1. Creating Accessible PDFs from Adobe InDesign Jonathan Avila and Thomas Logan

2. About SSB BART Group Unmatched Experience Accessibility Focus
Implementation-Oriented Solutions
Solutions That Reduce Legal Risk
Organizational Stability and Continuity
Knowledge That Is Up-to-Date, All the Time
Published and Peer Review Auditing Methodology
Fourteen hundred organizations (1445)
Fifteen hundred individual accessibility best practices (1595)
Twenty-two core technology platforms (22)
Fifty-five thousand audits (55,930)
One hundred fifty million accessibility violations (152,351,725)
Three hundred sixty-six thousand human validated accessibility violations (366,096)
Unmatched Experience
Founded in 1997 by engineers with disabilities, SSB BART Group has been in the accessibility business since before Section 508 and the WCAG existed and longer than any of our competitors. SSB has completed accessibility projects for hundreds of enterprise-class firms, has over 10,000 active AMP users and maintains a database of over 1,000 accessibility best practices across 13 core development platforms. SSB actively works with all major industry development platform vendors, assistive technology vendors, regulatory agencies and public sector organizations to constantly refine and update our understanding of the proper level of accessibility for your firm.
For clients who must comply with the Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, many clients find it helpful to know that over half of SSB’s client services staff have worked directly as staff and contractors for the Section 508 compliance teams in U.S. Federal Government agencies. This means that we have experience in both working with vendors selling to the Federal Government and as part of the workforce validating the compliance of vendor solutions provided to the Government.
Accessibility Focus
SSB BART Group only does accessibility. Other firms we commonly are compared to provide products and services that run a wide gamut, including general usability, privacy, security, brand compliance and SEO. These solutions tend to be effective as jack-of-all-trade solutions but, in practice, leave most customers working with organizations that provide a variety of services poorly. SSB’s sole focus is on providing IT accessibility compliance solutions and our team’s depth in accessibility is unmatched. Given the complexity of IT accessibility and the difficulty of implementing solutions, such a focus tends to be the only match for customers serious about rapidly and cost effectively implementing accessibility.
About half of SSB’s client services staff have disabilities, and this number is often far higher than total employees at competing companies. This means that we recommend what we know works for users with disabilities in the real world. Furthermore, this ensures that your organization can achieve compliance both with the technical and functional requirements of leading accessibility standards.
Implementation Oriented Solutions
Our organizational focus is implementing accessibility in the real world. Many accessibility companies focus on providing diagnostic information to clients often of the form "this doesn’t work in JAWS." While helpful in identifying an issue, this feedback provides no guidance on how to address the issue. In contrast, for all issues we identify, SSB provides specific, actionable guidance that can readily be implemented of the form "change this piece of code on this line." This includes providing code-level implementation and unit test guidance for all best practices in AMP and all content delivered in audits.
Our implementation focus grows out of our team’s background—a group of people that have development experience in the context of enterprise-class IT systems. Competing companies tend to specialize in web accessibility testing but with little-to-no experience in the development of enterprise-class websites, web-based applications and software. While it is important for accessibility firms to understand the inner-workings of JAWS, the world’s leading screen reader, far more benefit is provided to the customer if they understand how to modify an AJAX application so that it works properly in JAWS. This is our focus as an organization: how to make systems compliant in the real world.
In evaluating different accessibility consultants many of our clients have found that some firms live in a black-and-white world where nothing but fully compliant information technology is acceptable or tolerated. In the real world, trade-offs are required and dollars go to projects that provide the best ROI for an organization. As part of making systems compliant in the real world these constraints must be considered. As an organization, our goal is to ensure that we use your accessibility budget in an optimal fashion — ensuring that every dollar you spend on accessibility has the most impact.
Solutions That Reduce Legal Risk
SSB provides solutions that address the actual requirements of the law—rather than those that are just simple to test. Automated testing tools can only validate a sub-set of accessibility requirements and any validation process that solely uses automated testing cannot make an accurate claim of compliance. SSB utilizes automatic testing to address the set of requirements that can readily be validated using such testing and utilizes the cheapest first testing for the remaining requirements.
