PDF Document Management Software, Services & Support

PDF/UA Introduced at ATIA

by Duff Johnson

Thursday, October 28, 2010

The latest International Standard for PDF is almost here!

Today in Schaumburg, near Chicago, Illinois, Adobe's Greg Pisocky, Appligent's Duff Johnson and Microsoft's Cherie Ekholm together offered a presentation describing ISO/DIS 14289, better known as PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility).

This page includes a very basic overview of the new Standard. Scroll down for the ATIA presentation.

 The Purpose of PDF/UA 

ISO/DIS 14289-1 (part one) is not an implementation guide, Best Practices document or a manual for end-users. It's directed at software developers, and provides the following:

• Identifies elements in ISO 32000-1:2008 (the PDF specification) relevant to accessibility 
• Specifies valid implementation of such elements in conforming files 
• Specifies requirements for conforming PDF readers 
• Specifies requirements for conforming Assistive Technology (AT) 

In particular, this presentation is intended to introduce developers to PDF/UA. It covers:

• The History, Purpose, Value & Benefits of PDF/UA
• Key Terms
• ISO 14289-1 by Section
• Relationship to ISO 32000 (PDF), ISO 19005 (PDF/A) & WCAG 2.0
• Implementers Guide and Best Practices
• Beyond ISO 14289-1 

File Format Requirements

ISO/DIS 14289-1 will make the following stipulations for conforming PDF files:

• All real content shall be tagged. Artifacts shall not be tagged 
• Content shall be marked in the structure tree with semanticallyappropriate tags in a logical reading order 
• All structure types in use shall be standard or mapped to standard 
• Information shall not be conveyed by contrast, colour, format or layout, nor by combinations thereof, unless the content is tagged toreflect all intended meaning 
• Dynamic XFA forms shall not be used

Conforming Reader Requirements

The vast majority of today's PDF viewing software cannot support accessible PDF. PDF/UA sets a firm standard for software developers who wish to produce ISO 14289-1 conforming readers:

• Shall have the ability to process all structure types, attributes and keyvalues in this specification 
• Shall have the ability to process artifacts (content outside of the document’s logical structure) 
• Shall make its user interface, if any, available to AT 
• Shall make both the overall document language and language changes in the content available to AT devices 

Conforming Assistive Technology (AT) Requirements

It's not just about the PDF viewing software. AT technology takes many forms, and users deserve to know whether such software is able to handle accessible PDF files. Accordingly, PDF/UA sets the following requirements for conforming Assistive Technology:

• Shall have the ability to consume and present all structure types in this specification in the users preferred manner 
• Shall provide a means of presenting PDF “Optional Content” 
• Shall allow navigation by PageLabels (PDF page enumeration) 
• Shall have the ability to navigate via the structure hierarchy (tags) 
• Shall have the ability to navigate via outlines (bookmarks) 
• Shall permit navigation zoom values to be overridden by the user 

The presentation is available to all as a fully-tagged and accessible PDF file.

Our Services

Appligent Document Solutions provides PDF tagging services and educational and training resources in the Section 508 Center for PDF

Comments
Posted by Duff Johnson [24.218.205.170] on Jul 13, 2011 Dynamic XFA will not be permitted in PDF/UA-1 because no language was provided or developed to specify the norms of accessibility in dynamic XFA PDF implementations. In simpler terms - while it may be possible to make accessible dynamic XFA forms, no-one has written any authoritative rules and presented them to the PDF/UA Committee for review and possible inclusion in the standard. When we re-examined the question late last year, the International Committee estimated that the project of developing such language to be roughly equivalent in terms of scope and difficulty to the PDF/UA project itself. This situation may be updated for PDF/UA-2, then again, it may not. It really depends on what the predominant implementer of dynamic XFA in PDF (Adobe Systems) wants to do about it. Duff Johnson Chair, US Committee for ISO/DIS 14289
Posted by Bill Griffiths [165.201.59.205] on Jul 13, 2011 What is the rationale for the requirement that "Dynamic XFA forms shall not be used" in the File Format Requirements section?