PDF/UA in a Nutshell – Accessible Documents with PDF

PDF/UA in a Nutshell Accessible documents with PDF

Olaf Drümmer and Bettina Chang ■■The ISO standard for universal accessibility

■■Laws and regulations

■■The history of PDF/UA

■■File format requirements

■■Compliant PDF programs

■■Assistive technology

■■PDF/UA creation tools

■■Validating PDF/UA compliance

■■What the experts say

Contents

PDF/UA: The ISO standard for universal accessibility 3 Assistive technology for in-depth testing 14 Compliant reader software 14 PDF/UA: The key facts 4 Laws requiring accessible IT services 4 Added value for PDF users 15 Introduction to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 4 Visual or motor impairments 15 Reading and writing difficulties 15 Important Laws and regulations 5 Easier reading and navigation on mobile devices 15 International 5 United States of America 5 The potential benefits of PDF/UA 16 Europe 5

Laws paving the way for PDF/UA 17 The history of PDF/UA 6

What the experts are saying 18 PDF/UA’s requirements 7 Klaus-Peter Wegge, Siemens AG 18 File format requirements 7 Markus Riesch, “Access for All” 18 Requirements for compliant PDF programs 8 Requirements for compliant assistive technology 8 Learn more about PDF/UA 19 PDF/UA Competence Center 19 Accessible PDF: Users and usage 9 PDF/UA seminars 19 PDF Association membership 19 PDF/UA: Creation tools 10 AIIM PDF/UA Committee 19 Table 1: PDF/UA creation tools 10

Validating PDF/UA compliance 12 Table 2: Validating PDF/UA compliance 13

PDF/UA in a Nutshell I Introduction PDF/UA: The ISO standard for universal accessibility

Information plays a central role in soci- PDF/UA-1 is the first part of the ety today, and it is becoming more and PDF/UA standards family; the “UA” more common for that information to suffix stands for “Universal Accessibili- be offered in digital form alone. The re- ty” and refers to the standard’s central liable, user-friendly Portable Document requirement. It is the first complete defi- Format (PDF) has become the world’s nition of a set of requirements for uni- file type of choice for providing infor- versally-accessible PDF documents. mation as a digital document. PDF/UA is aimed primarily at de- Tags can be added to a PDF in order velopers of software for creating, read- to structure the content of a document. ing, editing and validating PDF, and at Tagged PDF: These tags are a critical requirement if suppliers of assistive technology. The Tags are standardised content any form of assistive technology (such standard itself is not intended as a field markers in a digital document. as screen readers, specialist mice, and manual for day-to-day use, but for PDF First available in Adobe Acro- speech recognition and text-to-speech creators looking to learn more. The PDF bat 5, tags can be used to cre- software) is to gain access to this con- Association and its members offer spe- ate a PDF file with a logical tent. To date, PDF documents have rare- cialist articles, webinars and training, document structure . Tags are a ly been tagged, and not all software can providing detailed information about critical requirement for access- make use of PDF tags. In practical terms, PDF/UA and explaining how to create ing the content in PDFs with this particularly reduces information‘s accessible PDF content. Implementing assistive technology. accessibility for people with disabilities the clearly-defined requirements of the who rely on assistive technology. PDF/UA standard in software products will allow users to easily create accessible PDF documents without any special training, opening up effortless access to high quality content to as many people as possible. At the time of PDF/UA’s publication, of course, there were no programs available which were fully compliant with the standard. Since then, however, a number The ISO (International Organization for Standard- of software developers including Adobe ization) is the largest organisation in the world for Systems, axaio software, callas software, developing and publishing international standards. NetCentric Technologies, NV Access, PDFlib, xyMedia, the Swiss National In order to ensure future access to Association of and for the Blind (SNAB), PDF documents for as many people and the Swiss foundation “Zugang für as possible, the ISO 14289-1 standard alle” (Access For All) have already an- (known as PDF/UA) was developed by nounced or even released products sup- specialists from around the world. It was porting the PDF/UA format. published by the ISO in July 2012 with More and more developers, govern- the official title“ISO 14289-1. Document ment authorities and other organisa- management applications – Electronic tions are expected to accept PDF/UA as document file format enhancement for an absolute requirement for universally accessibility – Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-1 accessible PDF documents from this (PDF/UA-1)”. point on.

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 3 Introduction PDF/UA: The key facts