SSB’s approach was born out of being the first company to release a commercial accessibility validation tool, InFocus, 12 years ago. As part of that, SSB became well acquainted with the capabilities and general limitations of accessibility testing software. To address that, SSB has spent the last ten years investing in and developing the Accessibility Management Platform. AMP is focused at solving the broader problem that customers actually face, which is how to manage all the aspects of accessibility—Auditing, Training and Standards Management—over the course of many years and development cycles.
Organizational Stability and Continuity
SSB BART Group has the largest staff of W2 employees of any company of our kind. The vast majority of firms in accessibility use 1099 contractors that are hired on demand on a per-project basis. This has a significant, negative impact on the quality of work delivered, the consistency and repeatability of testing results and the accuracy of contractor work. With SSB, the people you talk to today will be available to help address your problems tomorrow. This ensures a consistent set of recommendations and allows us to develop organizational knowledge on how our accessibility solutions should be adopted to your business environment.
SSB’s size also ensures that we can staff and handle the volume of business from large customers. Smaller companies or sole consultants cannot handle the volume of work of enterprise-class customers, whether private IT manufacturers, financial institutions or large government organizations.
Knowledge That Is Up-to-Date, All the Time
SSB uses AMP to deliver all our accessibility services, meaning that AMP is a system in constant use by the largest accessibility consulting firm in the world. This gives SSB the ability to include improvements to AMP that are born through a continuous feedback loop that includes our own staff using the product for client services work on a daily basis. As new standards are deployed, new requirements identified, new implementation techniques developed and issues resolved in real world developments, these experiences and lessons are immediately provided in AMP. This ensures that customers have instant, ongoing updates to all best practices, rule sets, tests and training content in AMP. This is in sharp contrast to competing firms, where compliance data is hard-coded and updates infrequently at best.
Published and Peer Review Auditing Methodology
All SSB testing engagements conform to SSB’s Unified Audit Methodology, a mature methodology meant to ensure the relevance, accuracy and repeatability of results in a manner which ensures thorough coverage. This auditing process includes a mix of automated, manual and assistive technology validation, as well as the use of individuals with disabilities performing actual system tasks. Audits are performed against a unified set of conformance criteria based on industry best practices, public compliance requirements and internal standards relevant to the client’s compliance needs. All audits published under the methodology are immediately available in AMP and include a description of accessibility issues, media types, non-compliant code examples, compliant source code examples, recommended approaches and options for addressing issues, unit tests allowing for validation of the issues and source public standards associated with each rule.
Unmatched Support Capabilities
SSB BART Group’s support policy defines our same-day response policy on all high-priority support requests. All licensed users of AMP are covered under our support policy, which includes full support for the product and all information within it. In addition, SSB provides the following support capabilities to all customers as part of our standard engagement:
AMP Support Hours covers standard working hours across all regional U.S. zones and can provide full 24x7 support as needed;
When new versions of AMP are released on a quarterly basis, free training is provided to all customers on the new version and its use;
Upon sign-up, all licensed users of AMP are entitled to a free training session to understand how to use the product to the best of its abilities;
SSB BART Group has no less than three staff members available to support the product at any given time during the support hours;
All support is provided as part of SSB’s standard AMP license—no additional support or training contracts are required.
SSB BART Group accepts support requests via telephone, or online form.
Advocacy Group Relationships
SSB has partnered with numerous industry and advocacy groups focused on promoting accessibility to IT systems. Partner organizations focused principally on web accessibility include G3ict, W3C WCAG, and the U.S. Access Board. SSB has also partnered with the following organizations, institutions and research firms focused on general accessibility, including IT access: U.S. Business Leadership Network (USBLN), NDI, National Organization on Disability (NOD), BBI, Syracuse University, Cornell University, Buffalo University, VCU RRTC. In addition, we also have relationships with NISH, Ability One, NFB and UCP.
SSB has worked with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) since 2001 to support advocacy activities in the blindness community. SSB launched the NFB’s Non-Visual Access (NVA) certification program in conjunction with the Federation in 2003 and provided the certification services for the first three program clients—Hewlett-Packard, Wells Fargo and the U.S. Social Security Administration—all of which remain active SSB clients. The American Action Fund for Blind Adults and Children—a proxy NFB investment vehicle—has an investment in SSB as part of SSB’s Series B stock. Finally, Ray Kurzweil, an SSB angel investor, sits on the NFB board and owns an NFB co-developed company for the Kurzweil reader. 2

