WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Word Documents header and footer areas not exported to PDF tag tree

for

From: Dana McMullen
Date: Dec 12, 2024 11:53AM

Hello all,

Hello everyone, This is my first time participating in this community, and
I'm excited to finally contribute. I wanted to join this conversation about
PDF conversion and share some insights regarding why headers and footers
are often considered "PDF artifacts" and are hidden from assistive
technology. This practice is beneficial for users with disabilities. To
clarify, I assume that when you refer to these elements, you mean that they
are: 1. Not part of the main content (like paragraph headers) 2. Intended
solely for layout purposes. A PDF artifact is defined as an element in a
PDF document that: 1. Is not intended to be part of the main content, 2. Is
typically used for layout purposes, and 3. Is usually ignored by screen
readers and other assistive technologies. Artifacts can include:

- Page Numbers - Often treated as layout elements rather than content.
- Watermarks - Decorative or security features not intended for content
reading.
- Background Graphics - Images or patterns used solely for design
purposes. By skipping these types of elements, we ensure that users with
disabilities receive only relevant content read to them. This significantly
enhances both accessibility and usability.

===
Dana McMullen
Web Developer | Lead Accessibility Specialist | Tester| Consultant
Remote Digital Office Practitioner

On Thu, Dec 12, 2024 at 12:29 PM Jon Brundage via WebAIM-Forum <
<EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Thank you so much, Karen
>