Accessible PDF documents a competitive edge

Transcription

1 Accessible PDF documents a competitive edge Comply with regulatory requirements, attract new customers, address the skills gap PDF documents are an integral part of our daily business, but for the most part, they are currently not accessible to people with limited or no vision, cognitive disabilities or difficulties in reading and writing. Large parts of the population are therefore excluded from the communication process. With this approach, organisations may not only violate legal requirements, but also miss the opportunity to win these target groups as clients or capable employees. Designing accessible PDF documents is therefore a vital step.

2 2 Table of Contents 3 Executive Summary 3 Accessibility only an issue for the authorities? 4 Legal frameworks and their importance for businesses 5 Accessibility a competitive advantage 5 PDF as a means of overcoming barriers Formal requirements for accessible PDF documents From unstructured source document to accessible PDF Verify accessibility PDF programs and their role in accessibility 9 Six good reasons to use 10 Practical examples

3 3 Executive Summary Access to information and participation in social, cultural and political life are human rights that are often denied to persons with physical or mental disabilities. It is a stated goal of the United Nations, and the European Union to change this. Regulations and laws that are intended to provide barrier-free access are also important for organisations. At a minimum, barrier-free access to company information and products and services creates a competitive advantage, since people with disabilities represent an important segment, whether as a customers or employees. In addition, our society is ageing; seniors represent an even larger and typically affluent portion of the population. To exclude these people, who often no longer see or hear clearly, will quickly lead to the loss of customers and business. This white paper shows you what to look for in the design of accessible PDF documents and how can help create and read accessible documents. Accessibility only an issue for the authorities? Everyone should be able to participate in society, learning, training and taking part in cultural activities. Digital communication channels are playing an ever greater role in this participation. For people with permanent or short-term disabilities, or limited sensory and motor abilities (such as restricted sight or hearing), the need to use a keyboard or a mouse often excludes them from these channels. Cognitive disabilities or language barriers may also prevent people from participating fully in society. A stated objective of numerous national and supranational organisations, including the United Nations and the European Union, is to give all people discrimination-free access to web content and documents. Bodies such as the W3C Consortium or the PDF Association have developed measures and criteria to implement this accessibility or barrier-free access to web pages and PDF documents. The W3C guidelines for accessible web content are regarded as the most essential element. After being introduced in 2008, these Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were standardised in version 2.0 as ISO in The PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) standard for PDF documents bases its requirements on these guidelines. Among other things, it enables flexible output of PDF documents in a range of typefaces and font sizes, text and background colours, according to the needs of the user, and supports voice-based input and control. PDF/UA-compliant documents are not only useful for special applications. As the text and line breaks in the documents can adapt flexibly to the requirements of the output device, readability also improves on mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and e-book readers. In many countries, authorities are already required to provide barrier-free access to information and content. This also means providing WCAG 2.0-compliant web pages and documents in accessible format. Private companies should also produce accessible PDF documents and assume their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). As part of a comprehensive and integrated CSR strategy, organisations can stand out positively from their environment.

4 4 Accessibility should not only be limited to reading of PDF documents or filling out PDF forms, however. The software used to create accessible documents should also meet several criteria. Unfortunately, many of the applications that are required to create accessible PDF documents are anything but simple to use. In addition, they require extra investment. For a long time, anyone wanting to convert text into accessible documents was dependent on a single vendor s products. Fortunately, there are now alternatives like Nuance Power PDF, which can create accessible PDF documents easily and affordably. Legal frameworks and their importance for businesses Enabling equal participation in society by persons with disabilities is the objective of a range of international and national laws and regulations. They are mandatory for authorities and other public organisations, but are increasing within the private sector. Organisations that are aware of their social responsibility should already be basing their activities on these rules and offering their PDF documents in an accessible form. Below is a selection of the most important national and international regulations: Global Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: The CRPD is normally referred to as UN Disability Rights Convention, and became effective in The Treaty contains a range of specific regulations targeting the situation of people with disabilities; these have or must be enacted in national law by the Member States. USA Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA): This law enacted in 1990 and extended in 2009 prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. It is an important addition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which criminalises discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, or gender. Rehabilitation Act (1973): The Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in federal programmes, as well as in programmes that receive government support. Section 508, which was added in to the Rehabilitation Act in 1998, governs the requirements for information technology. It obliges federal authorities, government-supported institutions and related departments to offer barrier-free access to software, web sites, telecommunications, multimedia and peripheral devices. Europe European Commission Action Plan European Disability Strategy : A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe : Accessibility is the top of eight areas named in this plan for which concrete measures are to be developed and implemented. The planned steps also include encouraging employers to improve integration of people with disabilities in the workplace. Europe-wide legislation on accessibility is also in the planning.

