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Re: - Alt text for PDF org chart

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From: chagnon
Date: Nov 14, 2023 1:41PM

Because Alt Text is an attribute on a tag (usually the <Figure> tag), it can't have any semantics (such as headings and lists). Alt Text is just a blah blah blah run-on of word soup without much to distinguish the text for those using screen readers.

Plus, per the PDF/UA standard, <Figure> tags can't have lists and tables nested inside the <Figure> tag itself. Practically, I don't know of any assistive technology that can access the <Caption> tag when it's nested inside <Figure> even though that's legal per PDF/UA.

So putting Alt Text on an organizational chart graphic will always be less than ideal for the end user. In most cases, it's barely readable and understandable.

Some options we've developed for our clients are:

1. Use a live-text list that's available to all users. Some options:
– A list in a <Caption> after the chart graphic.
– Hyperlinked to a list in an appendix added to the PDF, or to a webpage on a website. Wording like "An accessible version of this organizational chart is available at..." can help quite a lot.

2. If the source file is Adobe InDesign, you can build the chart with InDesign's tools which allow designers to visually decorate the text to look like boxes/frames while keeping them live text. Keep it all threaded into a logical reading order, and tag the text as headings and/or lists as needed. In the exported PDF, there's no graphic so there's no need for Alt Text because the text content is all there in the live text.

—Bevi

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Bevi Chagnon | Designer, Accessibility Technician | <EMAIL REMOVED>
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