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Re: PDF accessibility and compatibility with Browsers

for

From: Peter Shikli
Date: Feb 11, 2023 1:14PM

Dhananjay,

The good news is that you need not test for accessibility via browsers,
assistive technology, or any other tool. You must test for compliance to
standards like WCAG 2.1, PDF/UA, etc. It is up to the vendors of those
various tools to make sure they comply to the same standards. This is
what the standards mean by compelling us to be vendor neutral when we
strive for accessibility. From a practical standpoint, there are simply
too many tools out there to test against each one.

The bad news is that accessibility is not assured by passing the hundred
or so automated test tools, including the ones you cite. Those are great
starts, but they report too many warnings that could go either way. A
trained human accessibility analyst has to examine those warnings and
remediate what is needed.

There is a place for testing with browsers and other tools however. It's
called usability testing, and it comes after passing accessibility. This
is where disabled users who are experienced with their assistive
technology can be quite helpful. Consider Steve Green's experience with
the junkyard full of adverts. Recreating the terrible user experience of
the sighted user for the disabled user is accessible, but a minimalist
destination rather than our proper goal.

Cheers,
Peter Shikli
Access2online Inc.
503-570-6831 - <EMAIL REMOVED>
www.access2online.com
Prison inmates helping the internet become accessible