5 5 Accessibility a competitive advantage Legal risks and legal obligations aside, companies should ensure a barrierfree design of their web sites, online shops, products and documents for entirely selfish reasons, since otherwise they exclude large sections of the population as potential employees or customers. About 10 percent of the working population in Europe has a disability, about 20 percent of the population would benefit from an improvement in accessibility. Demographic change and the ageing of society will exacerbate the problem. According to the projections of the European Commission s The 2015 Aging Report, the age structure of the EU population is projected to dramatically change in the coming decades due to the dynamics of fertility, life expectancy and migration rates. The overall size of the population is projected to not only be larger by 2060, but also much older than it is now. The EU population is expected to increase by almost 4% (from 507 million in 2013 up to 2050), when it will peak (at 526 million) and will thereafter decline slowly (to 523 million in 2060). Those aged 65 and over will become a much larger share (rising from 18% to 28% of the population), and those aged 80 and over (rising from 5% to 12%) will almost become as numerous as the young population (aged 0-14) in While people in this age group often have hearing and sight difficulties, the group as a whole participates in social and economic life far more actively than it did a few decades ago. It also has high purchasing power and is willing to spend savings on themselves or on children and grandchildren. In addition there is a significant proportion of the population that is not able to read or write, either at all or to some extent or other. People with disabilities form a section of the population that cannot be ignored, not only as customers, but also as employees, who can make a valuable contribution to the success of a business. Their professional potential is not sufficiently used, even though they are very well qualified. For example, in 2009 over 72 percent of people aged between 30 and 45 years old who have a disability, and about 79 percent of those aged between 45 and 65 years, had obtained a vocational qualification or academic degree in Germany, according to the Federal Statistical Office. Organisations will be less and less able to afford to continue ignoring this potential in the future. Demographic change has also entailed a shortage of professionals in many areas. According to the population forecasts of the European Commission s aforementioned report, those people who are aged (typically referred to as the working age group) will represent a significantly smaller share in the population by 2060, declining from 66% to 57%. Many companies have already realised that integration of people with disabilities and their needs in the ordinary working environment is both possible and desirable. Examples include BMW, Bosch, Continental, E.ON, EY, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Prudential Financial and Siemens. PDF as a means of overcoming barriers One of the main reasons for popularity of the PDF document format is its ability to achieve platform-independent representation of content. No matter whether on Windows, Mac, Linux or on the web PDF documents always look the same. As a result, PDF has become the de facto standard for sharing electronic documents. Advanced options such as security settings, forms design and distribution, and also audit-grade archiving have further increased the popularity of PDF.

