Creating a document, such as a PDF that is 100% accessible can be time-consuming and difficult. 

This is just one of the many reasons why we advise against relying on PDFs to provide information.

Instead, we prefer to use webpages where possible, which the Web Team can help with. 

PDF accessibility checklist

Any PDF created for the University, both internally and externally, must meet the following criteria:

  1. Alternate text must be present for hidden form fields
  2. Alternate text should be present for link annotations
  3. Annotations must have a Content key
  4. Artifact elements must not be present inside real content
  5. Bookmarks should be utilized in long documents
  6. content-artifact
  7. Display Doc Title Key
  8. Fonts used in the document must be embedded in the document
  9. Form fields in PDF documents must include their name, role, state, and value information
  10. Formulas must have appropriate alternate text
  11. Heading content must be tagged with a heading tag and level
  12. Heading Order must be appropriate
  13. Heading Order must start with H1
  14. Images and Figures in PDF documents must have alternate text
  15. Interactive form controls must have Labels/Tooltips associated
  16. Language of the document must be specified
  17. Links must be tagged with Link tags with appropriate text object association
  18. Links must have alternate replacement text
  19. Metadata Language (Additional help coming soon)
  20. Metadata stream (Additional help coming soon)
  21. PDF document must have a document title
  22. PDF-UA identifier
  23. Real content must not be present inside an Artifact element
  24. Relevant table elements and properties must be utilized for data tables
  25. Required fields must be identified both visually and programmatically
  26. Ruby structures must be tagged with the appropriate tags (Additional help coming soon)
  27. Suspect Key must not be set to true (Additional help coming soon)
  28. Table of Content must be tagged with the appropriate tags
  29. The human language for each passage or phrase in the content must be determinable
  30. The list content must be tagged with appropriate and relevant list elements
  31. unicode-mapping
  32. Untagged Element
  33. Warichu structures must be tagged with the appropriate tags (Additional help coming soon)

General tips

Titles 

Titles provide a brief preview into the nature of the content of the document. If the document is later converted to PDF, the title entered in the Word (or Excel or PowerPoint) document properties will also carry over to the rendered PDF version

Entering a title in Microsoft Word can be done by selecting File > Info > Properties > Show Document Panel

Fonts

Avoid fancy fonts. Fonts with cursive or unusual shapes or artistic features may look pretty, but are harder to read than standard fonts.

University of Limerick's brand fonts are Saol, Inter and Formula. Alternatives for these are Cormorant Garamond (Saol), Helvetica (Inter) or Roboto Condensed (Formula).

These alternative fonts are open-source fonts and can be downloaded for free.

Colour contrast

Colour contrast refers to the readability of text against background. The colour of the text and the colour of the background can affect how easy it is to read the text.

Learn more about colour contrast, including how to test colour combinations and what UL brand colours create accessible combinations. 

A lot of the time, accessibility checkers do not test for colour contrast. This means you will need to check this separately yourself using the resources in the link above. 

Structure and headings

Using heading styles in Microsoft Word makes documents more accessible, instead of just changing font size or making it bold.

The correct way to provide structure to documents is to use ‘Word styles’, which are located under the ‘Home’ tab.

The Accessibility Hub's detailed information on headings should be adhered to. 

Bullet points, numbering and tables

Making use of these pre-set formats will further add structure to documents, making them more accessible.

Emphasising text

Unlike when creating online text content, as well as making them bold, words can be emphasised in documents by:

  • Enlarging the text
  • Highlighting the text
  • Using a different colour
  • *Putting asterisks around words or phrases*
  • Outlining the text 
  • Placing a small image next to the text, like an icon

 

  • Extra white space can also be used to separate vital pieces of text, as demonstrated here. 

 

Please note that when introducing any colour in a document, it must adhere to guidelines surrounding colour contrast. This ensures that the content is still visible to people affected by colour blindness.

A contrast checker can be used to ensure the content is accessible in this instance.

The Accessibility Hub has guidelines surrounding contrast, which should be followed. 

Table of contents

A table of contents is encouraged for documents over 10 pages. This makes information easier to find for users. If heading styles have been used correctly, creating a table of contents in Microsoft Word is very straightforward, and can be found under the References tab.

Alternative (Alt) Text

Alternative Text must be supplied for all images used in documents, and it should serve the same purpose as the image.

To add alt text to a Microsoft Word document, right-click the image and select Edit Alt Text.

See our guidelines for creating Alt Text.

Document properties

Document properties such as author, title, subject and keywords should be filled out. A link back to the website should also be provided, ideally in the document but if not, in the comments field.

Save or export to PDF

The easiest way to do this is to use the ‘Save As’ option and select ‘PDF’ in the ‘Save as type’ drop down section.

It's very important to not use the print-to-PDF function.

Accessibility features

Make sure accessibility features such as tagging are turned on when saving the document. 

Check accessibility

An accessibility checker is featured in Word 2016 that allows you to check for accessibility problems. It's found under: File > Info > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility.

If possible, PDF editing software that supports accessibility to check the accessibility of your PDF file can also be used.