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PDFs and accessibility

Portable Document Format (PDFs), video files and other downloads are inaccessible according to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 1.0, because they require a plugin to the browser in order to access the information. There are methods that can make the actual PDF or video file available to certain people with disabilities (for example, creating tagged PDFs and adding audio descriptions to video files), however even if these documents are created in an accessible way the information still will not conform to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The only way to make information within a PDF accessible is to create an equivalent HTML version.

There will be people who won't be able to access the PDF because:

  • They are using a version of a screen-reader that is not compatible with the required version of Adobe Reader
  • They are using a computer that does not have Adobe Reader installed
  • They are using a slow modem
  • They have a vision or motor impairment that impedes their ability to use the Adobe Reader

Relationship to checkpoints:

Checkpoint 1.1 requires that a text equivalent is provided for all non-text elements. As well as PDFs, further examples of non-text elements include:

  • images
  • Microsoft Word documents
  • Microsoft Excel documents
  • Microsoft Powerpoint documents
  • Audio files
  • Video files
  • Flash multimedia files

Providing details of the PDF

Prior to downloading a PDF, the user needs to know certain information, such as the format of the file, the type of program required to access it, the size and summary of the file and an estimated download time.

Every PDF file should include the following information:

  • File type
  • File size
  • Estimated download time (considering bandwidth constraints)
  • Duration of video/ audio file (if relevant)
  • Number of pages/ slides (if relevant)
  • Summary of content
  • Link to the HTML equivalent

Example

The State Budget page on the Department of Education web site contains a PDF version of the Victorian State Budget. The page contains summary information as well as details on the size of the document.

State Budget 2006

You can download the “ Budget Highlights PDF” file (4 pages, 397 KB, approx 4 min download on a 56K modem) or view the “HTML version of Budget Highlights”.

Summary

The State Government has tabled the 2006-07 Budget Statement which delivers an additional $1.2 billion to Victoria's education and training system.

This Budget invests in new schools and school infrastructure, literacy skills and delivering a world-class training system. It also recognises the added expense to families when their children begin primary or secondary school.

The 2006-07 Budget initiatives will play an important role in continuing to build the State's education and training system which in turn will build a better future for all Victorians.

Budget highlights include:
  • $448 million construction and equipment program for Schools and TAFE
  • $182 million School Start Bonus to help every child starting Prep or Year 7
  • $11.7 million for Literacy Improvement Teams
  • $36 million ‘Trades Bonus' for all first year apprentices to encourage as many as possible to complete their trade
  • $230 million towards Maintaining the Advantage: Skilled Victorians
  • $5.1 million for a new Academic Number to help improve outcomes for all students
  • $24.1 million to continue the Schools for Innovation and Excellence program
  • $47.2 million to continue the successful Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning
  • $11.6 million to school leadership initiative

Providing equivalents to PDF

Each PDF should have an equivalent HTML version that includes all the text, images, diagrams and references of the original PDF. Where necessary, this HTML equivalent should also include links and ALT attributes as well as other markup where required. When creating an equivalent of a very large PDF it is sometimes preferable to break the HTML equivalent into several pages, linked via a Table of Contents.

Example

Document Solutions has created a guide to developing accessible PDFs in Acrobat 7.0:

http://www.document-solutions.com/accessibility_adobe_manual.htm.

This initial page contains information about the guide, a link to the PDF version:

http://www.document-solutions.com/accessibility/AdobeAccess7bookv2.pdf

and a link to the HTML equivalent:

http://www.document-solutions.com/accessibility/AdobeAccessCover.html

This HTML equivalent includes a Table of Contents:

http://www.document-solutions.com/accessibility/AdobeAccess7TOC.html

This Table of Contents links to various sub-sections of the guide. Each sub-section is an individual web page, for example “Working With Popular Applications to Create Accessible PDF Files“:

http://www.document-solutions.com/accessibility/AdobeAccessChapter3.html#466940

In addition to these navigation elements there is also an Index page which contains links to relevant issues within the guide, organised alphabetically:

http://www.document-solutions.com/accessibility/AdobeAccess7IX.html

To further assist in navigating the HTML equivalent, each page has the following links, available at the bottom of each page:

  • TOC (links to the HTML Table of Contents)
  • < Prev (links to the previous page)
  • > Next (links to the next page)
  • Index (links to the document index)

Providing contact details

It is important to always provide contact details in case users have trouble with the PDF. Users may also have difficulty with the PDF format or request a tagged PDF. When providing contact details make sure you include:

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Postal address

Further Information

Text equivalents

Other equivalents

HTML converters

PDF accessibility

Added: 1 July 2007 Page views: 4,037 Rating: 0 Votes: 0
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Last updated: 1 July 2007