1. WCAG 2 Compliance With PDF

2. In This Presentation Background of PDF Files & Accessibility
Methods for Creating Accessible PDF Docs
PDF & WCAG 2.0 Compliance
Principle 1: Perceivable
Principle 2: Operable
Principle 3: Understandable
Principle 4: Robust

3. Why PDF Portability Preservation of visual formatting and layout
Ideal format for long documents intended for printing
Easy to produce compared to HTML
Documents can be secured against editing

4. Examples of PDF use Technical documents and manuals
Reports, especially with complex layouts, graphs, charts etc.
Forms, meant for print or online delivery
Scanners and other hardware that output PDF
Print and design industry
Large and/or complex documents published on web sites

5. PDF and accessibility
Candocumentsretain these advantages of layout, portability, security and still be accessible?
PDF documents support a logical, accessibles tructurethat is independant of the layout
Security used to cause an accessibility issue, not any more. Documents canbe securedagainst editing but still be accessible
Accessible PDFs can be produced quickly but, as with HTML, the source document must contain structure and semantics

6. When is PDF notaccessible?
A scanned image is still an image, with no information for screen readers unless the information is added
Same for PDF, HTML or any document format
PDF can support a wide array of accessibility information for all content elements, but these must be added, in the source document or in Acrobat

7. Background of PDF Accessibility
Until 2001, PDF was not accessible:
Content not readable by AT
Each page was basically a flat image:
Scanned paper document
Converted to image from source document
Since then: PDF can (and should) be fully accessible
Accessible tag structure
Real text rather than image of text
Control over reading order
Text alternatives
Accessible form controls

8. PDF Accessibility: Tags
A tagged document contains an underlying ‘tag tree’:
Represents the structure of your document
Perceived by screen reader as document content
Not tagged = not announced by AT
Similar to tags in HTML
Can be edited using the ‘Tags Panel’
Always required for accessibility
Enables typical screen reader features, such as:
Heading navigation
Table navigation
Link lists

9. Creating Tagged PDF Documents
Different ‘paths’ leading to an accessible PDF doc:
Preferred method:
Conversion from accessible source document
Authoring Application
Tag structure automatically built
Scanned Documents
Requires OCR and tagging in Acrobat Pro
Existing PDF doc
Must be tagged in Acrobat Pro

10. PDF and WCAG 2

11. About WCAG Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Explain the requirements for accessible content
Version 2.0 released December 2008
Organized around the following 4 principles:
Perceivable
Operable
Understandable
Robust
Each principle has guidelines
Each guideline has sucess criteria
Mention that were not coverering each success criterion in detail, just the ones most applicable to PDF

12. Principle 1: Perceivable
“Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.”
Principle 1: Perceivable

13. Guideline 1.1: Alternative text
“Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.”
Images:
Apply alternative text in authoring application.
Example: Microsoft Word
Use Adobe Acrobat Pro
Example: use the Touch Up reading Order Tool (TURO).
Decorative Images
Do not need alternative
Example: remove image from tag structure using TURO.
Form Controls
Use LiveCycle Designer for large, comeplex forms
Use Acrobat form tools for small, basic forms
Example: Making existing form controls interactive.
Example 1: img_alttext.doc
Right click on each image, choose ‘format picture’, in the dialog that appears select ‘alt text’ tab to show text alt
Example 2: img_alttext.pdf
Start TURO tool, right click on image, select ‘edit alternative text’
Example 3: decorative_img.pdf
Start TURO tool, select image, choose ‘presentation’ in TURO window to remove the image from the tag structure
Example 4: form.pdf
Choose forms > add or edit fields, then click OK button. Demonstrate that all fields are correctly recognized, labeled and made keyboard accessible
Also show the ‘add form field’ drop down button on the top left in form editing mode, to illustrate that you can manually add controls as well.

14. Guideline 1.2: Time-based Media
“Provide alternatives for time-based media.”
Embedded multimedia must be provided with alternatives
Captions
Audio descriptions
Full text transcripts
The synchronized alternatives are applied to the actual media, not in PDF
Use Flash_cc_demo.pdf. Demonstratecaptioningcontrols.

15. Guideline 1.3: Adaptable
“Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.”
Use headings to provide document structure
Example: Using MS Word heading styles
Example : Tagging headings with Acrobat Pro
Provide header cells for data tables
Example: Using the Table Editor
Provide a logical reading order
Example: Using the Touch Up Reading Order Tool
Example 1: relations.doc
Show that headings are marked up with heading styles using the MS Word styles panel
Show that table at the bottom of the document is marked up as word table
Now convert the document to accessible PDF, using the ‘Acrobat’ tab in the ribbon
In new document, select a heading, open the tags panel, and choose ‘find tag by selection’ to show the heading is correctly tagged.
Scroll down to page 6, where the small table is
Open the TURO tool,
Right click on the table, choose ‘table editor
Shift click on all header cells > right click on selection, choose ‘table cell properties’.
In cell properties dialog, choose ‘header cell’ as type.
Example 2: bad_reading_order.pdf
Start TURO to show incorrect reading order
Select each column, one at a time. For each, select ‘text’ in TURO, to make entire column one reading order stop

16. Guideline 1.4: Distinguishable
“Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background. “
Adobe Reader provides helpful features:
Customizable high contrast colors
Unlimited maginication
12.45
Example: open bad_reading_order.doc in reader to demonstrate high contrast and high level zoomingthroughaccessibilityoptions.
Optional:
Open Relations_background.pdf in Reader.
Show how the contrast settings are overwrittenwhenit has a background.
Open Relations in Acrobat Pro and remove the background.

