Lab: Making PDF documents truly accessible Mireia Ribera, Universitat de Barcelona Friday, Nov , 2:15 - 4:15 p.m. 12th Annual Accessing Higher Ground Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference November , 2009

What IS and IS NOT this LAB It IS – Heuristic guidelines gathered through user observation and multiple documents conversion. – Intended for plain PDF documents It IS NOT – General recommendations – Intended for multimedia PDF or PDF with forms

Heuristics for… Structure PDF documents on the web Documents to be read on digital Documents to be read on paper International issues

Structure Do not include table of contents. – Include bookmarks for documents >5 pages. – Hide or show bookmarks depending of your main audience. Partition the document, since >2M. – Offer the possibility to download full document or chapters. Include accessibility declaration page

5 PDF documents on the web Indicate that the link target is a PDF document. Indicate file weight within the link. Optimize it. Name the file properly. Include reading advices, and a short abstract for very big documents.

PDFs to be read on digital Slim images Clear link anchors Problems in Adobe Reader Searching and Reflow incompatible Presentation settings override user settings

PDFs to be read on paper Make 2 versions or more? – Regular – Large text – High contrast? Clear language? Indicate page numbers Indicate URL and alternate presentations

Common pitfalls in automatic conversions Language identification Spaces and ends of line Page order Complex tables markup (unavailable in text processors) Conversion from PDF really buggy, especially with Word 2007 templates.

International issues Plan for different paper sizes (A4 in Europe) Indicate the language of the doc and parts [WCAG 2.0 requirement] Indicate the title of the document [WCAG 2.0 requirement] Avoid the use of abbreviations (ASAP, FYI) and be alert with cultural references (thumbs up, animal symbols) Indicate month by letters 10/06/2009 vs. 06/10/2009 Preview different currency or postal addresses (ZIP, state vs. postal code, country) in forms.

Limits and opportunities for PDF docs PDF standards timeline Multichannel strategy Sustainability Users teaching

11 PDF standards timeline o July 2008: PDF as ISO :2008 standard o October 2009: PDF/UA as a work in progress ISO standard

Include PDF in a multichannel publication strategy HTML still the most accessible and well known Microsoft Word for documents to be edited; proprietary but a de facto standard. Adobe Flash or Microsoft PowerPoint very useful for cognitive disabilities DAISY very useful for blind people and people with dyslexia, also for mobile agents. PDF only: – Digital rights management – Preserve layout – Digital preservation (PDF/A) – Special requirements in typography – Portability

Sustainability Authoring tools not easy => establish a priority policy If possible, always keep master document EXTENSIVE PLANNING for reducing costs – Simplify – Validation – Templates Right now, PDF real accessibility means mostly Adobe tools

Users teaching Lots of users don’t know how to use Adobe documents. WebAIM screen reader survey

Trends on accessibility of PDF PDF/UA new coming ISO standard – Richer markup – Automatic validation (WCAG 2.0 robust 4.1.1) PDFXML version of PDF documents? – Conversions to other DTDs – Editing by software

16 PDF is here to stay PDF HTML Doc Who will win?

17 ! Thanks ! Mireia Ribera ! Tell me your experiences with PDF documents!

18 References used solutions.com/pdf/agipdf2007_DuffJohnson.pdf 3. accesibles.html