ACCESSIBILITY CASE STUDY

This project focused on improving the accessibility of a PDF document for a global financial client. The task was to remediate the document so it met Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA and could be effectively accessed using assistive technologies while keeping consistent with the company’s visual brand standards. The following steps were used.

  1. Accessibility Audit – The PDF document was reviewed to identify the issues affecting people that use screen readers

  2. Semantic Tagging – The document was organized to use the correct tagging structure and reading order based on the elements in the document. Ex: headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, figures

  3. Reading Order – The reading order was corrected to ensure it was read in a meaningful way relating to the document

  4. Alternative Text – Descriptive text was used for valuable images and graphics

  5. Quality Assurance – Testing was done using the Adobe Acrobat checker to ensure it met the errors were resolved and it client’s specific standards

my role

As the accessibility specialist, I was responsible for meeting the company’s strict standards for compliance using the following steps:

  • Audit the PDF to identify the accessibility errors in document

  • Remediate document structure and tagging

  • Correct the reading order

  • Add alternate text for meaningful images and graphics, then mark artifacts for decorative items

  • Add bookmarks for level 1 and 2 headings

  • Verify that links work and the PDF has correct metadata, language, and navigation

  • Perform quality assurance testing

tools used

  • Adobe InDesign

  • Adobe Acrobat Pro

  • Tags Panel, Reading Order, and Bookmarks

  • Accessibility Checker

  • WebAIM Contrast Checker for color contrast