What does “universal accessibility” from websites, this applies in particu- actually mean when it comes to PDFs? lar to PDF documents. Although such It is the idea that everyone should be laws do not always apply to the private equally able to independently access sector (or apply only in limited cases), and use the information contained more and more modern businesses are within a PDF document. This applies accepting their responsibility to pro- in particular to people with disabili- vide accessible versions of both their ties and those with other difficulties; websites and the PDF documents they in other words, those who particularly provide. depend on universally accessible information and documents. The PDF/UA Introduction to the Web Content standard allows these people the fol- Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 lowing key options: The requirements for PDF/UA are based on the principles of Version 2.0 ■■Making use of PDF documents with- of the W3C consortium’s Web Content out assistance from others Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), also published in identical form as an ISO ■■Reaching a specific goal easily, di- standard in October 2012 (ISO/IEC rectly, and within a reasonable time 40500). WCAG 2.0 guides the creation frame of accessible web content, focusing on the kinds of content and applications ■■Making the same-quality use of PDF usually provided on websites. documents as people without disa- Some WCAG 2.0 tips of a purely in- bilities. formative nature suggest how barriers to access can also be avoided in PDF The technical requirements for uni- documents, but a systematic explana- versally accessible PDF documents are tion or guide is not provided. PDF/UA, described clearly and in full in the new on the other hand, exclusively and ful- PDF/UA standard. They define, for -ex ly addresses the PDF format, bringing ample, how to create text, images, form the ideas behind WCAG 2.0 into the fields, lists and tables that can be used world of PDF and setting PDF-specific by people with disabilities. rules. As an ISO standard, PDF/UA does Laws requiring accessible IT services not offer concrete help with implemen- These requirements are increasingly tation, either for specific programs or important for businesses and public areas of application. This, however, is institutions, as current legislation re- covered by the PDF/UA Competence quires (and in some cases has regulat- Center founded by the PDF Associa- ed for many years) universal accessi- tion. The PDF/UA Competence Center bility in information technology. Laws is made up of leading international in the USA, Canada, Australia and the businesses and individual experts who European Union, for example, require use the website www.pdfa.org, as well state and federal authorities to allow as publications, seminars and confer- the public universal access to the dig- ences, to provide information about ital information they provide. Aside implementing PDF/UA in practice.

4 PDF/UA in a Nutshell Laws and regulations Important Laws and regulations

International Section 11 of the German federal law BGG has required since 2002 that fed- ■■UN Convention on the Rights of People eral authorities’ online presences and with Disabilities: The UN Convention on services be universally accessible. Some the Rights of People with Disabilities German states also have state-level laws defines in concrete terms the general which place similar requirements on lo- human rights of people with disabilities. cal authorities. It has been in effect since 2008. ■■Regulation for the creation of universally accessible IT in accordance with the United States of America Equal Treatment of Disabled Persons Act (Barrierefreie-Informationstechnik-Ver- ■■Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA): ordnung – BITV 2.0): BITV 2.0 specifies In 1990, the US Congress passed a fed- the minimum requirements for online eral law, ADA, which forbade all forms information and services provided by of discrimination based on disability. federal authorities. They are mostly based on the recommendations of ■■Rehabilitation Act, Section 508: In WCAG 2.0. Some German states have 1998, the United States expanded the comparable state-level regulations re- Rehabilitation Act to include Section garding universally accessible IT ser- 508. Since then, the federal govern- vices. ment has been required to ensure that all its IT services are accessible for peo- ■■Regulation on equal rights for disabled ple with disabilities. persons (Behindertengleichstellungsver- ordnung, BehiV): Article 10 of the Swiss federal regulation BehiV requires fed- Europe eral authorities to make anything they provide online universally accessible Important Standards: ■■EU Mandate 376: With Mandate 376, so that people with disabilities can PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1:2012): ISO the European Commission tasked the make use of it. standard 14289-1 defines all standardisation organisations CEN, essential requirements for uni- CENELEC and ETSI with harmonising ■■Federal Guidelines for Designing versally-accessible PDF docu- European public procurement laws. Universally Accessible Online Content ments, PDF programs and as- They are currently working on the EN (P028): The Swiss P028 guidelines re- sistive technologies for using 301459 standard which specifies require federal websites to conform to PDF/UA. quirements for universal accessibility WCAG 2.0 and to meet compliance PDF 1.7 (ISO 32000-1:2008): in creating public-sector ICT products level AA. ISO standard 32000-1 specifies and services. the PDF file format. ■ Federal Law on the Equal Treatment of ■ WCAG 2.0 (ISO/IEC 40500:2012): ■ ■European Accessibility Act: The Euro- Disabled Persons (Bundes-Behinderten- ISO/IEC 40500 is a standard pean Commission is currently prepar- gleichstellungsgesetz – BGStG): The Aus- which is identical in content to ing a European Accessibility Act. trian federal law BGStG requires the the W3C’s WCAG 2.0, the guide- Austrian federal government to make lines for a universally-accessi- ■■Equal Treatment of Disabled Persons Act its services available in an accessible ble web. (Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz – BGG): form.

