Accessibility Check Report
View Full Check Results and Accessibility Report
When the check is completed, the Accessibility Check panel automatically expands in the navigation pane to display the check results.
You can click Accessibility > Accessibility Report, or directly click the Accessibility Report panel in the navigation pane to open the Accessibility Report. You can also open the accessibility report file (if any) in a web browser.
Note: Because some content types are difficult to be distinguished clearly by the checker, some issues reported may not affect readability. It would be better to review all issues to definitely decide which ones are not accessible.
The report includes the name of the PDF document, Summary of the result, and Detailed Report for each checking option.
Summary lists one of the following statuses for each item check:
· Needs manual check – The Full Check feature couldn’t check the item automatically. Please verify the item manually.
· Passed manually – The item status was changed to Passed Manually by users from Needs manual check.
· Failed manually – The item status was changed to Failed Manually by users from Needs manual check.
· Skipped – Users chose Skip Rule when verifying the items manually. Or the item was skipped because the corresponding option was not selected in Accessibility Checker Options dialog box when users ran the Full Check.
· Passed – The item passed the Full Check.
· Failed – The items didn’t pass the Full Check.
Detailed Report clearly lists the rule name, status, and description for each checking option. You can click the links in the report to view the online Help on fixing issues.
Fix Accessibility Problems
In the Accessibility Check panel where the Full Check results are listed, right-click an item and choose one of the following options from the context menu:
Fix: fixes the issue automatically, or prompts a dialog box where you need to fix it manually. (Business Edition only)
Skip Rule: changes the item status to Skipped.
Explain: opens the online Help on the accessibility issue.
Check Again: checks all the items again.
Show Report: opens the Accessibility Report panel in the navigation pane.
Options: opens the Accessibility Checker Options dialog box for you to select options.
Pass: changes the item status to Passed Manually if you believe the item meets the accessibility standard.
Fail: changes the item status to Failed Manually if you believe the item doesn’t meet the accessibility standard.
Accessibility Issues
After the accessibility check based on the options you specified in the Accessibility Checker Options dialog box with the Full Check tool, you can view the check results in the Accessibility Check panel and the detailed report in the Accessibility Report panel. The following part on accessibility issues provides explanations and instructions to help you better understand each accessibility rule and easily make a decision on how to deal with the accessibility problems in your document.
Document
Some documents may be protected by the document authors and no content can be copied, printed, extracted, annotated, or edited. This permission setting could interfere with a screen reader’s ability to read the documents because screen readers need to copy or extract the documents’ text to convert it to speech.
The flag reports whether the setting is turned off to allow accessibility. If your document failed to pass the rule, to fix the issue automatically, right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane and choose Fix from the context menu in PhantomPDF Business. You can also fix the issue manually by choosing No Protection in File > Properties > Security to turn off the permission setting.
The rule check reports whether the document is an image-only PDF with non-text content that is not accessible. To fix the issue automatically, right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane and choose Fix from the context menu in PhantomPDF Business. Or, you can use the OCR tools under the Convert tab in the ribbon to recognize text in images to fix the rule check manually.
This rule check reports whether the document is a PDF with tags to specify the reading order, which is important for an accessible PDF. If the check failed, right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane and choose Fix from the context menu in PhantomPDF Business. Or, you can tag the PDF manually by doing any of the following:
· Re-create the PDF from a file that has been tagged in the authoring application.
· Use the Autotag Document/Form Field tools under the Accessibility tab in PhantomPDF Business.
· Use the Reading Order command under the Accessibility tab in PhantomPDF Business to create the tags tree for the document manually.
· Directly create the tags tree manually in the Tags panel in the navigation pane in PhantomPDF Business.
Check the rule manually to make sure that the reading order in the Tags panel is in accordance with the logical reading order.
Some screen readers read the text in the language specified for the document. This rule checks whether the primary text language for the document is specified. If no language was set, only Business Edition allows you to fix this issue. You can set the language by right-clicking the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane and choosing Fix from the context menu, then choose a language in the Set Reading Language dialog box. You can also set the language manually by doing either of the following:
· Set the language for text in a subtree of the tags tree in the Tags panel. Right-click an element, choose Properties…, and select a language in the Object Properties dialog box.
· Set the language for a block of text in the Content panel. Right-click the text element or container element, choose Properties…, and select a language in the Object Properties dialog box.
This rule is to check whether the document contains a title in its document properties. If the check failed, right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane, choose Fix from the context menu in PhantomPDF Business, uncheck Leave as is and enter the document title in the Description dialog box. Or, add the title manually in the Title box in File > Properties > Description, and then select Display document title in Window Options in File > Properties > Initial View.
If the document contains 21 or more pages, but doesn’t have bookmarks that correspond to the document structure, this rule check will fail. To add bookmarks to the tagged document, right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane, choose Fix from the context menu in PhantomPDF Business, and select the elements you want to use as bookmarks in the Structure Elements dialog box.
The check may fail if the document contains content that isn’t accessible to people who are color-blind. To fix the issue, ensure that the document’s content conforms to the guidelines in WCAG section 1.4.3, or select Replace document colors and set high-contrast colors to the PDF viewer in File > Preferences > Accessibility.
