Accessible PDFs are designed so that assistive technologies can present the information in a way that is understandable to all users. For example, a screen reader can help a blind user logically navigate through an accessible document and hear all the important content in the correct order. Instead of just images, such as logos, the user hears a description of the image.

The definition of PDF/UA (UA = “Universal Accessibility”) in the sense of universal access to data and information is the current standard for the creation of accessible PDF documents. Accessible PDF documents not only offer advantages for people with impaired vision, but also create the prerequisite for texts to flow around objects correctly and thus be displayed correctly on all display devices.

The ISO standard 14289-1, known as PDF/UA, was published in the summer of 2012 and for the first time uniformly defines the requirements for accessible PDFs. To make the content of a PDF accessible and create a so-called PDF/UA, tags are added to structure the document.

PDF/UA documents are created with the following properties:

• PDF/UA markup (version information)
• dc:title entry in the metadata
• The semantic structure of the document must be specified (Tagged PDF)
• The language of the document must be specified as well as any different languages for individual text passages
• Alternative descriptions must be available for all non-textual content of the document, e.g. images
• The long forms of all abbreviations must be specified
• Labeled artifacts
• No use of visual aids such as flashing or flickering
• No exclusive use of contrasts, color or layout to convey information
• Embedded fonts

PDF tags label the logical structure of a document, such as headings, paragraphs, lists, and tables. This makes it easier to navigate and understand the content, especially for screen reader users. PDF tags can either be added when creating a document or later with special software. Programs like Adobe Acrobat offer the ability to manually tag or edit PDFs. Compart offers an automated solution that facilitates this tagging process, regardless of the age or format of the documents.

Digital accessibility in document processing means that media can also be used without restriction by people with mental and physical disabilities, is regulated by law and is already binding for many industries. The problem with this is that documents often lack important structural information (e.g. reading direction, language, column order) that is necessary for correct reproduction.

For documents to be truly accessible, they must fulfill various criteria. The focus here is on “tagging”, i.e.

• Which text passages/blocks belong together?
• How should a text be read out, in what order and to what extent?
• Non-text objects require alternative texts
• Texts must be designed in Unicode format

But there is another reason why you should be concerned with accessible documents:

Increasing digitization requires document and output management to move away from the A4 page format and prepare content for all physical and digital output channels. This is associated with a gradual upgrading of documents that were originally only intended for print to multi-channel-capable documents that contain as much information as possible on the way to output.