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 5 History

The history of PDF/UA

Timeline: From PDF to PDF/UA The first version of PDF, PDF 1.0, was World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) 1993: Adobe Systems publishes released in 1993. PDF was created and published WCAG 2.0. This replaced its PDF 1.0 further developed by Adobe Systems predecessor WCAG 1.0, published in 1999: W3C releases Web Content Incorporated. The PDF format makes 1999, and took into account the tech- Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 it easier to exchange and display digital nical developments which had taken documents; in the two decades since place since that time. 2001: PDF 1.4 integrates tags to its publication, it has gained world- An ISO standardisation project be- represent the logical wide acceptance. It allows all kinds of gan in 2009. Based on AIIM’s pro- structure of content documents to be reproduced exactly as ject, ISO committee ISO TC 171 within PDF documents they were originally designed, regard- SC 2, chaired by Cherie Ekholm of 2002: Equal Treatment of less of the platform used, thanks to a Microsoft, aimed to further develop Disabled Persons Act, number of (sometimes free) PDF cre- PDF/UA. A wide range of companies, Germany ation and viewing programs and web including Adobe, Microsoft, callas 2002: Accessible IT Regulation 1.0, browser plug-ins. software, Design Science, NetCentric Germany For a long time, however, this file and others were actively involved in format remained inaccessible to a large the standardisation work. This meant 2004: PDF/UA project begins, number of people, as PDF originally that just one year later, the draft stand- coordinated by AIIM focused on the visual presentation of ard ISO/DIS 14289-1 was ready for 2008: PDF 1.7 published as an a document rather than its content publication. After an intensive consul- ISO standard (ISO 32000) and structure. In order to address this tation and testing phase, PDF/UA was 2008: UN Convention on the problem, in 2001 Adobe introduced finally approved as an ISO standard Rights of People with tags with PDF 1.4 and Adobe Acrobat and published as ISO 14289-1 in July Disabilities comes into 5. These can be used to turn a conven- 2012. effect tional PDF into a tagged PDF. The German standardisation organ- In 2004, a working group began to isation DIN (Deutsches Institut für 2008: W3C releases Web Content form, coordinated by AIIM (the As- Normung e.V.) is currently working on Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 sociation for Information and Image translating ISO 14289-1 into German; 2009: ISO takes over the PDF/UA Management, www.aiim.org), aiming this version is expected to be published project as ISO/NWI 14289 to develop a universally accessible PDF in autumn 2013. 2011: Accessible IT Regulation 2.0, standard. This standard would speci- On the international stage, mean- Germany fy a complete set of requirements for while, the second part of the standard tagged PDF documents that could be (PDF/UA-2) is now being prepared by 2012: ISO approves and reliably used to create and check for a the ISO. PDF/UA-2 will be based on publishes PDF/UA sufficient level of accessibility. the next version of the PDF format, (ISO 14289-1) A further important development PDF 2.0, and will make use of all that came in 2008, when Adobe’s PDF 1.7 has been learned during the develop- specification became an ISO stand- ment and introduction of PDF/UA-1. ard – published by the ISO as “ISO Among other things, it will include 32000-1:2008. Document management more extensive options for sophisti- – Portable document format – Part 1: cated semantic structuring of con- PDF 1.7”. A copy of the standard can tent and support for specific tag sets. be downloaded for free from the Adobe These will include scientific sets, such website, while the ISO version (which as MathML and ChemML, as well as is identical in content) can be ordered specialised publication tag sets such as from ISO for a fee. Also in 2008, the DAISY and DocBook.

6 PDF/UA in a Nutshell Requirements

PDF/UA’s requirements

The PDF/UA standard defines technical are used, a role assignment entry must requirements for universally-accessible record which standard tag each one rep- PDF documents by identifying a set of resents. relevant PDF functions (including text content, images, form fields, comments, ■■Information may not be conveyed bookmarks and metadata) based on ISO using visual means alone (e.g. contrast, 32000-1 (PDF 1.7) and specifies how colour or position on the page). they should be used in PDF/UA-compliant documents. It does not address ■■No flickering, blinking or flashing elements which have no direct impact content is permitted, either as effects on accessibility, such as the compression controlled by JavaScript or as part of any algorithms used for image data. videos embedded within the PDF. Successful access to content within PDFs depends not just on compliant ■■A document title must be given, and documents, but also on compliant PDF the document must be set up so that the programs and assistive technology. title (rather than the file name) appears PDF/UA therefore also specifies require- in the window title. ments for these. A brief selection of the main requirements is shown below: ■■The language of all content must be noted, and changes of language must File format requirements be explicitly marked as such.

■■Content is categorised in one of two ways: meaningful content, and artefacts such as decorative page elements. All meaningful content must be tagged and integrated into the structure tree of all tags within a document. Artefacts, on the other hand, need only be marked as such.

■■Meaningful content must be marked with tags and, together with the other tags in the document, create a complete structure tree.

■■Meaningful content must be marked with the appropriate semantic tags.

■■The structure tree created by the document tags must reflect the document’s logical reading order.

■■Only the standard tags defined in PDF 1.7 may be used; if any other tags

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 7 Requirements

■■Any pictorial elements – whether ■■It must not limit the functionality of image objects or other non-text objects the assistive technology. such as vector objects or object groups – must have corresponding alternative ■■It must allow the assistive technology text. to recognise the language used and any changes in language within the document. Adhering to these technical and semantic requirements will create a uni- ■■It must allow navigation through the versally accessible PDF/UA document document by page number, through the which a person with disabilities can structure tree, or through bookmarks. make use of just as effectively and in just as high quality as any user without ■■It must not play media content auto- disabilities. matically, but rather wait for the user’s command to do so. Requirements for compliant PDF programs Requirements for compliant assistive PDF programs are often the link for technology people with disabilities between the The term “assistive technology” de- PDF document to be read and any as- scribes anything which helps or allows sistive technology that may be used. In people with disabilities or other dif- practice, this means that PDF/UA-com- ficulties to use any kind of hardware pliant PDF programs must hand over and software. People with serious all content and other information from visual impairments may use screen the PDF document to the assistive soft- magnifiers. People with restricted ware or device, and that the assistive mobility can use joysticks or special technology itself must make use of all keyboards for input and navigation. the information it receives, including Highlighting the current portion of a for navigation, filling out form fields, or document while also reading it aloud reading metadata. using a text-to-speech function can make it easier for users with dyslexia ■■The software must be able to read and to read a document. Blind users often pass on all information stored within use a standard keyboard for input and the document’s tags and structure tree, navigation alongside a screen reader or otherwise make all the document’s or Braille display for output. For all content accessible. of these assistive technologies to work properly with PDF/UA, they must ■■It must make all content available meet the following requirements: to the assistive technology, including structural information. ■■They must be able to recognise all structural elements, attributes and key values used in the specification and output them for the user of a PDF document.

■■They must allow the user to navigate through the document by page number, through the structure tree, or by using bookmarks.

