ADA - Handling PDF and other Documents

Much like your website, the files you link to should be ADA compliant too. While it takes extra work, taking the additional time to make files compliant moves you closer to a smooth experience for your screen-reader users. 

ADA Review Checklist

• Are linked files ADA compliant?
  There is only one way for you to verify and fix any issues with files that are linked on your site. That is by checking them in either the program that created them or something similar. The guidelines that are listed above for images, forms, links, etc. should be followed for all linked files.
  
  Remember to re-upload the files after they been made compliant and replace the ones that are there by using the Replace existing files command at the bottom of the File Manager.
  
  

Additional Information

PDFs

When we refer to accessible PDF files, we are referring to tagged PDF files. However, there is more to an accessible PDF than tagging alone. PDF tags provide a hidden structured, textual representation of the PDF content that is presented to screen readers. They exist for accessibility purposes only and are not otherwise visible within the PDF file.

PDF files are not typically created in Acrobat. They are usually created in another program and converted to PDF. There are dozens or probably hundreds of programs that can create PDF files, but very few of them produce tagged PDF files. We use and recommend Adobe Acrobat. A PDF that was properly created using Acrobat usually passes compliance, but always double-check to be sure.

• More information on making PDFs accessible can be found on WebAIM. There are also detailed instructions on creating compliant PDFs from specific programs such as Word.

Summary:

• PDFs need a language defined, informative title 

  • PDFs need to be marked up with the appropriate <p>, <h1>, <h2>, etc with the program tools (or otherwise converted to HTML?)

    • Check PDFs after conversion with "Siteimprove Accessibility"

    • Make sure security settings of PDFs allow assistive technology

    • HTML is better than a PDF in terms of accessibility

    • PDF to HTML converter

Word

Like PDfs, Word documents need to be ADA compliant when linked to on your website and should follow the same guidelines as PDFs and web pages. Below we have included several links that may assist you as you make your Word documents accessible.

• Microsoft Word - An article that includes tips and what to look for while making Word documents ADA compliant.
  http://webaim.org/techniques/word/ 
  • Berman Accessibility Ribbon for Word - A free add-on to Microsoft Word for Windows (versions 2010, 2013, and 2016) that will help you create documents that are accessible for everyone and that comply with WCAG 2.0:
    https://davidberman.com/berman-accessibility-ribbon-for-word/

Other Documents and Files

All linked files on a website are included and must be compliant. Offer content in multiple formats.

• DOC, DOCX

• PDF

• PPT, PPTX

• Additional documentation in development

Please review the following articles for more information on tagging PDFs and other applications:

• Tagging and Optimizing PDF's
• Accessibility for other applications
• Best Practices for maintaining ADA compliance with hyperlinks