3. Most accessibility fixes can be made with InDesign only
Key Points
Most accessibility fixes can be made with InDesign only
The visual appearance of your document does not need to change for proper tagging
With exception for color, contrast, etc.
Making your InDesign document accessible will make it easier to maintain and update for the future

4. Workflow
Setup InDesign environment for tagging
Use/create an accessible template
Address visuals like contrast
Thread frame content
Tag content and map styles to tags
Use the structure tree and articles panel to arrange reading order of content
Add text alternatives
Export to PDF
Touch up items in Acrobat Professional

5. Display Structure Tree
Setup InDesign
Display Structure Tree
View > Structure > Show structure
Display tag markers
View > Structure > Show Tag Markers
Display the following panels
Tags
Paragraph styles
Articles
Other useful tools
Story editor

6. Create/Use Accessible Template
Core Areas of Accessible InDesign Files
Headings
Lists
Images alt text
Artifacts
Tables
Reading Order
Use Color
Contrast
Links
Forms (not covered in this presentation)
Document title (metadata)

7. Address Color and Contrast
Contrast and Color– Overview
Use sufficient foreground and background colors
Sufficient contrast is necessary for users with visual impairments
Applies to text over (e.g. text with backgrounds/images)
Applies to text and images that contain text
Exceptions: decoration, logo or brand name
Do not rely on color alone to convey information
When color alone is used people who are color blind will not have access to the information
Applies to text, images, etc.

8. Address Color and Contrast
Color and Contrast – Recommendations
Contrast
Use contrast checker
Adjust contrast of all non-exempt elements
Color
Use text, symbols, attributes, or other visual indicators
Use parentheses for negative numbers in addition to red
InDesign or Photoshop, etc. have eye dropper tools. Use these to find the hex value

9. Thread Frames
Overview
Proper use of text frames allow articles that span multiple pages to be read in the correct order by assistive technology

10. Use Text Frames Properly
Thread Frames
Recommendations
Use Text Frames Properly
Each article should be in a single text frame with continuous flow
If this is not possible, such as an article that continues onto a separate page, the frames should be threaded

11. If there is too much text to fit in the desired location:
Thread Frames
Implementation Techniques
If there is too much text to fit in the desired location:
Create a text frame on another page
Click on the first text frame’s out port (a small box with an arrow on the lower right side of the text frame)
Click on the second text frame

12. Press ⌘+Y (CTRL+Y on a Windows PC) to open the Story Editor
Thread Frames
Implementation Techniques (cont.)
From the Tools panel, select the Type tool and place the cursor in the first text frame
Press ⌘+Y (CTRL+Y on a Windows PC) to open the Story Editor
Cut and paste headers and any other text into the Story Editor
Delete any extra empty text frames
Create a new InDesign file.
Create two text frames with text in them.
Open Story Editor
Cut and paste content from the second text frame into the Story Editor
Delete the empty text frame
Mention that having multiple text frames increases the chance of content getting messed up in the Acrobat file

13. To create side by side columns:
Thread Frames
Implementation Techniques (cont.)
To create side by side columns:
Drag the text frame to the desired width
Press ⌘+B CTRL+B to open the Text Frame Options dialog
Select the desired number of columns
Text Frame Out Port

14. Tags and Styles
Styles – Overview
A style is a set of formatting attributes that can be assigned to elements throughout the document
Changes to the formatting of a style affects all elements in the document with that style
Styles are the basis of the tag structure in InDesign and later in Acrobat (via the Map styles to tags)
Headings styles override H tags in Acrobat

15. Tags and Styles
Styles – Recommendations
Paragraph styles should be used to format elements in the document such as headings and list items
When text is initially added, InDesign automatically assigns the Basic Paragraph Style
Set styles up properly for all types of content
Use styles throughout the document creation process

