Module 2 Working With Popular Applications to Create Accessible PDF Files

This Module addresses those situations where you are working with a software application and you want to create an accessible PDF file using the application. Typically these applications are either word processing applications (such as Microsoft Word) or desktop publishing applications such as Adobe InDesign CS. While all applications capable of printing can create a PDF file, not all of them can create a properly tagged accessible PDF file. This module discusses the differences between these two types of applications. It also shows you where to find the settings and dialogs for generating accessible PDF from a number of popular software applications. Note that some of these applications are not from Adobe Systems and others require the use of software available from Adobe.

Whether you're publishing a document in HTML, Adobe PDF, or some other format, creating accessible documents requires much more than simply representing the original document accurately. Sighted people can look at a printed page and easily discern the difference between titles, subtitles, columns of text, headers, footers, and so on. Visual clues, such as location of the text on the page, bold text, and large font sizes help them determine the structure of a document so that they can read and navigate it easily.

Assistive technologies such as screen readers can't depend on these visual clues. Instead, they rely on the underlying computer-based information to provide that same structure. As a result, making documents accessible depends on two things:

Authoring the original documents so that they contain not just content (such as the text in the document) but also information about the structure of the content (such as how the text flows within the page and from page to page). Tagging is how this tutorial refers to the mechanism of specifying structure and logical read order.

Using publishing tools and techniques that can retain and encode both the content and the structure so that they can be interpreted by screen readers and other assistive technology.

These same requirements apply to any type of publishing environment, regardless of the file format or application. If you want to make it possible for people with screen readers to navigate documents correctly, the underlying structural information must be present