Why PDF accessibility?
PDFs published on UBS websites or apps are part of our digital content. To avoid broken user journeys, we need to ensure accessibility down to the document content level.
How can I make my PDF accessible?
Accessibility begins with the structure you create in your Office document before turning it into a PDF. To make the document structure available for impaired audiences, structural information is added using tags. Tags help impaired users navigate through the PDF content. For instance, headings should be marked as such to benefit a blind user who reads the document with a screen reader.
PDF accessibility requirements
PDF accessibility requirements
The following are minimum* requirements for best results:
Document properties:
- Document title (inside document properties: description)
- Document language definition
Tags inside document:
- Headings, heading structure
- Alternative text for images
- Table headings
- Form field labels
Tip
- Accessible PDF are much better recognized and indexed by search engines. The optimization has a big impact on page ranking and accuracy of hits in search engine results – internally and externally.
- Make sure that the original document you used to create the PDF file will be available after publication. This can ensure that subsequent accessibility requirements can also be made in the future.
Reference for publisher
Files stored in AEM/Digital assets
The file name can be seen by visitors, which is why it is important to take note of the following points:
- Short, understandable designations should be used. The name should still, however, provide an indication of the document's content.
- Only lowercase letters should be used for designations.
- Special characters and spaces are not allowed to be used. Hyphens should generally be used instead.
- General designations should, as a rule, be used for the names of documents that are updated regularly to ensure the link (or multiple links) does not need to be updated for file updates.