PDFs can and must comply with Section 508 every bit as much as the HTML pages that link to them.- Section 508 applies to both Federal government agencies AND Federal contractors. State and local governments are also adopting similar measures.
- Section 508 compliance is most easily achieved when PDF documents are authored in an accessible fashion. Correction of poor document structure after the author is "finished" radically increases the difficulty of achieving compliance.
- It is (or should be) part of the author's job to provide develop alternate text for the images they use.
- Section 508 is incomplete. For example, Heading and List tags aren't required under Section 508, but both are vital for effective navigation by screen-reader of complex or longer documents. Be sure to insist on these tags!
- Section 508 is silent regarding footnotes and endnotes, leading many users to tag this content based on where it appears on the page, not inline with the text.
- Adobe Acrobat's “Add Tags to Document" feature does not make a PDF comply with Section 508, since it cannot ensure correct text flow, add alternate text to graphics or validate table structure, among other limitations. Learn more.
- Adobe Acrobat's Accessibility Checker cannot verify compliance with Section 508, since among other limitations, it is incapable of verifying correct text flow. Learn more.
- Adobe Acrobat's Read Out Loud feature cannot be used to verify compliance with Section 508 since it cannot represent the document structure (tags). Learn more.
- Standard PDF forms and Designer/XFA forms can both comply with Section 508, however only standard Acrobat forms can utilize existing document structures provided by external authoring applications while XFA forms have to be "static" to comply. Learn more.
Got more questions about PDF and Section 508, or need some help with your own files? Contact us to learn about our Section 508 services for PDF.