6 6 Formal requirements for accessible PDF documents For a PDF to be considered accessible, it must meet the following eight criteria: 1. Form fields must be accessible. Accessible PDF forms must contain fillable fields, as well as descriptions of these fields that can be read by a screen reading program. The fields must be called in a defined order using the tab key, so that people can fill out the form even if they are not able to use a mouse. 2. The document must contain text and must be searchable. A scanned paper document exists only as an image. Assistive systems cannot recognise it without it first being processed, so it therefore can also not be read aloud or represented in Braille. This type of file must therefore be converted into searchable text by an OCR (optical character recognition) system. Normally it is also necessary to do some manual editing to correct recognition errors, and include additional information such as bookmarks or alternative text descriptions for graphics or images that remain in the document. 3. The document structure is created using tags, which define a logical reading order. Accessible PDF documents have a hierarchical structure, clearly identifying headings, paragraphs, tables and lists. The structure of these tags creates a logical reading flow that assistive tools can use. For example, if the tags are missing, text in multiple columns may be read in the wrong order, or tables that stretch over multiple pages may not be recognised as belonging together. 4. All links, graphics, and form fields have a descriptive text. Accessible PDF documents contain alternative texts that describe the content of elements such as charts, illustrations, graphics, images, form fields, footnotes and links. Screen readers and other assistive tools can read this information and provide the user with an idea of the represented content. 5. The language of the document is defined. Some screen reading devices can read documents in different languages, with the correct emphasis and pronunciation. To use this function, the document must contain information about the language in which it was written. 6. The PDF document contains numerous navigational aids. Links, bookmarks, headings, tables of contents, and the aforementioned tags all allow users to locate specific parts of the document directly, rather than having to plough through the entire text to find the information they want. 7. The security settings are configured correctly. Accessible documents must be not restricted in such a way that assistive tools are unable to access them. For example, screen readers may no longer be able to access content in documents in which copying text is prohibited. 8. The fonts used should only contain characters that can be read. All information in an accessible PDF document should be presented in a way that allows assistive tools to extract and interpret it correctly. If fonts with special characters that cannot be read correctly are used, screen reader software will not be able to read the content.

7 7 From unstructured source document to accessible PDF In order to create an accessible PDF, you need to structure the original source document, regardless of whether it is a text file, or already a PDF. Many software applications are not able to generate structured files. In particular, the Print as PDF function that is supported by many applications does not produce these successfully. Files from Microsoft Word or Open Office are suited as source documents, but only if they have a consistent style-based structure. The conversion to PDF must then be carried out by an application like, which can create tags from the formatting information. Users of Word and PowerPoint 2010 and later can also load special accessibility plug-ins that can create tagged PDFs directly. PDF files with tags contain metadata that describes the document structure and sequence of the various document elements (such as images, text blocks, columns, titles). This metadata facilitates the process of extracting text and graphics from PDF files. Screen reader applications also use the tags to determine the correct flow of text in the document. In, you can add tags to existing PDF documents, and display or change tags that are already present. Verify accessibility As mentioned above, the structure of a document is an essential aid for assistive tools to read PDFs, thus ensuring the documents are accessible. When designing the document, attention must be paid primarily to ensuring that the information flows logically and that the various elements are consistently identified. A properly tagged PDF document contains information about the reading direction and descriptions for all images, links, lists, and form fields. Tables and table cells are marked so that reader software can recognise and read them in the correct sequence. Logically consistent structured documents not only support screen readers and other assistive tools in getting error-free access, they are also a prerequisite for correctly displaying the content on different output devices such as tablets, smartphones or e-book readers. allows you to check the accessibility of existing PDFs. Among others, it verifies the following features of the document: Is the accessibility permission flag set? Authors can use the Security Ribbon to specify whether or not a PDF can be copied, printed, commented or edited. It is also possible to prevent extraction of content. When this is done, screen reader software may not be able to read the documents out loud. This test verifies whether the Accessibility access option is set to Allowed. This option means that the prohibition on content extraction does not apply to screen readers. Does the document contain a text layer? Image-only PDF files cannot be accessed by screen readers because they have no text layer. Some PDF files may be partly accessible, but could have image-only pages or parts. A PDF with a text layer might still be inaccessible if it uses non-standard character encoding or does not have embedded fonts and no usable font can be found in the computer system. Has all content been tagged? Successful access to a PDF may depend on suitable document tagging. Tagging defines a correct reading order for elements and also identifies content types, such as body text blocks, headings, images, tables, annotations and multimedia objects.

