Testing your PDFs

- When we discuss remediation, there's a lot of talk about how to test your PDF files for accessibility. There's the Acrobat Accessibility Checker. There's the PAC 2.0 Checker. And there are standards in development such as PDF/UA for determining when a file is valid. But no matter what tool you use, there's no better method than having someone actually read the document using screen reading software, such as Jaws, NVDA, or whatever other tool that visually or mobility impaired users are likely to use.

As I've shown in my other courses, a document can validate just fine, but still not be correct. I recently had the pleasure of discussing the topic of accessible PDF files with a user who is visually impaired. He asked me how I checked my PDF documents, and I explained to him that I used the checkers that were available to me to verify that they were compliant. He asked me how the checker knows how well the file can be read. I didn't have an answer for him. My point here is that there's no better way to verify that a file can be read correctly than to actually read it using accessibility software and hardware.

Now not everyone has the capability to do this to every document. But it's a great way to determine how accessible a document is, and it's a great way to learn what works and what doesn't when remediating the types documents common to your organization. So remember, whenever you're remediating PDF documents, keep accessibility in mind, and the experience from the aspect of a visually impaired user.