[Athen] Creating Accessible PDF Forms in Word

[Karlen Communications]

Interesting.

 

I recommend not using underline, symbols and anything else to mark form controls. I never use the auto form detection in Acrobat as I find it creates more work than it saves…same with the Make Accessible Action Wizard.

 

The additional work it creates comes from when I have to go into the Content Panel and make the underline and symbols underneath the form control Artifacts, when I get errors in an accessibility full check that there are images with no Alt Text (the symbols and shapes used to indicate where a form control should go), and when I have to work with the Tags and all of the underline for all of the questions on a page are put in one <P> Tag for one question, which means that if you leave them as is, you jump around the page if you are using adaptive technology (so back to the Content Panel to make them Artifacts). 

 

The other problem with using underline and symbols in form templates is that you have to make the form controls the same size as the underline or symbols, as a form remediator, this reduces the flexibility you have in sizing the form controls to fit the type of data you are asking for. I’ve seen form authors in Word use a pretty blue dot to indicate a form control. 

 

Another issue is when you have multiline form controls and every line is identified by the auto detect tool as a separate Text form control. You need to delete most of them and expand one to cover all of the lines. The lines then become an accessibility barrier for those who want to make sure that the text they type is on the line…an impossibility but also a frustration for some of us with or without disabilities who want to “write on the line” digitally. The lines are an additional barrier as they will often cut through text that has been typed, making it difficult for someone with a visual, learning, cognitive or print disability to proofread their answer.  

 

Another issue is when you have something like “Gender (M/F) and there are two circles. You can’t really make the form control radio buttons because there would be no clear label as to which one is M and which one is F. I’d use a dropdown list in that case but if the form author puts circles in the form template, it will depend on where the circles are and if I can effectively cover them, make them artifacts and not have the form look unprofessional or wonky.

 

I’ve worked on a lot of poorly designed forms over the past 18 years and am sure Bevi and others can chime in on best practices for form design if you are the form template author.

 

I spend about an hour in my PDF form workshops going over the barriers to accessibility created when we try to add the visual cues to form templates…and the potential increase cost to clients to make the form accessible. If you are offering the form in Word as an alternate format, these visual cues should be removed anyway.

 

However, there are instances when you are not the form template author and I always leave it up to the remediator and form author to determine the best workflow for them. This is my perspective in working with clients, poorly designed forms and the need for flexibility in adding form controls to the PDF document.

 

Cheers, Karen

 

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of S A. Marositz
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 9:08 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Creating Accessible PDF Forms in Word

 

Hi Robert 

 

Everybody on here is right, you will not be able to create a form in Acrobat using a screen reader. There are a few PDF form controls however, you can create in word using Acrobat’s recognize form fields feature. They are textboxes, checkboxes  and radio buttons. Of course the end result is not entirely an accessible document but if you want to give it a try to see how it works,  here is a good tutorial. 

https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/designing-forms-auto-field-detection-adobe-acrobat

 

Here is the relevant section. 

The auto field detection feature looks for specific objects to convert to form fields. For example, underlines, text boxes, and clearly delineated tables are converted to text fields. By default, text fields are created with the font size set to Auto, which means text in the field will shrink to fit the field as data is entered. The default font is Helvetica. Stroked square-, circular-, or diamond-shaped objects indicate check boxes. Circular objects or numbered buttons adjacent to specific text labels indicate radio buttons, and the word signature is interpreted as a digital signature field. 

 

I hope this helps

Stephen Alexander Marositz JD, CPACC
Assistive Technology Specialist, Pasadena City College
Phone: (626) 585-7242

 

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of Karlen Communications
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2018 2:56 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: Re: [Athen] Creating Accessible PDF Forms in Word

 

You would use ABBYY FineReader if you are starting the form from a scanned image.

 

Bevi is correct about current versions of InDesign as a tool for accessible forms, however, desktop publishing authoring tools aren't accessible either. You are working with frames, threading frames so that content flows and AT doesn't support the content in the frames or the placement and sizing of frames.

 

Cheers, Karen

Sent from my iPad


On Sep 17, 2018, at 5:11 PM, Robert Spangler <rspangler1 at udayton.edu <mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu> > wrote:

OK so you're saying that one would have to do this directly using Adobe Acrobat Pro or Abbyy FineReader?

I am assuming that this process would not be accessible since it involves editing a PDF.

 

 

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 5:09 PM Karlen Communications <info at karlencommunications.com <mailto:info at karlencommunications.com> > wrote:

As far as I know, you have to add the form controls in the PDF document. Neither the old ActiveX or the newer Content Controls are converted as form controls in a PDF document.

 

Cheers, Karen

Sent from my iPad


On Sep 17, 2018, at 4:44 PM, Robert Spangler <rspangler1 at udayton.edu <mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu> > wrote:

Hello:

 

I am able to create forms with fields and other controls by using the developer tab, which I had to enable in Word options.  I am able to create these forms then use the restrict editing feature to make them fillable only.  When I go to save as PDF, however, the fields are not retained.  Is it possible to create fillable PDF forms in Word and, if so, could someone please explain?  I understand that Adobe Pro could also be used to do this but if we can do it from Word this would be better.  Thanks!


 

-- 

Robert Spangler
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-- 

Robert Spangler
Disability Services Technical Support Specialist
rspangler1 at udayton.edu <mailto:rspangler1 at udayton.edu> 
Office of Learning Resources (OLR) - RL 023
Ryan C. Harris Learning & Teaching Center (LTC)
University of Dayton  | 300 College Park  |  Dayton, Ohio 45469-1302 
Phone: 937-229-2066

Fax: 937-229-3270

Ohio Relay: 711 (available for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing)

Web Site: http://go.udayton.edu/learning <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fgo.udayton.edu%2flearning&c=E,1,2irOR7hcCF_hxq4wkxCWyLiPECRJ5JeSyjnHOBe2BUCQn2x546vZJTbgmujK0gmNI8rj5xwJXn0OVzYRHlajbH_tbGKhwIeFkFYrg9tmMov868g,&typo=1> 

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