■■They must allow the user to easily set and change the magnification of a PDF document at any time.

8 PDF/UA in a Nutshell Usage Accessible PDF: Users and usage

As a quality standard for universal- terms of functionality, compatibility ly accessible PDF documents aimed and accessibility, it is often easier for at both software developers and doc- everyone involved to export these document creators, PDF/UA serves as a uments to PDF format before passing clear basic requirement for everyone them along to others. PDF documents involved in PDF creation. It gives soft- created in this way are not automati- ware developers a clear set of goals to cally PDF/UA-compliant, but it is now work towards implementing which us- becoming much easier to make these ers can then take into account when documents universally accessible and creating PDFs. ultimately, for them to meet the stand- This benefits all PDF creators. Some ard. of them will find PDF/UA compliance A further area of application for brings significant advantages. This -in PDF/UA is in digital distribution of cludes people who work with office printed publications in PDF format. The documents, who often distribute their print data is usually prepared in digital finished presentations, spreadsheets format using layout and editing pro- and text documents to others or store grams, then exported in PDF format for them in a central location for others printing. These programs are also often to retrieve. As the office program each used to generate a PDF for on-screen person uses can vary dramatically in reading which is then distributed over the web or by email. The most extensive support for universally accessible PDF documents can be found in the layout program Adobe InDesign, from version CS 5.5 onwards. InDesign provides a particularly high level of support for the technical requirements behind the PDF/UA standard , which means it requires little extra work to create universally accessible PDF/UA-compliant documents. Certain aspects may need occasional adjustment, either manually or with the use of specialist software ex- tensions. If a PDF document is created from a database, XML, or some other structured data set, the solutions used can also take advantage of updated PDF programming libraries which encode the content in accordance with PDF/UA specifications. It is also equally possible to adapt solutions which already allow the creation of tagged PDFs, in order to produce PDF/UA-compliant PDF documents.

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 9 Software tools PDF/UA: Creation tools

In principle, universally-accessible PDF adaptation process must then be started documents can either be generated di- again from scratch. rectly during document creation, using a The direct approach is almost always suitable program, or indirectly generated the better option; post-creation PDF ed- by adapting an existing PDF document. its should be avoided or at least kept to a The indirect approach tends to require a minimum. Either way, it is essential that great deal of work, as all tags and numer- the document creation program can per- ous other settings will need to be provid- form the functions required and that the ed manually. document creator can make use of them. This work can also become void as soon Although only a few programs current- as a new version of the PDF document rely support PDF/UA in its entirety, a wide places the old one, if any changes to the range of options still exist in the form of document’s content need to be made. The the programs listed alphabethical below: Table 1: PDF/UA creation tools Software Developer Application PDF/UA functions supported Adobe Acrobat XI Adobe Systems PDF document creation, • Create and edit content tags Pro editing and viewing • Mark page content as artefacts • Add alternative text • Specify the language(s) used for a document and specific content within it • Feature to add basic accessibility to any PDF • Fast, extensive accessibility checking Adobe Distiller Adobe Systems Converts PostScript files • Create tagged PDFs Server 8 to PDF • Requires specific pdfmark codes within the Post- Script files axesPDF for Word xyMedia Add-in for Word 2007 • Specify the language of a document and Word 2010. Helps • Set up a series of tabs based on the document struc- the user to use Word ture functions and compen- • Specify the document title and include it in the doc- sates for weaknesses and ument window errors resulting from exporting a tagged PDF • Use all standard PDF tags from Word. • Advanced table tagging • Tag all content or mark it as an artefact • Integrated validation function CommonLook NetCentric Tech- Plug-in for Word and • Guided review of document based on checkpoints Office 1.2 nologies PowerPoint. It uses • Adjust alternative text for images checkpoints to take us- • Correct mappings between styles and tags ers through the authoring software’s accessibili- • Advanced table tagging ty functions • Enhanced tagged PDF export • Generate bookmarks • Support for accessible PDF forms

10 PDF/UA in a Nutshell Software tools

Software Developer Application PDF/UA functions supported FrameMaker 11 Adobe Systems The authoring software • Create tagged PDFs FrameMaker creates • Define alternative text for images publications and technical documentation. InDesign CS5.5/ Adobe Systems Professional layout pro- • Assign export tags to paragraph styles CS6/CC gram for printed and • Anchor images within the text flow digital publications; al- • Define alternative text for images lows exporting to tagged PDF • Define metadata • Define reading order using the “Article” panel • Add links (bookmarks, table of contents, hyperlinks and cross-references) • Define tab order for form fields based on the document structure • Export as tagged PDF iText iText Software Programming library for • Create tagged PDFs creating PDF documents • Supports all tagged PDF functions • Used properly, it can create fully PDF/UA-compliant documents MadeToTag axaio software Plug-in for Adobe InDe- • Support and visual feedback for tag assignment, sign CS5.5, CS6 and CC. reading order, alternative text, language settings, Takes users step-by-step advanced table tagging, and metadata through the process re- • Directly export to PDF/UA format quired to prepare the document for export as a universally accessible tagged PDF; compensates for weaknesses and errors in InDesign PDF export Microsoft Office Microsoft Contains word processor • Validate accessibility of Office documents 2007/2010 Word, spreadsheet tool • Prepare documents for export in tagged format, e.g. Excel and presentation assign tags, specify alternative text, define language software PowerPoint, • Create tagged PDFs among others; supports output in tagged PDF format OpenOffice Apache Software Word processing soft- • Create tagged PDFs Writer 3.4 Foundation ware. Supports PDF output. PDFlib 9 PDFlib Programming library for • Create tagged PDFs creating PDF documents • Supports all tagged PDF functions • Used properly, it can create fully PDF/UA-compliant documents PDFMaker Adobe Systems When installing Adobe • Create tagged PDFs Acrobat on Windows, • Compensates for weaknesses and errors in PDF ex- this is added to Microsoft port functions found in Microsoft Office Office, Lotus Notes, AutoCAD and others; it can be used within these programs to create PDFs.

