PDF/UA: What Is It?
Why It Is Relevant?
January 31, 2014
Shannon Kelly, Global Accessibility Solutions
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PDF/UA: What Is It?
Why It Is Relevant?
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Accessibility Business, Legal and Industry Drivers
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PDF/UA Defined
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PDF Accessibility Challenges
•
Properly Structured Accessible PDF/UA
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Accessibility Business,
Legal and Industry Drivers
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Accessibility Business, Legal and
Industry Drivers
• WCAG 2.0 – Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines
• Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
• ADA - Americans With Disabilities Act
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WCAG 2.0
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• World Wide Web Consortium’s (WC3) Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines is a set of universally spanning
standards for Web Accessibility, including web
content (PDF).
• WCAG 2.0 – Contains Techniques / Failures for PDFs
(techniques PDF 1-PDF 23)
• WCAG 1.0 – No guidelines for PDF
• Continually evolving with technology (WCAG 1.0
previous, current WCAG 2.0 published 2008).
• A Standard – Not a Regulation.
• Most all Accessibility requirements, standards and
laws have or are normalizing to WCAG 2.0 Level AA
• Conformance Levels (lowest to highest) A, AA, AAA
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Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
Section 508 - Today
• Mandate for US Federal Government, 1998
Refresh - Covered Electronic Content:
• Content that is public facing;
• Content that is broadly
disseminated within the agency;
• Letters adjudicating any cause
within the jurisdiction of the
agency;
• Internal and external program and
policy announcements;
• Notices of benefits, forms,
questionnaires, and surveys;
• Emergency notifications;
• Formal acknowledgements;
• Any educational and training
materials.
amendment, effective 2001
• Requires all EIT/ICT developed, procured,
maintained, or used be Accessible
• Nearly half of all states and many private sector
businesses have adopted Section 508 or similar
accessibility laws
• Electronic content covered (PDF) under the
current standards (WCAG 1.0) varying
conformance in practice
Section 508 - Refresh
• Explicit coverage of electronic content (PDF) for
Exceptions to Covered Content:
•
Archival copies stored or retained
solely for archival purposes to
preserve an exact image of a hard
copy
•
Draft versions of documents
9 categories of information communicated
• Points to WCAG 2.0
• Refresh publication date anticipated March 2014
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ADA
Americans With Disabilities Act
• Applicable to government services and public
accommodations, commercial facilities, and
transportation.
• Government Services – Title II
• Public Accommodations – Title III
• Currently, no policy is defined for ADA accessibility of
electronic documents
• Imminent ADA Title III Amendment to include
Accessibility of Web Information (DOJ ANPRM) as a
public accommodation
• If you are covered by ADA, you must comply
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Notable Accessibility Lawsuits
Some Lawsuits and Settlements Including Web & Web Content
Accessibility
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Wells Fargo (2012)
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Walt Disney Parks & Resorts (2012)
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Time Warner (2011)
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American Cancer Society (2011)
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Major League Baseball (2010)
CVS Pharmacy (2009)
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Staples (2009)
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HSBC (2009)
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Law School Admissions Council (2009)
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Hotels.com and Expedia.com (2009)
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Rite Aid (2008)
Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (2008)•
RadioShack (2007)
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Amazon (2007)
Target (2006)
LaSalle (2005)
Social Security Administration
(2005)
First Union (2003)
BankOne (2003)
Washington Mutual (2002)
Sovereign Bank (2002)
Fleet Bank (2001)
Bank of America (2000)
AOL (2000)
PDF/UA Defined
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PDF/UA Defined
• PDF/UA is a PDF file format (Universally Accessible)
• ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA-1)
• A Companion standard, to be used in conjunction with ISO 32000,
ISO 19005, ISO 15930 and other standards
• Not a set of best practices
• Defines how to represent PDF in a manner that allows the
file to be accessible.
• A technical standard providing code-level requirements for
PDF software developers implementing PDF writing and
processing software, as well as the PDF viewers and PDF AT
(Assistive Technology)
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PDF/UA Defined
PDF/UA requirements, examples:
• Requires specific Tags (e.g. H1, H2, P)
• Characters mapped to Unicode
• Fonts embedded.
