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Re: Accessible PDF Forms

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From: Olaf Drümmer
Date: Jul 8, 2013 1:23AM

Hi Bevi,

quick question before diving into any details - which of the following would you have in mind:

[1] complex layout but all fields are static (always visible, stay where they are) and non-interactive (no JavaScript involved, e.g. no dialogs popping up, no validation of input, etc. - i.e. a behaviour pretty much like a paper based form)

[2] complex layout but all fields are static (always visible, stay where they are) but there is interactive per field logic, like validating input (can it really be a ZIP code) or providing instructions through an alert with a specific explanation when a field is left empty (though already for forms according to item [1] it can be expressed that a field is required), or maybe a submit button that sends the filled out form to some server

[3] complex layout but some fields - or even groups of fields - are dynamic - they only become visible when needed ("how many hours per week do you work?" only shows when person has checked "I am an employee."); or form fields are added as needed (you have earned so much money that usual number of fields of income sources in your tax form is not sufficient, so more fields are shown as you go), whole pages are inserted depending on user input, etc. In addition the form might be interactive or not in a number of ways.

Item [3] can usually only be done using a special technology by Adobe, called XFA (for extensible forms architecture) which ultimately is XML encoded form logic and data deployed inside a minimal PDF container (some would say XFA actually is not PDF - it just happens to work inside a PDF hull when opened in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat). The plain PDF technology typically used in items [1] and [2] is referred to as AcroForms (at least by techie people) - ironically despite the Acro in this name it is the non-proprietary PDF form technology, part of the official ISO standard for PDF (XFA, while publicly documented, is owned and controlled by Adobe, though other vendors are free to implement are as well, and some are working on XFA support, though all implementations I am aware of are partial XFA implementations).

Depending on which of the above you are about to create, different aspects will apply.


Olaf


On 8 Jul 2013, at 08:25, Chagnon | PubCom < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Is there any good information or guidelines on creating accessible PDF
> forms? Not regular web forms, but PDF forms.
>
> Looking for information appropriate for complex government forms, especially
> about structure and tags such as when form fields are embedded within
> narrative text.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Bevi Chagnon
>
> - PubCom.com - Trainers, Consultants, Designers, and Developers.
>
> - Print, Web, Acrobat, XML, eBooks, and U.S. Federal Section 508
> Accessibility.
>
> > >