Accessibility Services
The year 2018, U.S. government update about Section 508 Rehabilitation Act into effect. This update is fresh guidelines that impact web content and digital files in PDF. The Section 508 refresh aligned their standards in the U.S. with those issued by the European Commission (European Accessibility Act) and the World Wide Web Consortium (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 [WCAG 2.1]).
A document or application is considered accessible if meets certain technical criteria and can be used by people with disabilities. This includes access by people who are mobility impaired, blind, low vision, deaf, hard of hearing, or who have cognitive impairments. Accessibility features in Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader and in the Portable Document Format (PDF) make it easier for people with disabilities to use PDF documents and forms, with and without the aid of assistive technology software and devices such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, text-to-speech software, speech recognition software, alternative input devices.
Tags. Ensure that the document has tags, the tags are correct for the content, and that they are in a logical order as compared to the visual layout of the PDF.
Metadata. Verify and fix the Metadata. Color. Confirm that color (format, font, etc.) is not the only way that information is being conveyed and there’s sufficient contrast between the content on the page and any background colors.
Alt Text. Provide alternative text to links and images that convey important information; artifact decorative images. Lists. Double-check that lists are correctly structured according to standards.
Tables. Make sure that data tables, and Tables of Contents tags are correctly structured according to standards. Other Tagging Issues. Address any other tagging issues that may exist. PDF Checker or Validator. Use a reliable checker that tests against recognized standards such as WCAG 2.0, HHS or PDF/UA to make sure there aren’t any other issues with the PDF.
Tags. Ensure that the document has tags, the tags are correct for the content, and that they are in a logical order as compared to the visual layout of the PDF.
Metadata. Verify and fix the Metadata. Color. Confirm that color (format, font, etc.) is not the only way that information is being conveyed and there’s sufficient contrast between the content on the page and any background colors.
Alt Text. Provide alternative text to links and images that convey important information; artifact decorative images. Lists. Double-check that lists are correctly structured according to standards.
Tables. Make sure that data tables, and Tables of Contents tags are correctly structured according to standards. Other Tagging Issues. Address any other tagging issues that may exist. PDF Checker or Validator. Use a reliable checker that tests against recognized standards such as WCAG 2.0, HHS or PDF/UA to make sure there aren’t any other issues with the PDF.