16. To edit, change or create a new style: Place the cursor in the text
Tags and Styles
Styles – Implementation Techniques
To edit, change or create a new style:
Place the cursor in the text
Press ⌘+F11 (Mac) to open the Paragraph Styles dialog
Press F11 (Windows) to open the Paragraph Styles dialog
To set a style
Select the text to style
Select the desired style in the paragraph styles panel

17. Content is not tagged or added to the structure tree when created
Tags and Styles
Adding Tags - Overview
Content is not tagged or added to the structure tree when created
There are two ways to tag elements
Tag each element
Select the item, open the context menu (right click), and select Tag Frame (or Choose Auto Tag from Tags Panel)
Choose the appropriate tag from the list (if not auto tag)
Add all untagged Items
To open the structure pane, press Alt + Ctrl + 1
From the Structure Pane menu, select “Add Untagged Items”
The above will add content to the structure tree and auto tag the type
If you do it this way, you will need to check and make sure that the correct tags are added

18. Alternatively, styles can be globally mapped to the appropriate tags
Tags and Styles
Adding Tags – Implementation
To create custom tags
From the Window menu, select Tag
From the Tags Panel menu, select “New Tag” and enter the desired tag name
Alternatively, styles can be globally mapped to the appropriate tags
Structure Tree > options > map styles to tags
Caution – this will change already tagged content

19. Heading order should match the visual order of headings
Tags and Styles
Headings – Overview and Recommendation
Explicit heading identification allows users of assistive technology to browse document content by header level
Descriptive headings allow users with cognitive and visual impairments to find the correct section
Define styles to explicitly indicate that content appears visually as a heading
Headings and labels must be unique and describe the topic or purpose of the element they title
Heading order should match the visual order of headings
Good time to reiterate the newspaper example and how we review the front page

20. Tags and Styles
Headings – Implementation Techniques
To ensure headings will convert properly to Acrobat format, custom style names should be created in InDesign
These heading styles should be named “H1,” “H2,” etc. so the proper tag name will come through into Acrobat

21. To create heading styles
Tags and Styles
Headings – Implementation Techniques (cont.)
To create heading styles
Place the cursor in the text and press ⌘-F11 to open the Paragraph Styles dialog
From the flyout menu, choose New Paragraph Style
In the Style Name field, enter “H1” or the appropriate heading level
To change the font, select Basic Character Formats and choose the desired font, size, and weight
Edit other options as needed
Note: If styles already exist change their name

22. To tag an object as an artifact
Tags and Styles
Artifacts – Implementation Techniques
Tag decorative images and repetitive headers, footers, and page numbers as artifacts
Artifacts are ignored by screen readers or when the document is displayed in Reflow mode
To tag an object as an artifact
Select the object
Open the context menu
Select the Tag Frame
Select Artifact from the list

23. Tags and Styles List items (LI) Tables and Cells Image/figure (Image)
Other Tags
List items (LI)
Auto create LI tags a descendants of L tags in PDF
Tables and Cells
Auto generates Table, TH, and TD tags for all data and header cells in PDF (specify table header row in InDesign)
Image/figure (Image)
Auto generates figure element in PDF
Paragraphs (P)
Auto generates p elements in pdf
Sections, articles, etc.
May generate equivalent in PDF
Have little affect on assistive technology in PDF

24. Tags and Styles To insert metadata
Metadata – Implementation Techniques
To insert metadata
Select File > File Info from the menu
Add the information to the File Information dialog box

25. Reading Order
Overview
Once the document has been tagged, it is essential to review it for proper reading order
Structure tree order = tag panel order in Acrobat = reading order for assistive technology
Make sure complete story appears in same <Story> tag or appear consecutively
In other words, if content is broken up over various tags, there may be issues with reading order

26. To view all the tags in the tree
Reading Order
Structure Tree - Implementation Techniques
To view all the tags in the tree
Select the top tag and hold down the Alt key while clicking on the arrow
To move an element in the tag order
Click and drag the tag to the proper location

27. Anchor Images into the text flow
Reading Order
Structure Tree - Implementation Techniques
Anchor Images into the text flow
Each InDesign frame and object group displays a small blue square on its top edge
To anchor an object in an accessible location in the text flow without changing the original position of the object, click and hold the blue square, and then drag it to the desired location within the text and release
The blue square changes to an anchor icon indicating that the object is anchored

