What about PDFs and downloadable documents?

PDFs that are part of your service, such as invoices, contract documents, manuals or downloadable forms, should be accessible too. The decisive format here is tagged PDF with structured headings, alt texts for images, a correct reading order, marked-up tables and a searchable text layer (not a pure scan).

Many PDFs are produced by exporting from word processing or layout programs and are not automatically accessible in the process. Scanned documents without text recognition are even completely unusable for screen readers.

We check existing documents for conformance and advise on how to generate accessible PDFs directly in the creation process going forward, often the more sustainable solution than retroactive repair. An accompanying training course for your editorial team complements this well.