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 11 Software tools Validating PDF/UA compliance

A PDF document’s degree of accessibili- reflect their corresponding header lev- ty is hard to determine at first glance. els? These and other questions can only How, then, can you tell if and to what be answered after evaluation and testing extent a PDF file meets the requirements by a human user. Tools also exist to help of PDF/UA? the user perform these tests. Some of the A reliable compliance test depends on more important validation tools are list- at least two stages of validation: a pro- ed below. grammatic test, which can be performed One further test (which should be run by a piece of software, and an interactive on at least a random sample of all docu- test carried out by a human. Dedicated ments created) is to use the PDF document validation tools will help the user per- with a selection of current types of assistive form the programmatic test. They test technology. Regular users of the technolo- and show the extent to which the PDF gy can be enlisted to test the documents in document meets the standard’s purely this way; in most cases, however, anyone technical requirements (including tag- can in principle perform a useful test with based content structuring, alternative assistive technology to confirm the reada- text for images, a document title) and bility of the PDF document. One very sim- uses the correct syntax to implement ple option here is to use the free Windows them. The semantic aspects of PDF/UA, screen reader program NVDA. A user can however, cannot be tested in the same quickly get to grips with the core functions way. Is the reading order logical? Does of the software in order to test how well the alternative text adequately represent people with disabilities can actually use an the same information as the images to existing (ideally fully PDF/UA-compliant) which it is attached? Do the header tags document.

The Access For All foundation’s PDF Accessibility Checker 2.0 (PAC 2) software supports all automatically-checkable PDF/UA criteria.

12 PDF/UA in a Nutshell Software tools

Table 2: Validating PDF/UA compliance Program Developer Validation function Validation criteria Acrobat XI Adobe Systems Quick test • First impression of document quality • Not a comprehensive test

Complete accessibility test, • Numerous functions, some of input/output report them heuristic • Not a complete PDF/UA compliance test • Access restrictions (password protection, copy-protection etc.) do not affect accessibility • Document is not just a PDF file made up of images alone • Document is a tagged PDF • Logical reading order assigned to the document • Text language is defined • Document title is displayed in the window title bar • Bookmarks are present in large documents • Sufficient colour contrast within the document

callas pdfGoHTML callas software Structured visualisation • Converts tagged PDF to struc- (free) tured HTML view • Fast interactive test for sensible reading order, correct tag usage, appropriate alternative text and other semantic elements • Useful addition to automatic tests

CommonLook PDF NetCentric Tech- Display and test a number of • Reading order nologies tagged PDF properties • Correct tag usage • Heuristic checking for common errors • Checks table structure

PDF Accessibility Checker 2.0 “Access For All” Validates accessibility, struc- • Currently the only program which (PAC 2) foundation tural view, preview, PAC test fully supports all automatical- (free) report ly-testable PDF/UA criteria • Numerous heuristic tests to support interactive testing

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 13 Assistive technology Assistive technology for in-depth testing

■■ NVDA 2012.3.1 (Non Visual Desktop access to tagged PDF documents. One Access) is a portable, open-source screen particularly important reason for this reader available in over 40 languages, is that the standard is still very new, developed by NV Access. It supports meaning that corresponding software spoken output and/or Braille displays. development has only just begun. Adobe Systems and the not-for-profit Australi- an organisation NV Access have official- ly announced their support for PDF/UA and are now working on implementing Michael Curran (left) and co-developer James Teh have spent the past it in their products. four years building the open source The first PDF/UA-compliant as- screen reader Non Visual Desktop sistive technology is expected to be the Access (NVDA). screen reader software “Non Visual Desktop Access” (NVDA). NVDA was ■■ JAWS 14 (Job Access With Speech), de- developed by NV Access as a portable, veloped by Freedom Scientific, is a wide- open-source screen reader. It allows ly-used commercial screen reader for blind and partially-sighted users to Windows. It has been specially designed interact with the Windows operating to work with a number of applications system and the applications it runs, and supports spoken output and/or as well as use PDF documents and the Braille displays. internet, using the synthetic speech function eSpeak, optional Braille out- ■■ ZoomText 10 Magnifier is the most wide- put, and other functionality. eSpeak ly used text-enlargement software for supports more than 40 languages, partially-sighted users. It was developed and other languages and voices can be by the American company AiSquared. added using the SAPI interface. The NVDA screen reader can be down- ■■ COBRA Professional 10 (from Baum loaded for free from the developer’s Retec) is a popular software solution website – nvda-project.org – after for combining screen enlargement with which it is easy to install. spoken and Braille output. At present (as of mid-2013), NVDA is already mostly PDF/UA-compliant. ■■ WYNN is a program from Freedom NV Access, the PDF Association and Scientific aimed in particular at helping the Swiss-based Access For All founda- users with reading and writing difficul- tion are currently working together to ties. By reading text aloud while high- further develop the software, to ensure lighting each word as it is spoken, young future versions will meet all PDF/UA re- people with dyslexia and other learning quirements in full. difficulties can develop and eventually Of the PDF software available today, master their written language skills. the free Adobe Reader and the paid Ado- be Acrobat currently provide the greatest Compliant reader software level of compliance with the standard. So far, there are no PDF programs or The current version, Adobe Reader XI, is assistive technologies which offer full mostly PDF/UA compliant – albeit only PDF/UA compliance when providing under Windows.

