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From: Rabab Gomaa
Date: Tue, May 15 2012 8:57AM
Subject: Table with PDF forms where only the title is linked to the PDF, can PDF size be in a different cell?
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Hello everyone,

I work for the government of Canada. My department has all PDF forms in a page with one table (form #, title, revision date, size and form type).
Would it be less accessible if we put the size and form type in a different cell knowing that only the title is linked to the PDF file (like example 1)?
The page owner sees example 1 much easier for the user to use but we fear that when the PDF (size and type) are not included in the link context, this can break WCAG 2.0 AA rules or make the page less accessible/usable for screen readers.

Example 1: (form title, size, type, in different cells)
<table>
<tr>
<th scope="col">Form <abbr title="number">No</abbr>.</th>
<th scope="col">Title</th>
<th scope="col">Revision Date</th>
<th scope="col">Type</th>
<th scope="col">Size <abbr title="kilobyte">kb</abbr></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">0001</th>
<td><a href="x.pdf">Application for Registration or Renewal</td>
<td>2010/06</td>
<td>Fillable</td>
<td>279 </td>
</tr>
</table>

Example 2: (PDF title and details in the same link context)
<table>
<tr>
<th scope="col">Form <abbr title="number">No</abbr>.</th>
<th scope="col">Title</th>
<th scope="col">Revision Date</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th scope="row">0001</th>
<td><a href="x.pdf"> Application for Registration or Renewal - Fillable Form, 279 <abbr title="kilobyte">kb</abbr></a></td>
<td>2010/06</td>
</tr>
</table>

Thank you,
Rabab

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Wed, May 16 2012 6:28AM
Subject: Re: Table with PDF forms where only the title is linked to the PDF, can PDF size be in a different cell?
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Rabab,
That's two questions:
1) Do you need to have the file format and the file size in a link to a PDF (or any other type of file) in order to meet WCAG 2.0? No, you don't. You may choose to make that information available in the table so people can find out this information, but I don't think that you even need to do that to meet WCAG.
2) Does separating this information from the links make the page less accessible or usable? I don't know, you'd need to find or perform some user testing to determine this. I'm sure that many people would like to know this information (probably more likely the file format than the size, unless the size is particularly large), but I can also imagine that some people would find the additional information (e.g. "2012 census form, PDF. Two hundred thirty-eight KB") annoying after getting not too far through your list.

So, check with users to see what they say. But I'd say that making your PDF forms meet WCAG 2.0 (and soon, meeting PDF/UA) is the first priority.

AWK

From: Rabab Gomaa
Date: Wed, May 16 2012 8:17AM
Subject: Re: Table with PDF forms where only the title is linked to the PDF, can PDF size be in a different cell?
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Thanks Andrew. (I completely agree.. that what I had in mind too)
As for the PDF forms, I have colleagues in my group working on the accessibility of the forms and they are pretty much advanced on that.

Rabab
>>> Andrew Kirkpatrick < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > 5/16/2012 8:28 am >>>
Rabab,
That's two questions:
1) Do you need to have the file format and the file size in a link to a PDF (or any other type of file) in order to meet WCAG 2.0? No, you don't. You may choose to make that information available in the table so people can find out this information, but I don't think that you even need to do that to meet WCAG.
2) Does separating this information from the links make the page less accessible or usable? I don't know, you'd need to find or perform some user testing to determine this. I'm sure that many people would like to know this information (probably more likely the file format than the size, unless the size is particularly large), but I can also imagine that some people would find the additional information (e.g. "2012 census form, PDF. Two hundred thirty-eight KB") annoying after getting not too far through your list.

So, check with users to see what they say. But I'd say that making your PDF forms meet WCAG 2.0 (and soon, meeting PDF/UA) is the first priority.

AWK