Lots of folk have spent time and effort bringing their web site content up to current accessibility standards, but due to an oversight, some may be inaccurately claiming that their site is fully conformant to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0).
We all know that WCAG 2.0 is technology neutral, but not everyone has understood that the guidelines require that PDF and any other downloadable content available from a page needs to be as accessible as the web page itself.
This post is the first in a series of hints and tips on making your PDF files accessible, or better still, on creating PDF that have accessibility built in from the outset.
What makes PDF accessible?
In short, PDF need to be tagged to be accessible. This means that the file has been created or repaired using an application that is capable of tagging. It also means of course, that the author has applied the right tags. Without these the file can't have the structure needed to support accessibility for screen reader users.
As Adobe Acrobat is probably the best known application capable of applying and correcting tags in PDF, this series will refer to techniques using Adobe Acrobat. The newest version is likely to give you better results.
First steps to accessibility
Tagging is vital, but even before it, there are two important things to check and correct at the document level, (rather like in the head of an HTML file, these are:
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Define the base human language for the document as a whole;
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Ensure that security settings don't prevent screen reader access.
If either of these has been set incorrectly, the tagging may not be much help. The screen reader might be unable to use the right language pronunciation rules to make the text understandable, or if security settings deny access, then no text would be exposed to screen readers at all.
What to do
With your file open in Adobe Acrobat:
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Go to Document Properties, (shortcut; Ctrl + D);
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In the Advanced tab, select the correct Language for the document.
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In the Security tab, ensure that Content copying for accessibility and Content copying are both enabled, regardless of other security settings.
That's all. Save your file.
More information
This series will continue, giving tips and tricks for avoiding problems, as well as suggesting the best way to tag your PDF files.
In a rush to know? Book onto our training course Making PDF Accessible, a full-day workshop demonstrating both the issues and the solutions.