• Creating accessible digital content can’t happen tomorrow.

• Accessibility is for everyone.

How can

weyou make a big

difference

Hands On ExerciseMaterial Needed

• Printed Handout with Exercise Instructions• 2 Document on your Computer

• Word Document • PDF Document

Walk through of Exercise: 1. Evaluate the document on our computers 2. Go through all the exercises as a group: 3. Make edits to the document4. Check for Accessibility 5. Share Out