Adobe ACROBAT 9 HOW-TOS - Enhancing PDF Accessibility

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There are several conditions to consider when making a PDF document
accessible. Forms, for example, oer specic challenges in their design,
such as their tabbing order, the way a user moves through the form using
the keyboard. For any document, examine the reading order, which
denes how a document is read.
Forms. Forms are handled dierently from regular documents with
regard to accessibility. The form elds have to be congured correctly so
that a screen reader or other device can recognize them (Figure 49a).
When designing a form, be sure to do the following:
•
Label each eld on the form.
•
Draw text elds and lines using graphic tools; typing characters, such
as a string of underscores, confuses the structure of the eld and its
content.
•
Include instructions or descriptions as necessary.
•
Include alternate text for form elds.
•
Add tags to the elds either in the source program or in Acrobat.
Tab order. Be sure a user can move through a form logically using
the keyboard. You can test the tab order in Acrobat Pro 9 following these
steps:
1. Click the Pages icon in the Navigation pane to display the Pages pane,
and select the form’s thumbnail.
2. Choose Options > Page Properties to open the Page Properties
dialog.
3. Choose a tabbing option that is logical for your form:
•
Use Row Order to move left to right across the page.
•
Use Column Order to move through the columns from left to right
and top to bottom.
•
Use Document Structure to move the tab in the order specied in
the document.
Enhancing PDF
Accessibility
#
49
Order Up
Reading Order
Here are some ideas to help
you organize and work
quicker with the TouchUp
Reading Order tool, and
ordering in general:
•
Decide how to handle
images and captions. A
screen reader defines a
caption within a figure
tag as a part of the image
and it isn’t read. On the
other hand, using the
figure/caption tag sepa-
rates the caption from
the body text.
•
If you need bookmarks,
tag selections as head-
ings, and then convert
the heading tags to book-
marks (see Chapter 15,
“Controlling Action and
Interaction,” to learn how
to work with bookmarks
in Acrobat).
•
Extra spaces and tabs are
identified in the reading
order. Either delete the
object, or define it as a
background element, or
artifact.
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#49: Enhancing PDF Accessibility
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From the Library of Daniel Dadian