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Re: PDF U/A alternate description for links

for

From: Christine Hogenkamp
Date: Feb 15, 2023 2:38PM

Hi Elizabeth,

For whatever it's worth, when making accessible PDFs in InDesign, my team
noticed that our TOC links were announced as "Blank" using NVDA unless the
Alt text box was filled in the Hyperlinks panel in InDesign. We can perhaps
assume that other document software might be accidentally making similar
errors when exporting to PDF, so the alt text box may exist and be required
by PAC and/or PDF/UA as a way to ensure the text is "seen" by screen
reader, as a fallback?

I have definitely struggled to understand the relationship between
Link-OBJR and annotations, it may be there are some document programs that
use annotations to create links in a way that may not be compatible with
screen reader software, or maybe does so imperfectly, either due to
software code or user error in formatting the document.

One day I'd love for Adobe to take proper responsibility for the PDF file
format in relation to accessible PDFs and update their software to explain
these elements more clearly or at least put in more dedicated
panels/wizards to help prevent user error. Oh well, I can always dream ha
ha!

*x*
*Christine Hogenkamp (She, Her)*
Front-end Developer
ContextCreative.com <http://contextcreative.com/>;

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of
> Elizabeth Thomas
> Sent: 14 February 2023 18:34
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: [WebAIM] PDF U/A alternate description for links
>
>
>
>
>
> I have a question about alternate descriptions for links and was unable to
> find an answer online; I thought someone on this list must know the answer.
>
> Why does PDF U/A require alternate descriptions for links? If my link is
> human readable, and makes sense out of context, why do I also need an
> alternate description for that link? It seems like the rule should only
> apply to badly written links or full URLs.
>
> For example, if the link text in my PDF is the web page title, and that
> text is a content object that is a child of the link, won’t technologies
> associate that text with the link? And won’t assistive technologies, like
> a screen reader, read that text when they encounter the link?
>
> Are there some technologies that don’t correctly read the associated text
> when they encounter a link? Is that what the standard is addressing?
>
> I know how to automate adding the alternate descriptions for links in a
> PDF, but it seems unnecessary (unless the links are full URLs or don’t
> describe the link destination when taken out of context). PAC 3 always
> flags this issue, but I don’t really understand why it’s in the
> guidelines/standards.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> -Elizabeth Thomas
>
> Digital Accessibility Specialist
>
> New Jersey Department of Education
>
>
>