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Re: Exit icons/disclaimers on HHS PDF files

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From: Ryan E. Benson
Date: Apr 18, 2018 4:50PM

Hi,

The exit disclaimers are not a HHS requirement, but something pushed by
GSA. This has been a requirement for a few years, maybe 3+.

At my agency, I would probably advise you to send the request back to the
requester telling them to either add the icon or give you the source for
you to do it. If that is absolutely not possible, we would let it go
probably. HHS is working to a digital first policy, which says html > pdf >
office doc, so the icon can be added to the html version. Since html would
be the fully accessible version, it would be the primary version. With that
being said, this is not an official position, and all other recommendations
here has to be taken as a grain of salt. The web official for the group or
agency would trump any position from the good people of the listserv.

The image would need to be added to the link tag, so it would be included
in the link text.

--
Ryan E. Benson

On Wed, Apr 18, 2018 at 1:04 PM, Dona Patrick < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> While it may have been somewhere in the guidelines before the refresh, it
> now seems that HHS is requiring exit icons on non-governmental links in PDF
> files.
>
> A project I am working on is wondering how to implement this, especially if
> the file is sent to us as a PDF and we do not have access to the source
> file. From experience adding content to tagged PDF files can really mess up
> the document structure/tags.
>
> Secondly we are concerned that the exit icon would be read by AT after the
> link. Would this be a case where we should add the disclaimer text to the
> alt text of the link?
>
> Can someone point me to an example of this being used in a PDF file?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Dona Patrick
> > > > >