a11yTips

Ensure the default reading order in PDF document makes sense

Make sure the reading order of PDF content remains meaningful and logical

It is not uncommon to stumble on PDF documents that display content in a certain visual order that is both meaningful and logical, but convey something radically different when the same content is read aloud by assistive technologies. While sighted users determine the logical order of PDF content based on the document’s layout, non-sighted keyboard and assistive technology users have no choice but to determine the logical order of the document by sequentially going through its underlying code structure. When this underlying structure is out of sequence, keyboard and assistive technology users may struggle to understand the content, or how its different parts are interconnected. To ensure the reading order of PDF content makes sense to everyone, authors need to pay attention to the content order once it’s been converted to PDF.

To do so, simply structure the content correctly in the authoring tool used to create the document, and thoroughly validate how it is rendered by assistive technologies, such as screen readers before proceeding to create the tagged PDF. While documents with complex page layouts including multi columns, complex graphics, data tables, footnotes, side-bars, form controls, and so on may result in PDF documents that present reading order issues, documents with much simpler layouts will usually convert quite efficiently to PDF and retain a logical order when read aloud. Whenever inconsistencies occur, issues must then be corrected with PDF repair tools that provide accessibility support.

User Story

As a user using assistive technology, I want to make sense of the content and how it is presented, so that I can consume it efficiently, regardless of the tools I am using.

Simple Code Example

Not Applicable

Testing Methodology

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro, go to the Order navigation pane and, looking at the content tree, determine if the order in which the content is presented reflects the author’s intended logical reading order. Then, using a screen reader or a tool that reads content aloud, listen to the content of the page and determine if the order in which it is read yields the same meaning.

Specification Details