28. Establish a stacking order using the Articles panel
Reading Order
Articles Panel - Overview
Establish a stacking order using the Articles panel
This sets the content order which affects reflow in Acrobat
To establish the reading order in InDesign, open the Articles panel (Window > Articles) and click the desired object or objects on the page to include in the article. Drag the objects into the Articles panel, and release the mouse. Objects are listed in the order that you click them. Name the article when prompted to, or keep the default name Article 1. Alternatively, you could use Select All (Cmd/Ctrl-A) and click the New Article button at the bottom of the Articles panel to add all selected objects and create a new article in one step (you can rename it later). Objects are given default names based on the object’s type and content. If an object has already been given a specific name in the Layers panel, it retains that name in the Articles panel.

29. Drag the entire selection to Articles Panel
Reading Order
Articles Panel - Implementation Techniques
Shift Click items in the order that you want them to be arranged in the Articles Panel
Drag the entire selection to Articles Panel
To establish the reading order in InDesign, open the Articles panel (Window > Articles) and click the desired object or objects on the page to include in the article. Drag the objects into the Articles panel, and release the mouse. Objects are listed in the order that you click them. Name the article when prompted to, or keep the default name Article 1. Alternatively, you could use Select All (Cmd/Ctrl-A) and click the New Article button at the bottom of the Articles panel to add all selected objects and create a new article in one step (you can rename it later). Objects are given default names based on the object’s type and content. If an object has already been given a specific name in the Layers panel, it retains that name in the Articles panel.

30. Text Alternatives Two ways to add Alt text Object Export Options
Non-text Elements – Implementation Techniques
Two ways to add Alt text
Object Export Options
Select the image in the document
Activate the Object menu
Activate Object Export Options
Select Alt Text panel
Select Custom from the Alt Text (see next slide for metadata)
Add alternative text
Alt attribute in structure Tree
Select image in tree
Choose Add Attribute, enter “Alt” as name
Add alt text in value field
Activate Ok

31. Text Alternatives
Non-text Elements – Implementation Techniques
Alternatively, use Description Metadata field as Alt Text source for image
Specifying alt text from XMP metadata is the best choice in most cases, because the link between the alt text and the metadata in the file is dynamic. If the metadata changes, alt text is updated when you update the image link in your InDesign document.
AltText From XMP:Description

32. Enter the desired file name Activate the Save button
Export to Acrobat
Implementation Techniques
To create the PDF file
From the File menu, select Export > Adobe PDF (Print or Interactive)
Enter the desired file name
Activate the Save button
Note: The Print dialog box should not be used, as this will not create a document that can be further edited for accessibility in Acrobat Professional

33. Export to Acrobat
Implementation Techniques (cont.)
In the Export Adobe PDF dialog box, ensure the following options are selected:
Compatibility
Select Acrobat 5 or later to create accessible documents
Options
Optimize for Fast Web View
Create Tagged PDF
Bookmarks
Hyperlinks
Interactive Elements
Choose Export

34. Select Initial View Tab
Acrobat Touch Up
Implementation Techniques
Select Initial View Tab
Under Window Options Select Show “Document Title”
Activate the OK button

35. Under Reading Options Select Language of document
Acrobat Touch Up
Implementation Techniques (cont.)
Select Advanced Tab
Under Reading Options Select Language of document
Activate the OK button

36. Select Page Properties
Acrobat Touch Up
Implementation Techniques (cont.)
Select Page Properties
Under Tab Order ensure “Use Document Structure” is selected
Activate the OK button

37. Acrobat Touch Up For each role:
Implementation Techniques (cont.)
Open the Role Map Dialog (Tags Panel > Options > Edit Role Map)
For each role:
Verify that all non-standard PDF Tags have proper role mappings to a standard PDF tag name.
E.g. Heading 1 - > H1

38. Questions?

39. Contact Us Follow Us Thank You Jonathan Avila
Chief Accessibility Officer
Bryan Garaventa
Senior Accessibility Engineer
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