• The Language must be declared
PDF/UA Documents
• Enhanced results when accessing PDFs on mobile devices
• Allows for content extraction and repurposing
 Text search, copy & paste, Conversion to HTML
• Offers Enhanced Reading and navigation experience using
conforming Assistive Technology
• “PDF/UA makes certain that the PDF format isn’t the
source of accessibility problems.” source: MattMay, June 2013
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PDF Accessibility Defined
Truly Accessible PDFs:
• Contain proper tagging, markup, and structure as
defined by PDF/UA standards
• Are compatible with Assistive Technology such as
screen readers
• Allow persons using Assistive Technology to have
access to, navigation of, and full use of the document
• Are conformant with PDF/UA and WCAG 2.0, Level AA
or higher
• Are Barrier Free PDFs Universally Accessible to persons
with and without disabilities
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Accessible PDF Challenges
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Accessible PDF Challenges
Simply Outputting to PDF/UA Does Not Ensure Accessible, Usable,
and Navigable PDFs!
Remember: “PDF/UA makes certain that the PDF format isn’t the source
of accessibility problems.” source: MattMay, June 2013
Proper PDF Tagging
• Design Documents with Accessibility In Mind
• Remediate / Retouch Documents Manually
• This Works for Ad-hoc Desktop Produced Documents
• This Does Not Work for HVTO Docs
(High Volume Transactional Output PDFs)
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Accessible PDF Challenges
HVTO PDF Examples
• Ongoing Communications, Statements, etc.
• Dynamic, Personalized Communications
• 1,000s – Millions Produced Recurring
HVTO Accessible PDF Challenges
• Sheer Volume Prohibits Manual Tagging &
Retouch
• Universal Accessibility Difficult
How PDF/UA Can Help
• ISO Standards Support Automation
• Provides Technical Structure
• Enables Automation of HVTO Accessible PDF
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Why PDF/UA Is Relevant
Electronic Documents
PDF Formats Widely (universally) Adopted
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Online presentment
Electronic distribution
Archive
Enables Rich PDF Experience
• Mobile Devices
• Search
• Content Reuse
Enables Accessible PDF
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Comply with Accessibility Laws and Guidelines
Reduce Risk of Litigation, Fines and Penalties
Move towards Inclusionary vs. Accommodation
Satisfy Accessibility Community /Consumers
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Properly Structured
Accessible PDF
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Assistive / Adaptive Technologies (AT)
Software or Hardware used by persons with disabilities to accomplish
tasks otherwise unable to accomplish
Four Basic Areas of Disabilities
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Mobility / Physical
Hearing
Visual
Cognitive
AT for various disabilities used for electronic documents
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Physical - Speech recognition software
Hearing – Closed captioning
Visual – Magnifiers/Zoom software, screen reader software, Braille Display
Cognitive – Screen reader software
Screen Reader Basic Function
• Reads Left to Right / Top to Bottom
• Users rely on Navigation and Shortcut keys
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Untagged PDF
Not Accessible, Navigable or Usable by Screen Reader User
PDF Tags
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Sample PDF
JAWS
Screen Reader AT
Properly Tagged PDF
Fully Accessible, Navigable and Usable by Screen Reader User
PDF Tags
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Sample PDF
JAWS
Screen Reader AT
PDF/UA Structure
PDF Elements for Structure
• Properties & Fonts
• Language
• Bookmarks
• Tab & Read Order
• Images & Alt Text
• Text and Headings
• Lists
• Tables
• Forms
• Links (internal and external)
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PDF/UA Structure
Structural Elements for Accessibility
Logical Order– Define logical reading and
Tab order
Text & Headings – Define structural elements
as such as headers to aid in navigation
Images – Provide alternate text descriptions
for figures, pictures, and graphs
Tables – Define table row and column headers
and their association to table data
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Table Column/Row Headers
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Table Data
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Summary
Organizations Can / Should:
• Use PDF/UA as the basis for Accessible PDF Documents
• Present Inclusionary, Barrier Free PDFs
• Implement Accessibility Strategies for:
 High Volume (HVTO) PDF
 Ad Hoc, Low Volume PDF
 Other Alternate Format (Braille, Large Print, Audio)
• Meet consumer demands - satisfy technology hungry community
• Reduce Risk and Avoid Penalty and Litigation
• Assess You PDF Accessibility Risk
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Next Steps and Contacts
Shannon Kelly
Global Accessibility Solutions
[email protected]
(813) 475-5626 Office
(813) 244-9299 Cell
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