Adobe 09972554AD01A12 Accessibility Guide - Page 4

PDF Accessibility Overview PDF Accessibility Overview PDF file format accessibility features combined with Adobe® Acrobat® and Adobe Reader® allow universal access to documents 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-tospeech software, speech recognition software, alternative input devices, Braille embossers, and refreshable Braille displays. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (ISO/IEC 40500:2012) and the PDF/ UA (ISO 14289-1) standard cover a wide range of recommendations for making content more accessible to people with disabilities. One benefit of following these guidelines is that content becomes more usable for all users. For example, the underlying document structure that makes it possible for a screen reader to properly read a PDF out loud also makes it possible for a mobile device to correctly reflow and display the document on a small screen. Similarly, the preset tab order of an accessible PDF form helps all users-not just users who rely on the keyboard- complete the form more easily. Overview of Portable Document Format (PDF) The PDF format is the native file format of the Adobe® Acrobat® family of products. The goal of this format and these products is to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents easily and reliably, independently of the environment in which they were created. PDF relies on the same imaging model as the PostScript® page description language to describe text and graphics in a device-independent and resolution-independent manner. To improve performance for interactive viewing, PDF defines a more structured format than that used by most PostScript language programs. PDF also includes objects, such as annotations and hypertext links, that are not part of the page itself but that are useful for interactive viewing and document interchange. A logical tagged structure tree is used within each document to provide a meaningful reading order for content, as well as a method for defining structural elements role and relationship to page content. Within this tag structure, other properties such as alternative text and replacement text can be provided. Determine the Accessibility Path for each PDF Document PDF files are created in a variety of ways, from a variety of applications, and for a variety of purposes. Achieving the desired accessibility goals for an individual PDF file requires understanding the nature of the PDF and its intended use. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro provides several tools including the Make Accessible Action wizard and the Accessibility Checker to assist authors in evaluating and fixing issues that can impact accessibility. The Adobe® Acrobat® XI Pro Accessibility Guide: PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow document provides details on how to assess existing PDF files for accessibility. By following these procedures in the recommended order, authors can efficiently proceed through the analysis of Adobe® Acrobat® XI Pro Accessibility Guide: Best Practices for PDF Accessibility 1