Creating Accessible PDF Forms: A Comprehensive Guide

In today’s digital age, ensuring that your documents are accessible to all users is a necessity. One particular area where accessibility can significantly improve user experience is in PDF forms. This blog post will walk you through the process of creating accessible PDF forms, which not only helps make your forms user-friendly but also aligns your documents with universal design principles.

Video overview:

Why Creating Accessible PDF Forms Matters

Accessibility in the world of technology ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can access, interact with, and benefit from the digital world. When you create accessible PDF forms, you are ensuring that your documents can be used by a wider range of people, including those with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments.

Steps for Creating Accessible PDF Forms

The process of creating accessible PDF forms involves several steps, each of which contributes to making your document more accessible and user-friendly. Here are some key steps:

Make the PDF accessible before adding the form fields

Before adding form fields, you should ensure that the base document is accessible. This includes adding headings and other important tags to the document.

Rather have someone else do this for you?

Step 1 – Get the form fields in the document

There are two ways to do this. You can use the Prepare Form option in the tools section. Acrobat will automatically detect form fields.

Or, you can manually add the form fields

In the “Prepare Form” tool, select on the type of field you want to add (e.g., “Add a Text Field”).

Prepare form options

Click and drag on the document where you want to place the field

Sample form field on a page

Step 2 – Tag all annotation (form fields)

Missing form annotations

I like to add a placeholder tag to add all of the annotations in one location.

  1. In the “Tags” panel, right-click where you want to add the placeholder.
  2. Click “New Tag” and create something that will stand out. In this example, I use the word PLACE

Now we need to find the actual annotation. Make sure to select that new tag you made

Options: Find Unmarked Annotations

In the tags menu > select the options button > select Find

Options > Find Unmarked Annotations.” Acrobat will identify and highlight any unmarked annotations.

unmarked annotations


Then, select tag element.

Step 3 – Moving the Form Objects to fix reading order

In the “Tags” panel, you can select and drag tags to rearrange them to the correct location. Move each Form-OBJR into the correct location. If you did it correctly, all the “annotations” will be in the placeholder tag you created.

Moving tags

Creating a Form Parent Tag

  1. In the “Tags” panel, right-click on the tag where you want to add the parent tag.
  2. Select “New Tag.” This creates a new tag under the selected tag.
  3. Select Form
  4. Click “OK.” The new parent tag has been created.

This is what the tags panel should look like

P tag with form container

Step 4 – Add Form Descriptions / Tool Tips

  1. Right-click on the form field in the document.
  2. Select “Properties.”
  3. In the “General” tab of the dialog box that opens, fill in the “Tooltip” field. This text will be read by screen readers to describe the form field.
The tool tip

Step 5 – Final step Test Reading Order with Keyboard

Ensure that the tab order is logical and matches the visual order:

  1. Click somewhere on the first page of your document.
  2. Press the “Tab” key repeatedly to navigate through the form fields and ensure the order makes sense.

Thats it!

Making Tables Accessible in Adobe Acrobat Pro – A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the Accessibility Guy channel. Today we’re going to be looking all about table accessibility in Adobe Acrobat Pro. We will cover topics like using the reading order tool to tag individual cells, setting the scope of individual cells, fixing row and column-span problems, and adding associated header IDs for a header and data cell connection.

Utilizing the Reading Order Tool for Tagging Cells

To begin, launch the reading order tool by selecting the accessibility button and then choosing “Reading Order.” You may want to deselect “Show table cells” and “Show tables and figures” to make it easier to see the text. Select the text that should be together and click on “Text Paragraph” to group them.

Cleaning Up the Tags Panel

Make sure all cells are in the correct row by going through the tags, cutting and pasting them to the right location when needed. Set all cells in the first row as table data cells, and change any incorrectly labeled paragraph tags to table data cell tags. Properly format all table rows, ensuring that table header (TH) and table data (TD) cells contain the contents of the corresponding cell.

Running the Accessibility Checker

Run the accessibility checker to identify any issues with rows and columns in your table. If the table fails regularity, check for any merged cells that may need column and row span adjustments. After fixing any issues, run the accessibility checker again to ensure regularity is passing.

Setting the Scope of Table Headers

With the reading order tool open, right-click on the table and select “Table Editor.” Select all table header cells at the top of the table, right-click and select “Table Cell Properties,” and change the scope from none to “Column.” If you have table headers on the row side, you can set the scope to “Row” as needed.

Making a Data Connection Between Table Headers and Contents

Right-click in the table and select “Table Editor,” followed by “Auto Generate Header Cell IDs.” This will provide a name for each heading tag. For each group of table data cells, right-click and select “Table Cell Properties.” Add the corresponding header ID to the “Associated Header Cell IDs” section.

Conclusion

This comprehensive guide has demonstrated how to make tables accessible in Adobe Acrobat Pro using various tools, including the reading order tool, setting scope, and more. By following these best practices, you can ensure your tables are accessible to all users. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more personalized tips and instructions on accessibility best practices.