17. “User interface components and navigation must be operable.”
Principle 2: Operable

18. Guideline 2.1: Keyboard Accessible
“Make all functionality available from a keyboard. “
All interactive controls must be reachable and operable without a mouse.
Ensure the tab order is logical
Example: Setting the tab order with the ‘fields’ panel
Example: forms.pdf
Make sure form fields are applied (forms > add or edit fields) and enter form edit mode
In the ‘fields’ panel show options ‘tab order’ drop down list (default, by column, by row, custom).
In the dropdown list, also choose ‘show numbers’
Choose custom, and drag items up and down in the fields panel to illustrate the tab order is updated

19. Guideline 2.4: Navigable
“Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.”
Automatically import bookmarks and TOCs
Example: Using PDFMaker
Example: toc.doc
Open acrobat tab in ribbon, click settings, click ‘bookmarks’ tab
Show that you can map word headings as bookmarks and word bookmarks as well
Convert doc to accessible PDF
Show that table of content links have been preserved in the convcersion to PDF
Open bookmarks panel in acrobat reader to show the heading structure as bookmarks

20. Principle 3: Understandable
“Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.”
Principle 3: Understandable

21. Guideline 3.1: Readable
”Make text content readable and understandable.“
Always set the document’s language
For the entire document (using document properties)
For specific sections (using the tags panel)
Provide glossaries and Indices
Mark up abbreviations
Example: Using tag properties to add alternative text to an abbreviated text.
Example: french.pdf
Open file > properties > advanced
Set language to ‘French’
Example 2: french_part.pdf
Scroll to french paragraph on page 2 and select it
Use the tags panel (find tag from selection) to locate the paragraph in the tags tree.
Right click on <p> tag, choose properties.
In the ‘tag’ tab of the properties dialog, set the language to french
Example 3: abbreviation.pdf
Locate the ‘SCUBA’ tag. In it, there is a span element that has the fully expanded text set as alternative text in its properties

22. “Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.”
Principle 4: Robust

23. Guideline 4.1: Compatible
“Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.”
Manually Provide Roles
Example: Using the tags panel
Optional
Example: any file
Use eitehr the tags panel or the TURO tool to add tags (i.e. Roles) to elements

24. Ensuring Accessibility at the Source
Conversion to accessible PDF from authoring application
Ensuring Accessibility at the Source

25. Conversion to PDF From Accessible Source Document
Advantages:
Tag structure automatically built based on styles / markup used
Significantly more efficient / effective than tagging PDF after conversion
Most accurate tag structure
Ability to edit content without having to reapply tags in Acrobat
PDFMaker
Add-on for popular business applications, such as MS Office and Lotus Notes
1.15pm

26. Example Workflow: Creating an Accessible PDF Using MS Word
Use appropriate styles, e.g. Heading, list and paragraph.
Use PDFMaker add-on to create a tagged PDF File.
Use Acrobat Pro to inspect and repair document if needed.
Walkthrough of options in Word documents

27. Repairing existing inaccessible PDF files
Legacy Documents

28. Repairing Scanned Documents
Use Acrobat’s OCR feature
Scanned text will be recognized and converted to actual text.
OCR Makes a text in a scanned document:
Searchable
Selectable
Perceivable by assistive technology
OCR is not perfect
You must manually fix ‘OCR suspects’
Document still requires a tag structure
Example: scannedPDF.pdf
Demonstrate unselectable text
Choose document > OCR Text Recognition> Recognize text using OCR
Edit the OCR options, choose ‘cleartext’ as output options
Start the OCR process
Demonstrate results: text now selectable, searchable and scalable

29. Adding and Editing the Tag Structure
Acrobat Pro provides several tools for tagging:
‘Add Tags to Document’ command
Accessibility Check
Creates overview of accessibility issues, including tag related
Provides quick link to each issue
Touch Up Reading Order (TURO) Tool
Allows content to be selected and assigned a tag type
Tags Panel
Allows tag structure to be edited manually
high level example: untagged.pdf
Quickly demonstrate features:
Advanced> Accessibility > Add tags to Document
This willl automatically open accessibility report, show some examples of its output
Show TURO and tags panel

30. Wrapping Up To Summarize:
PDF documents can always be made accessible and WCAG 2.0 compliant
Create accessible source documents, then convert to tagged PDF.
Use Acrobat Pro tools to repair accessibility problems

31. Further Reading Go to: Questions? http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/
Detailed guides for creating accessible PDF documents and forms
Questions?

32. Seminar Series Next seminars Also at http://adobe.acrobat.com/wcag2/
Webinar 2: “Flash and WCAG 2.0” Tuesday, March 31 12:00 noon Eastern
Webinar 3: “PDF Forms and WCAG 2.0” Wednesday, April 1 12:00 noon Eastern