PDF Remediation

To remediate a PDF is to make it accessible and ADA-compliant--the goal being that ALL individuals, regardless of any perceived disability, have an equal opportunity to access web content and obtain the same user experience.

Should you use a PDF?

PDF is great for distributing documents that need to be printed. But according to usability expert Jakob Nielsen, that's all it's good for. He states, "No matter how tempting it might be, you should never use PDF for content that you expect users to read online. In fact, forcing users to browse PDF documents makes your website's usability about 300% worse relative to HTML pages." Thus, we always encourage people to eliminate the need for PDF as much as possible.

For those who are unaware, PDF files are not typically created in Acrobat. They are usually created in another program and then converted to PDF. 

Watch these videos Microsoft has for people who want to create more accessible documents in general. By combining good practices when creating source documents and then converting them to PDF, it should make those documents easier (and therefore less expensive) to remediate using professional services.

• For Microsoft documents use the built-in accessibility checkers in Microsoft.
• For PDFs, use Adobe Acrobat accessibility tools, described in this excellent online resource by WebAim.
• Finally, you can check PDF accessibility most accurately using PAC 2021 (only for Windows, unfortunately).

Alternatives to PDFs

• Use HTML (i.e., web page) to render the information.
  This is frequently the simplest option and also the most desirable. This method is not only more accessible to people using screen readers, it is also more user-friendly for people accessing the information on a phone or other mobile device; in short, it is optimal for everyone.
• If a form, convert the information to an online form using Drupal forms or Qualtrics.

If you must post a PDF online, the document must be accessible OR the same information rendered in HTML must accompany it.