14 PDF/UA in a Nutshell Benefits Added value for PDF users

The PDF/UA framework allows assistive Reading and writing difficulties technology, PDF applications and the Dyslexic users find it unusually difficult PDF file format to work together opti- to learn to read. They find it difficult to mally so that as many people as possi- recognise and process written text. As- ble have access to PDF documents with sistive technologies such as specialised sound technical support. Disabled users screen readers can help them overcome will see the most significant benefits, as this. These read content aloud and high- they often use a range of assistive tech- light the same section of text on the nologies to help them access digital con- screen. This gives the reader a cue, facil- tent which their disability would other- itates comprehension and helps them to wise render inaccessible. improve their reading skills and master written language. Visual or motor impairments For example, partially-sighted users, Easier reading and navigation on depending on the degree of their im- mobile devices pairment, may use a larger screen, cus- PDF/UA specifies the technical require- tomised colour and text size settings, ments for assistive technology to ful- or an intelligent screen magnifier. ly interact with PDF documents using Blind users, or those with particularly PDF/UA-compliant PDF software. As severe visual impairments, may use a long as the assistive technology and PDF so-called screen reader (using text-to- software used is fully compliant with the speech) and/or a Braille display in or- standard, the result for disabled users is der to read PDF documents. A screen a high-quality reading and navigational reader is a program installed on the experience. The standard will also ben- user’s computer which reads all visi- efit other users, however; anyone who ble content aloud. A Braille display is reads documents on mobile devices, for a haptic interface for the same content; example, will appreciate PDF content it outputs text using raised, moving automatically adjusting itself to a read- Braille dots. er-friendly size without affecting the se- A user with restricted arm or hand mantic structure. mobility may use a range of assistive technology to navigate and make use of a PDF document. Instead of a classical computer mouse, they may use a specialist mouse or keyboard, or an onscreen keyboard. Depending on the degree and nature of their disability and their own aptitude, the user may also have other input options, such as special sensors, switches and/or key combinations, or enlargement options. The user can also give spoken commands to speech recognition software or use eye movements and a gaze-tracking system to control their computer.

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 15 Benefits The potential benefits of PDF/UA

PDF/UA defines a standardised, univer- being legally required to do so), non-pub- sal set of requirements for PDF accessibil- lic organisations are accepting a corporate ity. These guidelines serve as a roadmap social responsibility. This can be consid- for everyone involved with the standard, ered a valuable foundation for building a guaranteeing that the relevant software, comprehensive corporate social respon- hardware and digital documents can sibility (CSR) strategy. As accessible PDF work together as effectively as possible – documents are currently still the excep- provided they comply with the standard. tion rather than the rule, businesses who If a PDF document fails to meet these adopt them can use the opportunity to technical specifications, however, then improve their public image. this intercompatibility is no longer guar- PDF/UA can bring financial as well as anteed. Disabled users will be dispropor- social benefits. Improving your public tionately affected and may no longer have image can go hand in hand with win- equal-opportunity, independent access to ning new customers and increasing your information. This contradicts the goals of market potential. This refers in particu- an inclusive society which more and more lar to people with disabilities. Many countries around the world are working to businesses remain unaware, however, enshrine in law. US laws, for example, re- that this group includes an increasing quire the information provided by federal number of older people as the global Inclusion: authorities to be universally accessible and population ages. These consumers have The basic principle of social in- usable. The growing political interest in significant life savings which they are clusion is that society accepts universally-accessible information tech- willing to spend. A large number of older each person as an individual; in nology is also indicative of a trend not just people live with one or more disabilities other words, everyone should towards opening up public institutions, which may have arisen from a number be able to participate fully and but towards requiring the private sector of illnesses over their lifetime or simply equally in society. to make the information it provides more from declining faculties. Regardless of accessible as well. age, however, disabilities can sometimes PDF/UA helps meet these kinds of le- be caused by accidents or arise as a re- gal requirements. PDF/UA-compliant sult of a serious illness. Businesses and PDF documents are universally accessi- public authorities can also use accessible ble from a technical standpoint, which PDF documents to better reach people means they allow improved commu- who are unfamiliar with using comput- nication for people with disabilities in ers, who struggle with a document’s lan- particular. Many legislative bodies refer guage, or whose written language skills to WCAG 2.0, the international guide- are limited. Depending on how the term lines for accessible web content. When is defined, for example, several million it comes to PDF files, these guidelines adults in Germany can be considered can be met by complying with PDF/UA’s illiterate – 12% of whom nevertheless specific, unambiguous requirements. Or- have some form of higher education. ganisations can also reduce their liability Finally, the usability of PDF documents by creating, transmitting and publishing on mobile devices such as smartphones documents and information based on in- and tablets can also be increased, as ternationally-recognised standards. PDF/UA-compliant documents can be In making their PDF documents more rearranged to suit the screen they are accessible of their own free will (without displayed on.

