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PDFs and Accessibility - Accessibility Toolkit - Version 3 - 2009

Portable Document Format (PDFs), video files and other downloads are inaccessible according to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 1.0. There are methods that can make the actual PDF available to certain people with disabilities (for example, creating tagged PDFs ), 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 Australian Human Rights Commission has commented that Word documents are accessible: "When documents are only put on the Internet in PDF format, it usually results in inadequate or zero access for people with disability. "You can use HTML, Microsoft Word, or RTF formats", said the Commissioner. "It's particularly depressing to see documents created in word-processor formats, which provide very good access, being converted into PDF, which doesn't, then only being posted in PDF." "

It is preferable, of course, to provide an 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 WCAG1 checkpoints

Checkpoint 1.1 requires that a text equivalent is provided for all non-text elements, including PDFs.

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)
• Number of pages
• 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 recognizes 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: Creating Accessible PDFs using Adobe Acrobat

This initial page contains information about the guide, a link to the PDF version, and a link to the HTML equivalent. This HTML equivalent includes an Index:

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:
W3C Checkpoint 1.1: Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element

HTML converters:
Converting to HTML

PDF accessibility:
Adobe accessibility
PDF accessibility

Source: Accessibility Toolkit Version 3, September 2009. Section 5 - PDFs and Accessibility.

Last updated: 29 March 2011

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