WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Do fonts have to be embedded in a WCAG 2.0 conforming PDFdocument?

for

From: Duff Johnson
Date: Apr 15, 2015 10:11AM

>
>> The lack of embedded fonts can cause a range of issues varying from (merely) an unintended ugly appearance to total illegibility.
>
> Regarding WCAG -- how is the experience specifically for people with disabilities impacted over the experience of people without disabilities.

Examples...

- Some users may depend on characteristics such as word-spacing, line-spacing, text alignment, etc to understand the document. As one example, imagine a screen magnifier user dealing with text in which the breaks between words aren't clear, or where characters overlap. A conventional user might have the problem to a limited extent, but the user running the magnifier is much more likely to be very seriously affected.

- AT software that replaces or manipulates fonts (for example to accommodate those with dyslexia) will not be able to function predictably (if at all).

> It seems that this is an overall usability issue for all people

It is certainly that, but it also disproportionally affects users with disabilities.

> -- but WCAG is focused on situations where comparable or equivalent access is not provided to people with disabilities.

Agreed, and I believe font embedding is such as case.

…but which SC?

Duff.