16 PDF/UA in a Nutshell Legislation Laws paving the way for PDF/UA

In 2006, the General Assembly of the some point in Summer 2013. This law should United Nations adopted the UN Conven- harmonise the current range of national laws tion on the Rights of Persons With Disa- among EU member states, some of which bilities, which came into force on the 3rd differ dramatically from one another. of May 2008. The goal of the resolution is The UN Convention on the Rights of Dis- to protect and support the rights of people abled Persons came into force for Germany with disabilities worldwide. It aspires to- on the 26th of March 2009. Germany re- wards building a more inclusive society in sponded with a national action plan, where which both disabled and non-people with the federal government presented a number disabilities are equal, self-determining of measures aimed at paving the way to- participants in their own communities. A wards a more inclusive society. In part, this number of UN member states, including path makes use of existing laws and regula- Germany and Austria, have already rati- tions. For example, Germany has had a Fed- fied the agreement. In doing so, they have eral Law on the Equal Treatment of Disabled pledged to enshrine the Convention in Persons (Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz national law and introduce political meas- or BGG) since 2002. Section 11 of the law ures to implement it in practice. Article 21 requires federal authorities to offer all infor- of the Convention, “Freedom of expres- mation and documents in a universally-ac- sion and opinion, and access to informa- cessible format. The minimum requirements tion” refers to equal access to information. for meeting this regulation are described in This means that information intended for the Regulation for Accessible IT (Barriere- the general public should be made availa- freie-Informationstechnik-Verordnung or ble for people with a range of disabilities as BITV). It was updated to version 2.0 in 2011 soon as possible, using accessible formats and now mostly reflects the requirements of and technology. WCAG 2.0. Individual German states also The European Union introduced con- have state equality laws based on the federal crete measures in the form of “The Eu- disability equality law. ropean Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Legal implementation of these laws and Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free regulations has until now left rather a lot Europe”. As part of this strategy, the Eu- to be desired; a number of federal and state ropean Commission is working towards authorities have significant room for im- a modernised European public procure- provement in terms of the accessibility of ment law, under which ICT products and their offerings. The aforementioned EU services provided by European and na- laws and regulations are expected to im- tional authorities must be barrier-free as prove this situation, once adopted in the defined by EU standard EN 301549, which near future. is expected to be published in 2014. The The United States’ Rehabilitation Act three standardisation organisations CEN, goes one step further in that it allows pri- CENELEC and ETSI have developed a vate legal action which can lead to very draft of this standard and guidelines for high compensation claims. This law was implementing it, based on Mandate 376. expanded in 1998 with Section 508, which The European Commission is also prepar- for the first time in the world placed a legal ing a single European accessibility law which requirement on authorities to make their will require ICT to play a significant role. ICT offerings accessible and usable for Publication of the first draft is expected at people with disabilities.

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 17 Expert opinion

What the experts are saying

Accessibility experts Klaus-Peter Wegge tools existed to convert PDF/UA docu- and Markus Riesch report on their first ments to other formats such as HTML impressions of PDF/UA and assess how or Daisy. We will first systematically test it can grow from here. PDF/UA before we recommend it to our customers or start using it ourselves. It Klaus-Peter Wegge, would be a real step forward for disa- Siemens AG bled users if this format became widely Klaus-Peter Wegge is adopted as soon as possible; it would fi- head of the Siemens nally end any legitimate debates about AG Accessibility Com- PDF accessibility.” petence Center in Pa- derborn, Germany. Markus Riesch, A trained computer “Access for All” scientist, he has been helping design Markus Riesch has accessible products and services since been the manag- 1995. His team offers consulting servic- ing director of the es as well as developing and testing new Swiss-based Access technologies and applications in the ac- For All foundation cessibility sector, both for a wide range since 2004. He works of projects for specific customers and for to promote access to ICT for people European research projects. As an acces- with disabilities and represents their sibility expert – and as someone affected interests in national and internation- by disability himself – he promotes the al bodies. Among other duties, he is a subject in industry associations such as member of the Federal Working Group BITKOM and DIGITALEUROPE. He for Creating Guidelines for Accessible also works on global, European and Websites (P028) and head of the eCH domestic standardisation projects and specialist group for Accessibility. advises government bodies on the technical issues involved in promoting ac- “PDF/UA is an important step forward for cessibility in Germany and Europe. PDF accessibility. Only an international standard will make it possible for author- “It’s high time we had a standard like ing software, validation tools, browsers this! PDF/UA is a thoroughly rigorous and assistive technology such as screen idea and one that just works. One hopes readers to accept the required technical that PDF accessibility will now become specifications. PDF/UA creates a clear set universal, error-free and far easier than of requirements which both software de- before. I see some issues with accept- velopers and PDF creators can use. And ance, though, unless word processing finally, this international standard gives a software can make it easy to directly reference for legislators around the world. create PDF/UA documents which the We’d like to be a part of that. That’s why author can then immediately check. we’re developing the first validation tool Screen readers should also start fully for PDF/UA-compliant PDFs, the PDF Ac- supporting PDF/UA as soon as possible. cessibility Checker 2.0 for Windows. It will The NVDA screen reader is ahead of the be released for free by the Access For All pack here. It would be excellent if free foundation in summer 2013.”

