[Athen] Creating Accessible PDF Forms in Word

Karlen Communications info at karlencommunications.com
Tue Sep 18 06:07:57 PDT 2018


I’ve not used ABBYY FineReader to create forms from scanned images so am not sure if you can add the form controls and their Tooltips/properties in FineReader and then save as a tagged PDF. I have to upgrade my ABBYY PDF Transformer to FineReader. On my expanding list of things to do.



Yes, the Tags are the “markup” and if you save your Word document as a tagged PDF using either the Acrobat Ribbon (need to have Acrobat Pro DC installed) or by pressing F12 and choosing PDF as the file type then activating the Options button (Alt + letter O) to make sure that Headings are used for Bookmarks in the PDF before saving, you end up with a tagged PDF. It is the Tags that make a PDF accessible.



There is usually not a lot of remediation but you do have to check the Tags to make sure that they are correct (part of your Quality Assurance process). As I mentioned, there may also be lines and symbols causing accessibility check errors that need to be fixed.



For forms, it is not good enough to add the <Form> Tags anywhere in the Tags Tree. The <Form> Tags must be in the <P> Tag where the question is so that someone using a screen reader or Text-to-Speech tool will be able to read the text of the question associated with the form field. While most of us use either a list of form controls or the Tab/Shift + Tab or other keyboard commands to zip around forms, there are times when you need to look at the question or instructional text in a form. This is why the <Form> Tag must be with the question.



If you start with an untagged PDF, add the form controls and then Tag the document in Acrobat, most of the form annotations’/the form controls will be lumped into one <Form> Tag. This means that those using adaptive technology will move through the form controls but the form controls will have no real relationship to the question being asked. Think of it like reading all the form fields then going back and reading all the questions or instructional text…separate but on the same page with no relationship to each other then trying to remember which form field goes with which question. For people with learning, cognitive or print disabilities, it is essential to have the text of a question directly related/associated with the form field for that question. This is done in the Tags Tree.



When the tagging tool goes through an untagged PDF document, because you are dealing with a different document layout (a form), chunks of text can be lumped together. Each question should have its own <P> Tag for easy reading, establishing a logical reading order and to allow you to add the correct <Form> Tag for the question.



For Yes/No questions, the words Yes and No need to be separated in the <P> Tag so that the radio buttons can be inserted between them with the correct radio button for the Yes and No text. For example, you have the question “Gender” followed by the word “Male” followed by the radio button for male, followed by the text “Female” followed by the radio button for female. That is the logical reading order of the content for that question based on the visual positioning of the text on the page.



The ToolTips help us identify that we are in the right form control for the question, and we can use them to quickly fill out the form, but we also need access to the text of the form so that we can refer to it if we need or want to.



Cheers, Karen



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Robert Spangler
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2018 8:39 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Creating Accessible PDF Forms in Word



When you say save it as a tagged PDF, is this something you're doing in Word? Also, trying to wrap my mind around tagged PDF - is this when you use markup tags like in HTML to designate paragraphs, headings and such? Finally, if it's just a form, what remediation would be needed?



Thanks for everyone's responses!





On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 5:38 PM Karlen Communications <info at karlencommunications.com <mailto:info at karlencommunications.com> > wrote:

I create the form template in Word, save it as a tagged PDF, make any remediation and then add the form controls. I find this saves time.



No, the process is not accessible because of AT being in virtual view. It is a visual and mouse dependent activity.



I have a self paced online course on how to create accessible PDF forms, but again the process is not accessible.

https://karen-mccall.teachable.com/p/accessible-fillable-pdf-forms



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
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

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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

_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu>
http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list

_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
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http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list






--

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

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