8 8 Does the document have a suitable reading order? Verify this rule manually. Make sure that the reading order displayed in the Tag panel coincides with the logical reading order of the document. Is the primary language for the document correctly set? Screen readers need to know which language they are reading. A primary language should be set for the PDF. Does the document name appear in the title bar? The Document file name or title should appear in the Application title bar. Does the document have bookmarks? This check is applied to files with 21 or more pages; such documents must have a logical bookmark structure that summarises the document structure. Does the document have suitable colour contrast? People who are colour-blind need their documents to have contrasting colours. To solve this issue, make sure that the documents content adheres to the guidelines outlined in WCAG section or include a recommendation that the PDF viewer uses high-contrast colours. PDF programs and their role in accessibility Accessible design starts with the user interface of a PDF program. It should be designed in such a way that it can be used productively by people with limited sight or hearing, mobility, or other abilities. It is important that menus, commands and functions are not only activated with the mouse, but also via function keys, shortcuts and pressing the tab key several times. PDF programs should also be designed so that they can integrate assistive tools such as the JAWS screen reader, and grant the user access to all the important functions. To accomplish this, these programs must provide the assistive tools with access to metadata, tags and structure information, as well as the complete contents of the file. Conversely, the assistive tools must be able to access the PDF program functionality and must not have their own functionality impaired. The defined primary language has to be identified for assistance tools, as well as any sections in the text that are in a different language. The program must provide various options for navigation, such as page numbering, document structure tree or bookmarks. If audio or video are integrated with the document, the program must not start playing them automatically, but should wait for the assistive tool or user to request they be played.

9 9 Six good reasons to use provides the following functions to allow you to create accessible documents quickly and easily, convert existing documents into accessible ones, and verify the accessibility of documents: 1. An accessible user interface. Menus and commands are accessible via keyboard shortcuts and the direction keys on the keyboard. The application has hotkeys and shortcuts to carry out key functions quickly and easily using the keyboard. Users can press the tab key to navigate through dialogs and documents. This also applies to the fields in forms. In addition, assistive tools such as the JAWS screen reader can be used to navigate through the menus or buttons in the Ribbon. Power PDF meets the Section 508 requirements of the US Rehabilitation Act. 2. Simple tagging of PDF elements. The Tag function can be used to edit individual documents or whole sets of documents at once. Accessible documents can be created directly from Microsoft Office files, text files, and even scanned documents. 3. Review and correction of accessible PDF documents. Power PDF lets you check documents for compliance with the PDF/UA and WCAG 2.0 standards. The review can fix some problems automatically or suggest corrections if the document is not fully compliant. The Tag function allows the user to resolve problems, add new keywords to entire documents or change their structure and text flow. 4. Standards compliance. PDF/A has emerged as the standard for long-term archiving of PDF documents. Documents that are compatible with the versions PDF/A-1a, 2a and 3a are not only suitable for long-term archiving, but are also accessible. Power PDF contains a number of tools to create accessible PDF/A-compliant files. Users can generate PDF/A-1a compliant documents directly from Word files, and convert existing PDFs into PDF/A-1a, 2a and 3a variants. Also, the Watched Folder function lets you generate accessible documents automatically. 5. Integration with text-to-speech functionality. The integrated RealSpeak Solo text-to-speech engine can read documents aloud directly from Power PDF. The module is available in various languages, so that users can select the language appropriate to the document. The text document can be exported to an MP3 audio file so that the user can listen to the content not only directly on the PC, but on the go using an MP3 player. 6. Support for assistive tools. Power PDF is compatible with screen readers such as JAWS, which not only allows the content of a PDF to be read aloud, but also helps the user control the application with their voice.

10 10 Practical examples Create a tagged PDF file from an untagged version in Power PDF You can tag an existing PDF files with Power PDF, so screen readers will be able to read out the content aloud for you. Tags are markers that point to the text, tables, images and other elements in the document, define reading order and aid the use of assistive technologies. Open a PDF file in Power PDF, go to the Advanced Processing ribbon and select Tag. On the Tag panel, drop down the Tag PDF Tool button and select Tag PDF. Once the tagging is complete, the logical structure tree, or tag tree appears within the Tag panel. Here you can review the tags and edit them if necessary. For example, you can modify the reading order of the document content by moving tags.

11 11 To review how tags relate to the content in the PDF, select Highlight Content on the PDF Tag Options. Click on the plus signs to expand the tag tree, and navigate in the structure to see the individual tags. Click on a tag to see the corresponding element in the PDF document. To modify the reading order of the document elements, drag the tag you want to move and drop to the desired location. As you drag, an arrow appears to indicate possible locations. Once you finished the review, save the document.

