Creating accessible PDFs

If you will be creating a document that will be shared digitally please ensure you are familiar with accessibility principles. We have a guide that highlights key areas of concern and practices that we adhere to.

Designing a PDF document

Brand Guidelines

Please ensure you read and understand our brand guidelines. Please ask the project manager to share with you our brand guidelines for individual campaigns if working on something that is not part of the main CIWF brand eg END.IT, ReThinking Fish, EggTrack, ChickenTrack, Better Chicken, ETCA etc.

Any documents created to be shared digitally should be created to be accessible to at least AA accessibility standards. If using non-CIWF branded colour pallets, please have them checked with the CIWF Digital Team before creation begins.

Logos

Logo usage details are provided in our brand guidelines. How they should be used and what is not permitted.

Fonts

For our main CIWF branded documents please use FRUTIGER or OSWALD for headings and MONTSERRAT for body copy. Other campaign brands may vary but should still comply with at least AA accessibility standards.

Checklist

This is a helpful checklist to keep in mind when creating your PDF document:

• Follow brand guidelines on logo use and use CIWF digital fonts. Use brand/campaign colours/colour palettes.
• Body text needs to be min 16px or 12pts (footnotes can be 14px or 10.5pts).
• Add alt text to all images, tables, figures and graphics (description or mark as decorative if not illustrating anything).
• Add legible photo credits where required in footnote-size text.
• Nest headings correctly.
• Do not run headings/text on their sides vertically. If this is desired as a design element and only if it's non-informative text make it an image so screen readers are not confused.
• Do not design content using tables and nested tables or leave table cells empty. This confuses screen readers.
• Do not design the document using double page spreads. PDF's should be in single pages and portrait format for digital consumption.
• Check colour contrast meets accessibility AA. standards. Particularly when text is overlaid on a coloured background or photo.
• If the document is large, add a clickable content list or table of bookmarks.
• PDF documents should be checked close to the final draft stage by the CIWF Digital Team so any accessibility issues or brand issues can be flagged and corrected.
• Do not flatten the PDF when exporting it and do not export/save for print.
• Run an accessibility checker in your design tool and check the exported PDF in Adobe Acrobat. Resolve any issues flagged.
• Ensure the document is not more than 2MB in size for digital use.

Check the pdf document is accessible

Accessible PDFS will have the following features:

• Contain tags: alt text on images and tables, figures, and hyperlinks
• Contain searchable text: a document that consists of scanned images of text is not accessible and will not be able to be read by screen readers. Use OCR to convert scanned images of text into a readable document.
• Reading order and document structure: apply styles, tags, and headings to tables to allow screen readings to make sense of the content.
• Searchable and navigable content: using lists, headings, bookmarks, linked table of contents.
• Specified language: specify the document language so screen readers know what language to read the document in.
• Correct security settings: check security restrictions don’t interfere with the assistive technology

Acrobat

It is recommended practice to use Acrobat to create, convert or check accessible PDF’s making use of the accessibility tools and following the principles outlined above.

Useful tools in Acrobat you should use include:

• Auto tag document: automatically creates tags for the document. You can also use the "Add Tags To Document" command in the Accessibility Tool. Use the tag tree to check items are grouped correctly.
• Reading options: sets reading options for the document. Use the "Touch Up Reading Order" tool to check the reading order. You can move item orders if necessary. Each highlighted region is numbered and highlights in grey or coloured blocks. The numbers represent the regions placement in the page reading order. Note: sometimes changing the reading order can make content disappear. This is often due to elements moving behind colour blocks or table structures. Edit text to make content visible again.
• Full check: runs a full 33 point check for accessibility issues in the document.
• Accessibility report: creates a report of errors and warnings found in the document.
• Add metadata: fill in the title, author, subject, and keywords fields within the "File/Document Properties/Description" area. Include the language the document is written in within the keywords field. Keywords should be separated by a comma and a space. In the “Advanced” section check the tagged section says “yes”.
• Assign table headers: manually check table headers. Each table row (TR) should contain at least one table header (TH) that represents the data in the cells (TD) in each column.
• Images: ensure all images have alt text or are marked as artifacts. Alt tags should be descriptive but brief (up to 140 characters). For decorative images use “background” in the "Touch Up Reading Order" panel and tags.
• Articles panel: use the "Article Panel" to group related content together such as images with related copy.
• Bookmarks: add "Bookmarks" for documents with multiple articles to allow users to get to the content they want quickly.
• Test links: check through the document to ensure all hyperlinks are working. Please note: urls wrapping on more than one line will sometimes break.
• Use Reflow: when documents have text displayed in a column format, use Reflow to check the reading order is correct by viewing temporarily as a single column.
• Save frequently: avoid losing work by saving regularly.

Finally, once you think you have made your document accessible, manually test the document by opening it with a screen reader. Turn off your monitor or look away from the screen while the reader works through the document and check that it is conveyed in the order and way you want it to be conveyed.