WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Full URLs in PDF documents

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From: Schroeder, Karole
Date: Feb 28, 2023 1:11PM

A couple questions come to mind, and I single no one out because this is happening everywhere:

First, why are we using PDF documents on online platforms? What good reason is there for the PDF document versus a web page? Consider that PDF documents are typically intended for print and print media already has several limitations for people with a variety of disabilities. If the information can be converted into a webpage without losing meaning (putting the aesthetic look and feel of print media aside), then it should be in webpage form: instructions, forms, and promotions.

Second, why are we spelling out URLs on web pages or documents on online platforms? For those of us with poor memory, long URLs are hard to remember. If I'm not already struggling to type a URL out, I am forgetting the order of the characters in the URL and having to go back and forth between the document and the web address bar of a browser. And like QR codes seen on webpages, if you are already on a computer with internet access, simply selecting the link should be enough to get you to the listed website. Less concern about remembering or typing.

Karole Schroeder, CPACC (she/her/hers)
Electronic and Information Resources Accessibility Coordinator (EIRAC)
Office of Information Security | Division of Information Technology
Phone: 361.825.3154


6300 Ocean Dr.
Corpus Christi, TX 78412
361.825.5700 | tamucc.edu



-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Hogenkamp < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 10:48 AM
To: <EMAIL REMOVED>
Subject: [WebAIM] Full URLs in PDF documents

Hello everyone,

My team and I were discussing URLs in PDFs and instances where you might have the full URL instead of a descriptive text for the link, such as footnotes or references section in a report. The discussion was whether it was OK to have an occasional instance of a full URL like that as-is, or whether there are any steps we should take in the formatting of the URL (ie InDesign has an alt text option we could place descriptive text or instructive text). The question was basically, was it too annoying or cumbersome for the reader to have to listen to the whole URL?

My opinion in the matter was that I thought it was OK to have a full URL as-is, as long as the URL was in a place where the reader could get context why the URL was there (ie under a header "References" or similar) and my feeling about full URLs is that most screen reader users would probably know how to skip to the next element on the page, if they found themselves listening to "H T T P colon backslash backslash W W W ..." etc. so that we wouldn't be trapping them in having to listen to the whole URL.

I also thought it might not be ideal to use alt text because that's not how the text presents visually, so that might be confusing to users who can read some of the visible text themselves but also use a screen reader too as additional help. Usually our goal is to have the screen reader experience match the visual experience, as much as reasonably possible.

So I welcome any thoughts on this, since so many of you are more experienced in accessible PDFs than I am and have dealt with all the little particular elements and how they should be formatted. Thanks in advance!

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