Pdf Accessibility Overview; Overview Of Portable Document Format (Pdf); Determine The Accessibility Path For Each Pdf Document - Adobe 09972554AD01A12 - Acrobat Pro - Mac Manual

PDF Accessibility Overview

PDF Accessibility Overview
PDF file format accessibility features combined with Adobe® Acrobat®
and Adobe Reader® allow universal access to documents
A document or application is considered accessible if meets certain technical criteria and can
be used by people with disabilities. This includes access by people who are mobility impaired,
blind, low vision, deaf, hard of hearing, or who have cognitive impairments. Accessibility
features in Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader and in the Portable Document Format (PDF) make
it easier for people with disabilities to use PDF documents and forms, with and without the aid
of assistive technology software and devices such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, text-to-
speech software, speech recognition software, alternative input devices, Braille embossers, and
refreshable Braille displays.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (ISO/IEC 40500:2012) and the PDF/
UA (ISO 14289-1) standard cover a wide range of recommendations for making content more
accessible to people with disabilities. One benefit of following these guidelines is that content
becomes more usable for all users. For example, the underlying document structure that makes
it possible for a screen reader to properly read a PDF out loud also makes it possible for a mobile
device to correctly reflow and display the document on a small screen. Similarly, the preset tab
order of an accessible PDF form helps all users—not just users who rely on the keyboard—
complete the form more easily.

Overview of Portable Document Format (PDF)

The PDF format is the native file format of the Adobe® Acrobat® family of products. The goal of
this format and these products is to enable users to exchange and view electronic documents
easily and reliably, independently of the environment in which they were created. PDF relies
on the same imaging model as the PostScript® page description language to describe text and
graphics in a device-independent and resolution-independent manner. To improve performance
for interactive viewing, PDF defines a more structured format than that used by most PostScript
language programs. PDF also includes objects, such as annotations and hypertext links, that are
not part of the page itself but that are useful for interactive viewing and document interchange.
A logical tagged structure tree is used within each document to provide a meaningful reading
order for content, as well as a method for defining structural elements role and relationship to
page content. Within this tag structure, other properties such as alternative text and replacement
text can be provided.

Determine the Accessibility Path for each PDF Document

PDF files are created in a variety of ways, from a variety of applications, and for a variety
of purposes. Achieving the desired accessibility goals for an individual PDF file requires
understanding the nature of the PDF and its intended use. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro provides
several tools including the Make Accessible Action wizard and the Accessibility Checker to assist
authors in evaluating and fixing issues that can impact accessibility.
The Adobe® Acrobat® XI Pro Accessibility Guide: PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow document
provides details on how to assess existing PDF files for accessibility. By following these
procedures in the recommended order, authors can efficiently proceed through the analysis of
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Adobe® Acrobat® XI Pro Accessibility Guide: Best Practices for PDF Accessibility