18 PDF/UA in a Nutshell Resources

Learn more about PDF/UA

If you want to learn more about PDF pants can learn strategies for their own technology, either in general or as it re- companies to use when introducing and PDF/X since 2001 lates to a specific subject, then the PDF using accessible PDFs. ISO 15930 Association is the perfect point of contact. The PDF Association was founded “Prepress digital data in 2006. It aims to promote the develop- exchange using PDF” ment and usage of PDF technology and ISO-Standard for the therefore to support PDF applications printing industry for digital documents. The Association since 2005 focuses on the PDF format itself, as well PDF/A as the ISO standards PDF/UA, PDF/A, ISO 19005 PDF/E, PDF/VT and PDF/X. The PDF “PDF Archive” Association provides information, exper- Standardised long-term tise and opportunities for interaction for archiving with PDF developers, users and decision-makers. Start page of the PDF Association web site. The Association’s most important centre PDF/E since 1993/2008 of activity is its website, www.pdfa.org, PDF Association membership which is regularly updated with the latest PDF Association members have a criti- ISO 24517 specialist news and information. It also cal information advantage: they receive “PDF Engineering” provides information about PDF/UA and advance versions of ISO PDF standards Construction diagrams accessible PDF documents. and exclusive access to the Association with moving 3D models intranet containing internal informa- where required PDF/UA Competence Center tion. They can take part in the Associ- The PDF/UA Competence Center was ation’s Technical Working Groups to PDF since 2008 set up by the PDF Association before influence standardisation work. The -in ISO 32000 the PDF/UA standard was even offi- ternal forum on the Association intranet “Portable Document cially approved. Supported by leading ensures direct contact with other PDF Format” international businesses and individual experts. Members also receive a boost The ISO standard corresponds experts, it provides PDF/UA resources to their marketing efforts, including use with PDF version 1.7 for developers, users and decision-mak- of the PDF Association logo and a com- ers and offers advice on how to use the pany profile and product listing on the PDF/VT since 2010 standard in practice. PDF Association’s website. ISO 16612 PDF/UA seminars AIIM PDF/UA Committee “PDF for Variable Data and The PDF Association offers the PDF/UA The Association for Image and Infor- Transactional Printing“ Practical Seminar Series for employees mation Management (AIIM) is a global Used for variable data and decision-makers in public bodies, organisation offering independent reprinting business and industry; college and uni- search, training and certification pro- versity students and teachers; and rep- grammes for information management PDF/UA since 2012 resentatives of all kinds of associations experts. To mark the publication of the ISO 14289 and institutions. Practical examples are PDF/UA standard, the AIIM PDF/UA “PDF for Universal Access“ used to show participants how accessi- Committee has produced “Achieving ISO standard for ble PDF documents can be created and WCAG 2.0 with PDF/UA”, a document universally accessible checked in line with PDF/UA and any describing how PDF/UA can guarantee PDF documents applicable legal requirements. Partici- compliance with WCAG 2.0 guidelines.

PDF/UA in a Nutshell 19 This work, including all its component parts, is copyright protected. All rights based thereupon are reserved, including those of translation, reprinting, presentation, extraction of illustrations or tables, broadcasting, microfilming or reproduction by any other means, or storage in any data-processing device, in whole or in part. Reproduction of this work or any part of this work is only permitted where legally specified in the Copyright Act of the Federal Republic of Germany dated the 9th of September 1965.

The use of any names, trade names, trade descriptions etc. in this work, even those not specially identified as such, does not justify the assumption that these names are free according to trademark protection law and thus usable by anyone. Text: Olaf Drümmer, Bettina Chang Layout, cover design, design and composition: Alexandra Oettler Cover photo: Jake Davies, ojisanjake.blogspot.de Picture/photo credits: Page 7, 8, 9 and 15: Alexandra Oettler; page 14: Andrew Watson. Printed by: Galrev Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Hesse & Partner OHG PDF/UA in a Nutshell – Accessible documents with PDF

ISO standard 14289-1, known as PDF/UA, was first pub- Contents: lished in the summer of 2012. It is the first complete defi- ■■The ISO standard for universal accessibility nition of a set of requirements for universally accessible ■ PDF documents. Rather than applying to the PDF file for- ■Laws and regulations mat alone, these clear specifications also define compliant ■■The history of PDF/UA assistive technology and PDF reading software. ■■File format requirements In signing the UN Convention on the Rights of Dis- ■ abled Persons, many countries have chosen to work to- ■Compliant PDF programs wards building a more inclusive society. They are now ■■Assistive technology required to turn these inclusive principles into a reality ■■PDF/UA creation tools on the national level and to remove existing barriers to ■■Validating PDF/UA compliance social inclusion. One key area of activity here is in access to information and communications in the form of doc- ■■What the experts say uments – a subject which PDF/UA now stands to greatly simplify. “PDF/UA in a Nutshell” will show you just what The authors: PDF/UA is. This brochure provides a clear summary of Olaf Drümmer has played a cru- the key facts, the standard’s requirements, the latest de- cial role in the standardization of velopments and the current legal situation regarding PDF PDF/X, PDF/A, PDF/VT and accessibility, all in one place. In addition, it suggests po- PDF/UA. He is a member of sever- tential applications for the standard and lists the tools al international institutions and that can be used to create and validate PDF/UA-compli- associations: DIN, ECI, Ghent ant documents. Workgroup, PDF Association and PDF/X ready. Olaf Drümmer is CEO of callas software and axaio software. The company callas software devel- ops the Preflight functions integrated in Acrobat.

Bettina Chang is a print and media technology engineer and works as a freelance graphic de- signer and university lecturer in print and publishing. She is actively involved in the PDF accessibility sector and produces a wide range of publications in accessible PDF format using Adobe InDesign and Adobe Acrobat.