With the deepening development of mobile internet, PDF files are increasingly gaining attention. The advent of the PDF format has significantly facilitated the presentation, transmission, and reading of document content. At the same time, there is growing awareness regarding the accessibility of PDF files and the importance of ensuring that a greater number of PDF documents can be accessed by a wider audience.
Why PDF Format is Popular
The emergence of digital documents, especially PDFs, has greatly enhanced the efficiency of content production and dissemination
The growing preference for the PDF format among users can be attributed to some of its distinctive advantages:
- Strong compatibility: Regardless of the desktop operating systems or mobile platforms being used, users need not worry about whether they can open or properly view PDF files. PDFs' cross-platform compatibility ensures that documents can be transmitted and utilized more conveniently.
- Stable formatting: Unlike various word processing software that relies on display environments for rendering, PDF files maintain the integrity of styles and formatting from the source document. This guarantees optimal content stability and completeness in different environments. Additionally, it facilitates document previewing before printing, ensuring that the printed output matches the digital version—what you see is what you get.
- Convenient transmission: The PDF format provides a higher compression rate while maintaining high content quality, making it more user-friendly for the transmission and sharing of large files without compromising content quality.
What is PDF Accessibility?
Many users require assistive technologies to perceive and read digital documents
In addition to the above-mentioned advantages that we may already be familiar with, the PDF format has a distinctive feature known as accessibility. The accessibility of PDF refers to the characteristic of its content being obtainable and easily understandable by all users. Currently, one of the most widely known standards in this field is “PDF/UA” (PDF/Universal Accessibility), developed from “ISO 14289”. This standard outlines a series of requirements and specifications for creating accessible PDF documents, ensuring that the final files are user-friendly, particularly for individuals who utilize screen readers, require enlarged text, or necessitate assistive technologies due to visual impairments. These requirements include:
- Tagging elements: Tagging different types of elements, such as headings, lists, and tables, to ensure that the software can accurately recognize all content.
- Structuring content: Utilizing logically clear and hierarchically defined headings, paragraphs, and lists to enhance the document's structure, facilitating navigation for various screen readers or assistive software.
- Adding alt text: Providing descriptive alt text for non-text content such as images, ensuring that this type of content is recognizable and readable by software.
- Enhancing color contrast: Implementing high-contrast color schemes to enable readers with reduced color perception to easily discern the content.
Accessibility Check
As more countries and regions begin to focus on the accessibility of digital documents for specific user groups, the accessibility of PDFs has become a stringent requirement for many businesses and organizations involved in digital document development. Given that definitions and guidelines for PDF accessibility vary across different standards, several organizations have subsequently released specialized tools for verifying the accessibility of PDF documents to make user validation easier. The most widely accepted and utilized tools now include PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker) and CommonLook PDF Validator. These powerful free tools not only assist users in validating PDF accessibility but also offer compliance reports for document acceptance.
PAC, officially released by the PDF/UA Foundation, is a dedicated accessibility checking tool for the PDF/UA standard. It can perform quick and accurate accessibility checks, making it one of the most common checking tools available. However, its limitation lies in its exclusive support for the PDF/UA standard. In contrast, CommonLook PDF Validator supports various widely recognized standards, including WCAG, PDF/UA, and HHS, enabling users to align more efficiently with different compliance criteria.
New Challenges Brought by the European Accessibility Act (EAA)
The accessibility of electronic content, especially in the form of documentsm, is becoming a focal point in many countries regarding the legislation that ensures the basic rights of people with disabilities and the elderly, including the European Accessibility Act (EAA).
The EAA originates from the Web Accessibility Directive (WAD) issued by the EU in 2011 targeting the public sector. Its primary objective was to ensure that people with disabilities can equally access the information and services provided by the public sector. This has made public websites, mobile applications, and electronic services more accessible to all users. The directive requires adherence to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which assist developers in designing websites and applications that are easier for users to access and use. The WAD was officially legislated in 2016, and based on this, the EU released the EAA in 2019, announcing that it will officially take effect by the end of June 2025. Its scope has expanded from initially covering web services to include digital content, spanning various sectors such as digital services, consumer electronics, e-commerce, and public sectors like banking and transportation.
In light of the imminent implementation of the EAA, a series of new challenges are emerging for the EU digital business sector. First, any business involved in digital services must reassess whether its services comply with the accessibility standards set by the EAA. This means that companies must increase their technological investments to optimize the accessibility of electronic documents, websites, and applications. Additionally, traditional business models may need to be adjusted to accommodate broader user needs, requiring companies to integrate accessibility principles into product design, marketing, and customer service.
At the same time, the regulatory risks associated with compliance are becoming more pronounced. The EAA requires EU member states to enact necessary legislation to ensure the accessibility measures outlined in the EAA are implemented. Companies that fail to meet the EAA requirements could face legal risks and potential economic losses in many EU countries. However, from another perspective, companies that comply with the EAA and excel in accessibility will have stronger market competitiveness within the EU and will benefit from greater business opportunities.
Conclusion
As the accessibility of PDF documents comes into greater focus, an increasing number of industries and clients are changing their requirements. To ensure that your digital documents are delivered in compliance with accessibility standards, it is essential to collaborate with vendors that possess extensive design expertise for accessibility. Selecting a vendor with specialized capabilities in PDF accessibility not only aids in meeting regulatory and standard requirements but also enhances user experience, ensuring that your documents can be read and understood by a broader audience. Embracing the standards for digital document accessibility is not merely a matter of adhering to regulations or market demands; it also reflects a commitment to respect and care for users, thus helping your businesses establish a responsible brand image.
