Measuring PDF Accessibility - PDF a11y Testing for the Rest of Us (a11ySummit2014)

PDF a11y testing for the rest of us

@dboudreau Sept. 9th, 2014

a11ySummit 2014 Deque Systems, Inc.

role=“PDF Sensei”

role=“PDF Sensei”

"It's a pain that I have to download each PDF. Pain in the ass… I find HTML easier to deal with."

By 2003, PDF hatin’ was all the rage…

But PDFs never went away, did they?

Some 11 years and billions of PDFs later…

While technology has come a looooong way…

Can you claim to have won the war on inaccessible PDFs yet?

PDFs… What’s your strategy?

PDFs… What’s your strategy?

Do you even know what to do with them

Not everyone is a PDF expert!

Not everyone has access to one 24/7 either!

And let’s be honest…

So, what happens is…

A truckload of PDF documents!

You!

Slowly, but surely…

Have no fear, Frank is here!

“You can trust us, everything is going to be all right!”

What you need are PDF Accessibility Testing

Self-Defense Techniques

THIS is what your PDF accessibility strategy should look like!

PDF Techniques for WCAG 2.0

PDF4: Hiding decorative images

Tagged PDF

!=

Accessible PDF

Tagged PDF

=

PDF that are accessible to screen readers

Measuring PDF Accessibility A Testing Proposal For the Rest of Us

Or, as I like to put it…

Great Tools to Consider Acrobat Pro XI Accessibility Checker

Runs on both Windows and MacOs

CommonLook PDF plugin For Adobe Acrobat on Windows

PDF Accessibility Checker 2 Independently runs on Windows

Tough Luck

PDF Accessibility Checker

Instant feedback FTW!

That being said…

Faking Your Way

Up the PDF a11y Ladder

1. Access Restrictions 2. Default Language 3. Document Title 4. Bookmarks 5. Content Reflow 6. Read Out Loud 7. Heading Structure 8. Tabbing Order 9. Informational Images 10. Decorative Images 11. Meaningful Hyperlinks 12. Data Tables

Check Points Technique WCAG SC

Access Restrictions -- 4.1

Default Language PDF16 3.1.1

Document Title PDF18 2.4.2

Bookmarks PDF2 2.4.5

Content Reflow -- 1.3.2

Read Out Loud -- 1.3.2

Heading Structure PDF9 1.3.1

Tabbing Order PDF3 1.3.2

Informative Images PDF1 1.1.1

Decorative Images PDF4 1.1.1

Meaningful Hyperlinks PDF11 2.4.4

Data Tables PDF6 1.3.1

a11yTips – an ever growing resource

Access Restrictions

Are there any access restrictions on the document, such as password protection?

a11yTip #1 Ensure access restrictions on PDF documents don’t lock users out http://bit.ly/1ogK9Lw

Default Language

Is the natural language of the PDF file specified in the document properties?

a11yTip #2 Specify the default language of PDF documents http://bit.ly/1ogdC52

Document Title

Does the PDF have a meaningful title (not just a file name)?

a11yTip #3 Specify descriptive and meaningful titles for PDF documents http://bit.ly/Q3WLWW

Image-Based Documents

Text-Based Documents

Bookmarks

Does the PDF contain bookmarks and are they helpful for navigating efficiently to various sections of the document?

a11yTip #4 Create bookmarks from the content structure in PDF documents http://bit.ly/1vD93GZ

Content Reflow

When Reflow mode is activated, does all the content reorganize naturally in a single, easy to read column?

a11yTip #5 Ensure the reading order of a PDF makes sense when reflowed http://bit.ly/1ikVqXa

Read Out Loud

When Read Out Loud is activated, does all the content get read correctly and in the right order?

a11yTip #6 Ensure the default reading order in PDF document makes sense http://bit.ly/1oleGoo

Heading Structure

Is content organized consistently using semantically and correctly structured headings?

a11yTip #7 Mark up headings in PDF documents using heading elements http://bit.ly/Rl0hxa

Tabbing Order

Can the document be navigated in a predictable order that is consistent with the meaning of the content?

a11yTip #8 Create a tabbing order for PDF content that is logical and intuitive http://bit.ly/1o8HcMu

Hit the tab key, YO!

Use the down arrow key.

Informative Images

Does the text alternative provided for every informative image convey the same meaning or purpose as the image?

a11yTip #9 Provide meaningful text alternatives for images in PDF documents http://bit.ly/1iue3bg

Decorative Images

Are purely decorative images marked up as artifacts, so screen readers can safely ignore them?

a11yTip #10 Turn purely decorative images in PDF documents into artifacts http://bit.ly/1ovRTX1

Meaningful Hyperlinks

Is hyperlink text marked up using Link annotations and is the purpose of that text meaningful?

a11yTip #11 Provide replacement text for PDF links that are not meaningful http://bit.ly/1l02siv

Data Tables

Are the tables marked up properly and are header cells and data cells explicitly associated?

a11yTip #12 Use table markup to structure tabular data in PDF documents http://bit.ly/1uRX2Nl

PDF a11y Testing Leveling the playing field

Diving deeper into accessible PDFs https://dequeuniversity.com/courses/list/pdf

$45

PDF strategy! What will yours be?

Knowbility KickStarter

Campaign

Denis Boudreau Deque Systems, Inc.

db@deque.com @dboudreau

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