{"id":21346,"date":"2026-01-20T18:39:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T23:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/?p=21346"},"modified":"2026-04-08T07:19:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:19:30","slug":"yes-its-portable-but-is-it-accessible-pdfs-and-a11y","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/2026\/yes-its-portable-but-is-it-accessible-pdfs-and-a11y\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes it\u2019s portable, but is it accessible? PDFs and a11y"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Yes it\u2019s portable, but is it accessible? PDFs and a11y\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

Portable Document Files (PDFs) \u2013 we rely on them to convey a lot of information at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´. They are very useful – for the appropriate purposes, such as ensuring that information is presented in the same way wherever it appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, PDFs can be filled with pitfalls, especially in terms of accessibility. Some people think PDFs should only be used very sparingly, including the grandparent of web usability, Jakob Nielsen<\/a>. He has been saying this for 25 years. In this 2020 article with collaborator Anna Kaley, you can find their thoughts on why not to use PDFs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also watch this video about accessible PDFs<\/a>, which summarizes everything we say below (plus more), but which comes directly from someone with lived experience of this subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes a document accessible?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Clearly written language<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As with writing, for the web the key is clear and succinct language. Make sure your important message comes first. If all the information is of equal relevance then make sure the writing is well organized (see below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also ensure the language for the document is set \u2013 this ensures what you write is pronounced by a screen reader in a consistent and comprehensible manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Correctly formed headings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If there is one way to make a PDF more accessible, it is the use of headings. In exactly the same way web pages, PDFs must have a hierarchical structure, using headings. As with the web, screen readers can interpret a document that is structured properly very easily. And this makes the document more accessible for everyone<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consistency in document layout<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Laying out content in sporadic ways means it is harder to scan both visually and technically. Never uses spaces or empty lines (that is, the Return key) to create extra whitespace in the document. In addition, tables must never be used for content layout. The only use for table is to present data\/information in an organized and accessible way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appropriately tagged images<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Just as with web pages, images in PDFs need to have alternative text, if it is required. It should describe the image in a way that is useful. For example, a photograph of a person mentioned in the page should not just say a photo of Jane Doe<\/em>. It is important to make it clear what the person looks like, for example, Jane Doe is a young black woman with close cut dark hair. <\/em>Do not assign alt text to purely decorative images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And don’t use images to convey textual information – exactly the same as with web pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of the right tools<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whichever software you use, make sure that it has accessibility features. Most of us use Microsoft Word to create PDFs. You can find useful resources on accessible PDFs<\/a> on the Microsoft website. One key part of creating PDFs from Word documents is to ensure you export to PDF<\/strong> and not print to PDF<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is straightforward to create accessible documents when you have the right tools and knowledge. Remember also to ask, does this content need to be in a PDF in the first place? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Portable Document Files (PDFs) \u2013 we rely on them to convey a lot of information at ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´. They are very useful – for the appropriate purposes, such as ensuring that information is presented in the same way wherever it appears. However, PDFs can be filled with pitfalls, especially in terms of accessibility. Some people think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":21347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[197,1,392],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accessibility","category-general","category-moved"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21346"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21446,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21346\/revisions\/21446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/webservices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}