Acrobat XI Accessibility - Requirements, Implementation, and Evaluation Presented by: Jonathan Avila and Jason Megginson March 6, 2015

2 Agenda Overview User Impact Laws and Standards Formats and Workflow Native Document Preparation Acrobat Accessibility Features Make Accessible Wizard Implementation Tools Accessibility Checkers Implementation Bet Practices Acrobat Accessibility Features Resources

3 Overview Goal: Make PDF available to widest Audience PDF is an open specification –PDF is an ISO standard ( :2008) PDF format can be accessible –Static created documents, forms and dynamically generated content Readers available that support tagged documents on Windows –Limitations within readers on mobile/Mac environments

4 User Impact Document accessibility affects users: Who are blind or have visual impairments Who have cognitive disabilities Interactive document accessibility affects users: With mobility impairments Who are deaf or hard of hearing Examples you may have not considered Links must be keyboard accessible Text should reflow when document is zoomed

5 Applicable Laws and Standards Section 508 Federal procurement requirement - requires comparable access Section 504 Accommodations for federally funded programs Section 255 Telecomm support documentation WCAG 2 Guidelines that may be adopted as standards WCAG 2.0

6 Applicable Laws and Standards PDF/UA PDF/UA as an ISO a11y standard Defines conformance for documents, readers, & AT Provides WCAG sufficient techniques ADA Employment, education, public accommodation International Disability Law Equality Act in UK AODA in Ontario M376 PDF/ UA

7 Workflow There’s no magic “Make Accessible” button Accessible content creation: Is a process Requires automated & human testing Should be part of the production workflow Requires a variety of techniques/methods

8 Workflow Source -> Destination Formats Word, InDesign -> ePUB, PDF, HTML documents Workflow Guidance Incorporate in design and implementation process Post-production remediation is costly - can’t address all issues Updates require conversion and loss of post- production remediation Create priority order for pre-existing documents

9 Native Document Preparation Creating Accessible Source Documents Templates Color and contrast Use styles in documents Create multiple columns with column tool Add alternative text for images and objects Specify column header rows in tables Use meaningful hyperlink text Check the document Convert to PDF using accessible PDF Settings (Windows)

10 Acrobat PDF Conversion Some aspects will need to be addressed in Acrobat If native document was accessible effort will be minimal Conversion process may create tagged PDF files What are tags? –Semantic markup to identify structure –Ordered/nested a sequence referred to as structure

11 Make Accessible Wizard Run the Make Accessible Wizard from Tools > Action Wizard

12 Make Accessible Wizard (cont.) Complete the Wizard Set doc title Recognize text OCR Detect form fields Set tab order Set language Add tags (if needed) Set alternative text Accessibility Checker

13 Accessibility Checker Run the Accessibility Checker Detects limited set of potential accessibility issues Automatically appears as the last step in the wizard Run the Accessibility Checker from the Tools Panel > Accessibility Pane Choose checker options

14 Accessibility Checker Review the results and fix the issues

15 Implementation Tools Use the Touch Up Reading Order tool/Order panel Right click on the desired page in the index and select “Show reading order panel” Changes items in the Tags and Content panels Tag most elements Order that content is written in the document Access to table editor Changes in content panel may affect visual document Be careful!

16 Implementation Tools Tags panel Reading order used by AT Does not affect visual appearance Advanced, but provides flexibility Find unmarked content/annotations Keystrokes support for quick nav

17 Additional Implementation Best Practices Reading order Tag panel/Order panel –Check and arrange reading order Semantic structure Tag panel/Order panel –Isolate content, check role/fix roles Links, lists, notes, etc. –Tags panel Tags panel and Object Properties

18 Additional Implementation Best Practices Tagging Tables Tags panel or Table Editor –Select content tag, tag, and associate headers Table Editor with Table Cell Properties dialog

19 Additional Implementation Best Practices Math and Symbols (non-image) Tags panel – split out and add actual text Tags panel showing isolated formula content

20 Additional Implementation Best Practices Provide Titles for Form Fields Form Editor – Properties – tooltip (and value for radio buttons) Form Editor with Text Field Properties Dialog

21 Additional Implementation Best Practices Mark Artifacts (lines, headers, footers, etc.) Tags Panel (tag as Artifact) Order Panel (background) Footnotes Tags panel –Tags as reference and note –Can re-order footnote to after paragraph Role Mapping Tags Panel > Edit role mappings Watermarks Avoid in native format

22 Test the Document Re-run the Accessibility Checker until all issues are fixed Use a screen reader –JAWS, NVDA –Read Out Loud tool View > Read Out Loud > Activate Read Out Loud View with Reflow option –View > Zoom > Reflow View in high contrast –Edit > Preferences > Accessibility > Replacement Document Colors PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) check PDF/UA conformance

23 Acrobat Accessibility Features Read Out Loud Text to speech built-into Adobe Acrobat Reads text in order of tag structure using arrow keys “Say All” command follows the content order Not a replacement for a screen reader

24 Accessibility Features Text Reflow Makes the text easier to read when magnified no horizontal scrolling necessary

25 Acrobat Accessibility Features High Contrast View Users with visual impairments may adjust the color contrast for text, shapes, and the background within the document

26 Acrobat Accessibility Features Sample High Contrast View

27 Acrobat Accessibility Features High Contrast View Challenge - Watermarks Avoid if possible in Word –If used in Word 2013, choose the Semitransparent option in the Printed Watermark dialog Watermark is retained when the document is reflowed in Adobe Acrobat

28 Acrobat Accessibility Features High Contrast View Challenge - Watermarks Apply Artifact tag structure to background images in Adobe InDesign Reflowing the document will remove the background images with High Contrast enabled

29 Acrobat Accessibility Features High Contrast View Challenge - Watermarks Adding in Acrobat allows the watermark to be hidden when document is reflowed Opacity must be set to 100% Place it behind text

30 Acrobat Accessibility Features High Contrast View Challenge - Watermarks Implementation Best Practice –Avoid Watermarks on all pages if possible –Alternatives may include: Using native features (i.e., MS Word, InDesign, Acrobat) set watermark on the title page only Set watermark text in document’s meta-data (e.g., document title)

31 Resources Adobe’s Accessibility Website: Adobe’s Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPAT): Adobe TV Accessibility Channel: PDF Techniques for WCAG PDF/UA AIMM page Publications/Standards/Committees/PDFUA Accessibility Management Platform (AMP):

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33 Thank You! Contact Us Jonathan Avila Jason Megginson Slide Deck info.ssbbartgroup.com/CSUN2015 Follow linkedin.com/company/ SSB-BART-Group facebook.com/ SSBBARTGroup SSBBARTGroup.com/blog

34 About SSB BART Group Unmatched Experience Focus on Accessibility Solutions That Manage Risk Real-World Strategy Organizational Strength and Continuity Dynamic, Forward-Thinking Intelligence Fourteen hundred organizations (1445) Fifteen hundred individual accessibility best practices (1595) Twenty-two core technology platforms (22) Fifty-five thousand audits (55,930) One hundred fifty million accessibility violations (152,351,725) Three hundred sixty-six thousand human validated accessibility violations (366,096)