PDF Accessibility
Defining PDF Accessibility
Article Contents
- Current page: Page 1: Defining PDF Accessibility
- Page 2: Converting documents to PDF
- Page 3: Acrobat and Accessibility
Adobe, Acrobat, and PDF
Before discussing the accessibility of PDF files, it is important to distinguish between Adobe, Acrobat and PDF. Sometimes you will hear them used interchangeably, but they are not the same.
- Adobe is a company; they are the creators of Acrobat.
- Acrobat is a tool for creating, editing and viewing PDF files.
- PDF is a format or type of document. It stands for Portable Document Format. The PDF format was created by Adobe.
A good comparison to Adobe, Acrobat, and PDF is Microsoft, Word, and doc.
Note
Adobe Reader is a free utility that allows you to read and save, but not edit, PDF files. Read more about Adobe Reader and Accessibility.
PDF Tags
When people talk about "accessible" PDF files, they usually mean "tagged" PDF files, even though there is more to an accessible PDF than tags. PDF tags provide a structured, textual representation of the PDF that is presented to screen readers. They exist for accessibility purposes only and have no visible effect on the PDF file.
HTML tags and PDF tags often use similar tag names and organization structures, but they really are quite different. For one thing, it is impossible to insert PDF tags in "code" view like you can with HTML. Still, if you are comfortable with HTML, you will probably have an easier time creating and editing tagged PDF files.
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