Adobe announces long-awaited PDF accessibility support on iOS and Android
This is a significant moment in the development of accessible PDFs. It is reminiscent of the day, back in 2005, when I upgraded my version of JAWS 7.0 to version 7.1, to find that headings were now supported in PDFs. Adobe's recent announcement is, I believe, as much of a landmark.
PDF accessibility and browser plug-ins
Organisations that invest in making their online PDFs accessible should be aware that much of their good work could be undone by the way their websites are configured. However, there is an easy solution.
Scripting PDF bookmarks for accessibility
One perhaps not quite so obvious way in which scripting can be used to enhance the accessibility of PDF forms is via bookmarks.
Accessible PDF footnotes and endnotes
Footnotes and endnotes in PDFs, whether created in Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign, are not very accessible, out-of-the-box. They can be made more accessible by creating links from each note reference to its respective note and back again. However, such links are not ideal, for a number of reasons. Fortunately, there is a better way, using some simple JavaScript.
The Accessible Digital Documents Company appointed a G-Cloud 9 supplier
We are delighted to announce that The Accessible Digital Documents Company Ltd has been successful in its bid to become a G-Cloud 9 supplier. We have been approved by Crown Commercial Services to offer a range of cloud support services to the public sector…
PDF/A accessibility issues
It is widely believed that compliance with PDF/A (the PDF archiving format) has no negative impact on PDF accessibility. This is broadly correct, but there are a few notable exceptions with respect to colour customisation, footnotes/endnotes, and forms.
NVDA PDF Actual Text bug
There is currently a potentially show-stopping bug in NVDA relating to the use of the Actual Text attribute in PDFs. And, now that SuperNova more or less correctly differentiates between Actual Text and Alternate Text attributes, there is a practical reason for using each of these attributes correctly.
Cabinet Office correspondence on the EU Accessibility Directive
The Cabinet Office has confirmed to us that the government intends to incorporate the recently agreed EU Accessibility Directive into UK law, despite the Brexit process. Last October we posted a report about the directive, explaining how the directive aims to make public sector websites, documents,…
vBookz PDF Voice Reader for iOS
The vBookz PDF Voice Reader app for iOS is specifically aimed at dyslexic readers, but will also be of interest to others with accessibility. It is also a useful tool for those creating accessible PDFs and looking to go beyond simply testing with screen readers.
GOV.UK assistive technology survey 2016
The results are in for the GOV.UK assistive technology survey, detailing the different types of assistive technology people are using to access the site. They are notable for a number of reasons.