12 12 Create tagged PDF documents from Microsoft Word Using the Power PDF add-in to Microsoft Word, you can easily create tagged PDF documents that can be efficiently used with screen readers. Open a document in Microsoft Word, select the Nuance PDF menu and click on the Creation Settings button. On the Tag panel, tick the Make tagged PDF checkbox and, for tagging all document elements, all the other checkboxes below it. Click OK to close the window and push the Create PDF button on Microsoft Word s Nuance PDF ribbon to create the tagged PDF file.

13 13 If your task is to create PDF/A documents for long term archival and you want them to be accessible as well, select the Create accessible document when PDF/A is selected in Advanced Settings checkbox. This way the application will generate PDFs that meet with the PDF/A-1a, -2a, and -3a standards, depending on the PDF/A version you select on the Nuance PDF printer driver settings. To choose a PDF/A version for PDF output, first select the Advanced Settings tab on the Nuance PDF Settings for Word dialog and then click the Advanced Settings... button.

14 14 On the Nuance PDF Properties window, select the PDF Settings tab and choose a PDF/A version from the PDF compatible with. Click OK to save the settings and push the Create PDF button on Microsoft Word s Nuance PDF ribbon to create the PDF/A Level A compatible (Accessible) PDF file. Tag multiple documents automatically Power PDF provides you with tools to create tagged PDF documents from multiple files and formats in one run. You can select PDF or other files, such as Microsoft Office documents, and using Power PDF s Create Assistant utility, turn them into tagged PDF documents automatically. Open Create Assistant available in the Advanced program group in the Start menu.

15 15 On the first drop down list, select Create a PDF for each input document if you want to save individual PDF documents from the source files. From the second drop down list, select the Tagged PDF PDF profile. Click on the Add button to select the documents you want to transform to tagged PDFs, then click the button on the bottom of the window. Define saving location for the output files and Power PDF does the rest of the job.

16 16 Verify document accessibility You can use Power PDF s Compliance Checker to verify that the document is accessible, ready to be used with assistive technologies and meet accessibility standards. The tool also enables you to fix certain accessibility problems automatically, while others can be corrected using the Tag panel, or you need to go back to the authoring application. Open a PDF document in Power PDF which is considered to be accessible, e.g. a tagged document. On the Advanced Processing ribbon select Compliance Checker. Drop down the Options button and select Accessibility. Click the PDF accessibilty check button.

17 17 The options dialog provides you with a list of document characteristics related to accessibility, that the tool can check. You can deselect any of the features that you do not want to be verified, then click OK. In the accessibility report you can see the results of the analyses. The results are displayed with either of the following signs: Passed Warning: The item has not failed, but something deserves attention. Information: This may mean the test was not requested so it was skipped, or the problem requires manual check. Fail: You need to fix this issue automatically or manually to ensure accessibility. Right-click on such items to see if automatic fixing is possible. Click on Fix if available in the menu. You can also save a detailed report by clicking the Generate Report button.

18 18 Listen to the content of a PDF document Power PDF can read the text in a PDF file out aloud for you. The application s text-to-speech module can handle both normal PDFs that include embedded text, and image-based PDFs, for example from scans, that were made searchable. Before you start to listen to your PDF content, set the language of the reader voice to match the document s language. Select Options in the File menu. Expand the Speech settings and select Text to Speech. English, French and German voices are available by default. If you need other languages, click on the Download button to download additional languages. After installing the new languages, they will be available on the Language list on this panel. Select a language and click OK.

19 19 For listening to the PDF document content, open the document and select the Advanced Processing ribbon. In the Read Aloud command group, select either Current Page or To End to listen to just the current page, or to have Power PDF read out the whole document aloud from the current page. You can even convert the text from the PDF into an MP3 audio file by selecting the To File command. For more information about the above and other functionalities, please visit Power PDF s online help by clicking here. About Nuance Communications, Inc. Nuance Communications is reinventing the relationship between people and technology. Through its voice and language offerings, the company is creating a more human conversation with the many devices, electronics, apps and services around us. Every day, millions of people and thousands of businesses experience Nuance through intelligent systems that can listen, understand, learn and adapt to your life and your work. For more information, please visit Nuance Communications, Inc. Nuance proprietary information. All rights reserved. Nuance and the Nuance logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Nuance Communications, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.