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Re: Accessible PDF Forms - field labels

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Jul 8, 2013 10:09PM

Olaf, thanks for your excellent comments.

There's a lot of information about the technical aspects of creating
accessible forms, but little about the nuances, exceptions, best practices,
and overall design of forms. Olaf's comments fill in that critical gap.

And of course, there's the accessibility of the text portions of forms
that's often overlooked in the material I've reviewed.

Ted Padova (a well-known Acrobat programmer) has a free guide to PDF forms.
The chapter on accessible forms (Chapter 21) is short and touches only the
basics), but the rest of the book is excellent. Download it here:
http://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/making-forms-accessible (250+ page PDF).

It would be wonderful if WebAIM could provide a best practices reference
guide, something beyond talking about the field name and the tool tip
accessible name. Olaf's comment about using a list rather than radio buttons
is an excellent example. Where to put instructions is another issue to
tackle.

—Bevi Chagnon
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