TUTORIALS
Review Documents
- Review Tags
- Document Language
- Assess Reading Order
- Accessibility Reports
Repair Documents
- Adding Alt Text to an Image
- Designating Items Correctly
- Identifying Table Headers
- Creating Accessible Links
- Set Security
Scanned Documents
- Accessible PDF from Scanner
- OCR
From an accessibility perspective, LiveCycle Designer provides form authors with the ability to designate content headings, add the appropriate information necessary to support assistive computer technologies, and control the logical reading order/tab order of the form. One advantage to LiveCycle Designer is that the accessibility information can be added during form creation without requiring the author to use a separate application to add the necessary accessibility information. This allows forms that require periodic updating to be changed without returning to the original form document, making the content changes, converting to PDF, and then adding the form fields again.
The Accessibility panel allows form authors to add the appropriate accessibility information to document content and form fields in order to improve PDF form accessibility. The Accessibility panel can be accessed by selecting Window from the menu bar, and then choosing Accessibility (hotkey = Shift + F6). The Accessibility panel will vary its editable regions depending on the text element or form field selected in the page layout window.
For most form fields, there is a Tool Tip option, Screen-Reader Precedence option, and Custom Screen-Reader Text option that can be used in different combinations. The Screen-Reader Precedence option and the Custom Screen-Reader Text region can be used when you wish to specify custom information to individuals using screen-reader technology. The current situation is that if accessibility information is entered into the Tool Tip region, the Custom Screen-Reader Text region, and the Screen-Reader Precedence are set to Custom Text, only the information in the Custom Screen-Reader region will be used to communicate with assistive computer technologies. However, the text in the Custom Screen-Reader Text region will also be shown visually on the PDF form when the user hovers the mouse in that specific form field, not the information in the Tool Tip text region.
Screen-readers will currently check for accessibility content in the following order: Custom Text > Tool Tip > Form Caption > Form Name > None. As soon as information is available, the screen-reader will communicate this information to the user and stop checking for additional accessibility content. Thus, by entering information into the Tool Tip field, it is not necessary to adjust the Screen-Reader Precedence option for each input field. To develop forms that are usable by all individuals, the recommendation is to add the appropriate accessibility information into the Tool Tip region with the understanding this will also be visually discernible on the PDF form.
Headings can be used to identify sections and provide structure to the document content. The advantage of headings from an accessibility perspective is that some assistive computer technologies can identify headings in a document, and allow the user to navigate from heading element to heading element. This provides a mechanism to "jump" through the content without having to read each passage of text.
Only set appropriate content as a heading. For instance, a paragraph of text would not necessarily be a heading in a document, but the name of a section could be a heading.
When creating form fields, use the following to ensure that your form elements are accessible.
Text Field
From the Accessibility panel (Window > Accessibility),
Radio Button
Check Box
List or Combo Box
Button Controls
Text (Provides form instructions or related information)
In LiveCycle Designer, the Tab Order does more than just specify how a user would navigate through a PDF form with the keyboard. The Tab Order allows the form author to control the logical reading order of the document, including all text regions and form input fields. When setting the tab order in a LiveCycle Designer form, it is important to take note of the various text elements on the page and include those elements along with the form input fields in order to ensure a logical document reading order.
To establish a tab order,
In Adobe Acrobat, confirm the reading order by saving the document as a text file, using assistive computer technology, or using the Read Out Loud function on the PDF form. If you find any problems with the reading order, return to the Adobe LiveCycle Designer interface and alter the reading order as necessary.
If you have difficulty accessing any material on this site or need an alternate format, or you just have questions and want to give feedback, contact the Accessible Technology Initiative.
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