Accessibility of PDF Files

1. Accessibility of PDF Files Andrew Downie Centre for Learning Innovation NSW Department of Education & Training

2. What we will cover • Brief overview of screen readers etc • History of PDF accessibility • Different forms of PDFs • Creating widely accessible PDFs • Benefits of properly structured PDFs • Repairing PDFs • Creating PDF forms

3. Adaptive Technology Overview • Screen readers • Synthetic speech and/or electronic Braille output • Essentially limited to reading text • Sophisticated facilities for displaying visual presentation • Text/graphics enlargement software • Many magnification and colour selection options • Optional augmentation with synthetic speech • Learning/reading difficulties • Inexpensive speech output products • Sophisticated reading assistance incorporating synthetic speech

4. History of PDF Accessibility • Initially completely inaccessible • Acrobat V4.5 introduced a plugin – text but no formatting • Acrobat V5 introduced tagging (structure) • MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility) utilised • The reader must choose single page or whole document display • Adobe and adaptive technology developers continue to refine access • Many (probably most) PDFs are still created without structure • PDFs still viewed negatively by advocates • Partly based on historical inaccessibility • Partly due to low standards compliance

5. Image Only PDF Files • What is it? • Paper document scanned into Acrobat as a picture • Problems: • Cannot adjust colour • Cannot search for text • Cannot be read with screen readers etc • Some work-arounds • Acrobat has OCR capability and preserves page structure • Can use other OCR software • Print to Microsoft Office Document Imaging from Adobe Reader • Not equitable access

6. Unstructured PDF Files • May or may not be accessible • Acrobat and Adobe Reader report to adaptive technology • Changing reading order may help • Automatic tagging with Acrobat may help • Manual tagging an option • Protected files: • Structure cannot be corrected without password • Cannot be saved to accessible formats

7. Structured PDF Files • Positives: • Text should be fully accessible • Basic data tables should read well • Page numbers essentially correct • Internal and external links fully operable • Bookmarks a great feature if present • Alt text on images accessible if present • Protected files are accessible • Negatives: • Paragraph location problematical but improving • Some screen readers do not yet support font attribute information • Complex tables not yet supported by screen readers

8. Accessibility Setup • Shortcut to Acrobat/Reader Preferences ctrl-k • Colours set under Accessibility • Settings for screen readers under Reading • Reading order • Setting for number of pages in a large document • Read out loud options – page or file

9. Easy Structured File Creation with MS Office • Use formal document styles • Formal hierarchical heading styles • List styles for lists • Paragraph styles for paragraphs • Alt text on images • Right click the image • Select Size • Select the alt text tab • Replace the filename with meaningful text • Do not: • Use text boxes • Use tables for layout • Split table rows across pages

10. Microsoft Word to PDF • Acrobat adds menu item to Word • Default settings will create tagged PDF file • Free Microsoft plugin will create PDF • In Options be sure to check Tags for Accessibility

11. Repairing PDF Files in Acrobat Professional • Automatic tagging of untagged file • Advanced menu; Accessibility; Add tags to document • Produces a report – take with a grain of salt • Manual tagging tools: • Tag tree • View Menu; Navigation Panels; • Order • View Menu; Navigation panels • Touch up Reading Order • Advanced Menu; Accessibility;

12. Creating PDF Forms • Forms Menu to create form • Can use Acrobat or Live Cycle Designer • Can use MS Word, RTF file etc as template • If using an existing PDF, should initially be untagged • Most fields should be recognised automatically • In Live Cycle Designer click Accessibility tab • Add tool tip to fields • In Acrobat use Field Properties under Forms menu to add tool tip • Extend features in Adobe Reader under Advanced menu

13. Some Screen Readers • VoiceOver: Built in to all new Apple Macintoshes • NVDA: Free from http://www.nvda-project.org/ • System Access To Go: Free while connected to www.satogo.com • Window-Eyes (free 30-minute demo) from www.gwmicro.com • JAWS (free 30-minute demo) from www.freedomscientific.com

14. Resources • Karen McCall’s publications available through IRTI (http://www.irti-cat.peachhost.com/ct_CGtutorials_booksandeducationalmaterial.htm) • Logical Document Structure handbook: Word 2003, ISBN 0-9738370-3-9– teaches how to make an accessible Word document that can be repurposed to create a tagged PDF and to make for easier Braille conversion • Accessible and Usable PDF Documents: Techniques for Document Authors, ISBN 0-9738246-1-1– walks document author or repairtechnicianthroughwhatcan go wrong and how to fixit in either a tagged or untagged PDF file • http://www.karlencommunications.com/PDF-resources.htm for accessible PDF resources • http://adobe.com/accessibility for information on creating accessible PDFs • http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/reader/ for PDF on Adobe Reader and screen readers • NetCentric at www.net-centric.com for creating Section 508-compliant PDFs • Save as PDF or XPS plug-in for Office 2007 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4d951911-3e7e-4ae6-b059-a2e79ed87041&displaylang=en • comments by Joe Clark on PDF usage at http://www.alistapart.com/articles/pdf_accessibility • Accessibility Support Documentation for PDF at http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/implementation-report/PDF_accessibility_support_statement

15. Contacting Andrew • Phone: (02) 9715-8347 • Email: andrew.downie@det.nsw.edu.au • Blog: http://accessiblecli.wordpress.com