PDF

Awareness: The document may look like text, but it is an image; the content is unsearchable and unusable for screen reading software

Recommended solution: Look for the original document in a text format.

Less effective option: Make sure the PDF file is scanned with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. Otherwise, print out a copy and scan the printout with OCR technology. Open the file with Adobe Acrobat Pro. Choose Edit PDF in the menu on the right. The text in the PDF file could be copied and pasted directly onto the palette in Learning Management System. Submit when the texted is transferred over.

Awareness: Contextual structure is necessary for enabling technology to interpret the document

Recommended solution: Look for the original document in text format and save it as a PDF file, preferably using PDF maker

Less effective option: On Adobe Acrobat Pro, right click on Navigation Pane and add the Tags button.

Click the Tags icon on the Pane, “No Tags available” might be indicated. Choose the Tagging Options and Add Tags to Document.

Click the Tag icon on the Pane. The tags for the document become available. Adjust the tags, if necessary, to make them meaningful. ***Beware of that other issues such as missing alternative description or table heading could appear after tagging.

Awareness: A clear description of an image helps better understand the purpose of its presence

Recommended solution: When a PDF file has many images, it is usually created from other source such as a PowerPoint presentation. In that case, making adjustments on the original source file and then saving it in PDF format would be more effective than improving this existing PDF file.

Less effective option: Improving this current PDF file using Adobe Acrobat Pro. Right click on Navigation Pane and add the Tag button. Click the Tag icon on the Pane and find the image of interest. When the image name is highlighted, the image itself in the document has a blue box surrounding it to indicate the selection.

Right click the name and choose Properties... a pop-up window will appear. Choose the Tag tab and enter Alternative Text. Click close. Save the document.

Awareness: The top row of a table typically helps identify the content of the columns

Solution: On Adobe Acrobat Pro, right click on Navigation Pane and add the Tag button. Click the Tag icon on the Pane and find the header row. If left click the (table row tag), the top row for the table entries would be highlighted in blue. For example, the computer file table below has the header row (Date and File Type) highlighted.

Right click the tag and choose Properties... an Object Properties pop-up window will appear. Choose the Tag tab and select Table Header Cell for the Type. Click close. Save the document. The tag should be changed to to indicate the heading for the table.

Awareness: Headings are indicators of what text is most important on the page

Solution: The most important idea or chapter must start at Level 1. On Adobe Acrobat Pro, right click on Navigation Pane and add the Order button. Click the Order icon and right click the chapter to show the order options. Choose Tag as Heading 1 and save the file.

Awareness: PDF title is the document title as for the PDF window

Solution: At the menu, click Files. Choose Properties… Description tab should be the default. Enter a meaningful title for the PDF document in the Title: box and click OK to accept.

Awareness: Screen reader may rely on language settings to determine how to process or pronounce the text in the document

Solution: At the menu, click Files. Choose Properties… Go to the Advanced tab. Choose the desired language under Reading Options and click OK to accept.

Awareness: Headings are indicators of what text is most important on the page

Solution: The most important idea or chapter must start at Level 1. On Adobe Acrobat Pro, right click on Navigation Pane and add the Order button. Click the Order icon and right click the text of interest to show the order options. Choose Tag as Heading 1 and save the file.

Awareness: Headings are indicators of what text is most important on the page

Solution: The most important idea must start at Level 1. On Adobe Acrobat Pro, right click on Navigation Pane and add the Order button. Click the Order icon and right click the most important text (typically the chapter) to show the order panel. Select Tag as Heading 1. Repeat this procedure for sections within as Heading 2 and so on. The order must be logical. Avoid skipping any heading.

Awareness: Some font colors may not meet the minimum text:background contrast ratio of 4.5:1 stated in the Success Criterion 1.4.6 in Web Content Accessibility Guide (WCAG) 2.0 Solution: Edit the PDF file using Adobe Acrobat: (1) either right click the file name in File Explorer or

(2) open the file in Adobe Acrobat and choose Edit PDF on the right (the menu could be hidden; sometimes it requires to click the arrow to show the menu)

Awareness: Some font colors may not meet the minimum text:background contrast ratio of 4.5:1 stated in the Success Criterion 1.4.6 in Web Content Accessibility Guide (WCAG) 2.0

Solution: Find the original Word file that was used to create this PDF file. Modify the color of the speech bubbles in the original Word file, save it as a new Word file, and then recreate the PDF file.