EcomBack’s Comprehensive Guide to Creating Accessible PDFs
Creating accessible PDF documents is paramount for ensuring all individuals, including those with disabilities, can effectively access digital content. Whether it’s a report, brochure, manual, or any other type of document, it’s crucial to follow accessibility guidelines to ensure inclusivity and compliance.
In this article, EcomBack explains the process of structuring an accessible PDF document, particularly when using software applications Adobe InDesign and Acrobat. Below is our step-by-step guide.
How to Create Accessible InDesign PDFs
Adobe InDesign is a page layout designing software that can help streamline the creation of accessible PDFs.
Document Setup: The process of making a PDF accessible first involves structuring the document content hierarchically, meaning styles should be used throughout the document, such as main headings, subheadings, and paragraphs. These should be tagged according to their role: paragraph (P) and heading (H1-H6). Tablets and lists (both bulleted and numbered) are automatically tagged. It’s also important that you apply the same text font to maintain consistency.
Anchor Images: Images need to be anchored within the content flow to ensure users with screen readers can process the images. InDesign has a drag-and-drop object anchoring tool to place an image without affecting the print layout. It’s crucial that images are presented in a linear fashion and placed as close as possible to the relevant text.
Include Alternative Text for Images: Using the “Object Export Options” option in InDesign, you can add custom alternative text to any image or use the alt text from metadata. Alternative text is a key element in accessibility, as it allows individuals with visual impairments to depict an image on the page using a screen reader or other assistive technology.
Add Navigation Elements: To help users navigate the document efficiently, an accessible PDF should have a table of contents, bookmarks, hyperlinks, and cross-references.
Establish the Reading Order: To define which part of the content gets read first, go to the “Articles” panel. Here, you can set up the specific tagging order to ensure content is arranged in the desired reading order. This panel is also where you can divide content into smaller articles without messing up the layout.
Document Title and Description: The file now requires a name and description of its contents. This not only ensures accessibility but also for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes. Go to the “InDesign File Information” section and save the name of the document as well as an explanation for the contents of the document. Once saved, the information is automatically transferred to Acrobat as metadata.
Export: The final step in InDesign is to use the PDF export option and make sure the settings are optimized for accessibility. Check that the tags are included in the PDF and that the document structure and accessibility features are preserved.
Check for Accessibility with Acrobat
Acrobat, Adobe’s PDF solution, is a very helpful tool for verifying that the PDF structure is accessible and is the final test your document must face.
The “Accessibility Checker” is one of the most useful features as it does a full check of the PDF and flags any issues related to headings, alternative text, reading order, and other accessibility criteria set forth by WCAG 2.0. Acrobat can automatically fix some issues, however, there may be some issues that need to be manually solved.
Once Acrobat provides a summary of the findings, which is displayed in a panel on the righthand side of the screen, we recommend contacting an EcomBack expert to help with any accessibility issues. We offer a wide range of services, including audits, remediation services, training, and ongoing support.
