Creating Accessible Content in Acrobat 8

Jonathan Whiting and Aaron Andersen

WebAIM: Web Accessibility in Mind

This presentation is available at
webaim.org/presentations/2007/CSUN/acrobat8
or view this presentation JavaScript and CSS removed

Credits

WebAIM is a project at:

Other presentations

• Accessibility Evaluation of Next-Generation Web Applications
  • 1:45 - 2:45 PM Hilton - La Jolla B
  • Intermediate
• Internet Delivery of Real-time Captioning
  • 3:05 - 4:05 PM Hilton - La Jolla B
  • Beginner

Acrobat is not PDF...

• PDF=Portable Document Format
• There are several programs that can read or create PDF files
• Acrobat is not the only tool that you can use to create PDF's

...but you will need Acrobat to:

• Create a tagged PDF (although it's not the only way)
• Edit tagged PDF
• Check the accessibility of a tagged PDF
• Tag an untagged PDF

What's new in Acrobat 8

Acrobat 8 was not a "major" accessibility upgrade when compared to 7, but there are some significant improvements.

• Faster tagging and Accessibility checker
• Form tagging
• Tables in TouchUp Reading Order

Outline

• Start with an accessible document
• Understand the tags tab
• Editing a tagged PDF
  • TouchUp Reading Order
• Creating a tagged PDF

Start with a good document

• Use true headings
• Add alt text to images
• Assign headers to tables
• Create descriptive links
• Export to PDF the right way

The Tags panel

• View > Navigation Panels > Tags
• Select Highlight Content
• Tags tree
• Find Tag from Selection Option

Create and edit tags

• Right click a tag, select Properties, change tag type
• New Tag
• Delete Tag

TouchUp Reading order Tool

• Advanced > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order
• Drag/click the number to select an element
• Assign it a tag
• Clear only 1 page
• Check the reading order
• New Table Inspector

Tag an Untagged PDF (if you must)

• Shouldn't be your first choice
• Occasionally it is the easiest way, especially if you have tables
• If you want to clear a page, use TouchUp Reading Order
• Advanced > Accessibility > Add Tags to Document (or Tags Tab)

"Accessible" text and tests

• Text
  • File > Export >Text (Accessible)
  • Not Necessarily Accessible
  • Great for testing
• Checker:
  • Advanced > Accessibility > Full Check

Tools and Resources

• WebAIM Acrobat/PDF article: webaim.org/techniques/acrobat
• OpenOffice.org Writer
• CommonLook 508 plugin