Page Content
The rule check reports whether all content in the document is tagged or marked as an artifact. In PDF, artifacts are generally graphics objects or other markings that are not part of the authored content, like lines, page header/footer, page numbers, or decorative images. To fix the issue, do either of the following in PhantomPDF Business:
· Mark the content as an artifact by right-clicking it and choosing Create Artifact in the Content panel in the navigation pane.
· Tag the content using the Reading Order tool in the Accessibility tab.
· Assign tags for text contents by selecting the text contents with the Select Text and Image command, and then right-clicking the element in the Tags tree and choosing Create Tag from Selection in the Tags Panel.
The check reports whether all annotations in the document are tagged or marked as an artifact. To fix the issue, do either of the following in PhantomPDF Business:
· Mark the content as an artifact by right-clicking it and choosing Create Artifact in the Content panel in the navigation pane.
· Tag the content using the Reading Order tool in the Accessibility tab.
Tip: You can enable Tag Annotations in the Tags panel by right-clicking any tag so that all new annotations will be tagged automatically as they are created.
The check reports whether the tab order parallels the document structure. To fix the issue automatically, right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane and choose Fix from the context menu in PhantomPDF Business. You can also click the Pages panel in the navigation pane, right-click the pages that failed in the rule check, choose Properties… and select Use Document Structure in the Tab Order tab to set the tab order manually.
A correct character encoding is required to display readable text in software/hardware. To fix the issue, you need to check whether the necessary fonts have been installed on your system or re-create the PDF from a file that uses a proper font (preferably OpenType).
Checks whether all multimedia objects in the document are tagged or marked as an artifact. To fix the issue, do one of the following in PhantomPDF Business:
· Mark the content as an artifact by right-clicking it and choosing Create Artifact in the Contents panel in the navigation pane.
· Tag the content using the Reading Order tool in the Accessibility tab.
Document content, like animations and scripts that can make the screen flicker, is not accessible for people who have photosensitive epilepsy and can be difficult to see when the screen is magnified. To fix the issue, you need to remove or modify the content that can make the screen flicker.
If the document contains scripts, the scripting shouldn’t interfere with keyboard navigation or prevent the use of any input device. To fix the issue, you need to remove or modify the script or content that doesn’t meet the accessibility rule.
If the document contains forms with JavaScript that requires timed response, the check fails. To fix the issue, edit the scripts to give users enough time to read and use the content, or remove the scripts.
The check reports whether the URLs in the document are active links that are correctly tagged. To fix the issue, check navigation links manually and make sure that the content doesn’t have too many identical links. If some items appear multiple times, provide a way for users to skip over them. For example, if the same links appear on each page of the document, you can also include a “Skip navigation” link.
Forms
The rule check reports whether all form fields in the document are tagged. If the rule check passes, you can also use the Tooltip in a form field’s properties to provide users with more information.
If it fails, do either of the following to fix the issue in PhantomPDF Business.
· Tag form fields with the Autotag Form Field command in the Accessibility tab.
· Right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane and choose Fix from the context menu.
The check reports whether all form fields have a text description in the document. All form fields need a text description for an accessible PDF. You can add a text description (tooltip) to a form field in its properties by doing any of the following:
· Right-click the form field and choose Properties… to add the tooltip for the form field.
· You can also click Form > Edit > Add Tooltip to add tooltips automatically for all form fields which does not have descriptions.
· Right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane and choose Fix from the context menu. (Business Edition only)
Alternate Text
For accessibility, images in the document either have alternate text, or are marked as artifacts. If the rule check fails, do any of the following in PhantomPDF Business:
· Right-click the rule in the Accessibility Check panel in the navigation pane and choose Fix from the context menu. Add alternate text in the Set Alternate Text dialog box.
· Open the Tags panel and right-click the image that you want to add alternate text, choose Properties…, and add alternate text in the Object Properties dialog box.
· Click Accessibility > Reading Order to enable Touch Up Reading Order setting mode. Then right-click the image that you want to add alternate text, choose Edit Alternative Text, and add alternate text in the Alternate Text dialog box.
· Mark the content as an artifact by right-clicking it and choosing Create Artifact in the Contents panel in the navigation pane.
The check fails if the document contains nested alternate text that screen readers don’t read. To fix the issue, right-click the nested element in the Tags panel in PhantomPDF Business, choose Properties…, and remove the alternate text in the Object Properties dialog box.
Alternate text is always associated with the corresponding content on the page. If not, there’s no way to determine which page the alternate text is on. If the Screen Reader Options in Preferences > Reading is not set to read the entire document, screen readers don’t read the alternate text. To fix the issue, remove the alternate text from any nested item that has no page content by right-clicking the nested elements in the Tags panel in PhantomPDF Business and choosing Properties….
The rule checks whether there is any annotation in the document is hidden by alternate text. For an annotation that is nested under a parent element with alternate text, screen readers don’t see it. To fix the issue, right-click the nested element in the Tags panel in PhantomPDF Business, choose Properties…, and remove the alternate text from the Object Properties dialog box.
The content except figures like multimedia, annotations, and 3D models, also requires alternate text for accessibility. And make sure alternate text is always associated with the corresponding content on the page. See also Associated with content.
Tables
For the table structure, which can be complex, PhantomPDF recommends that users check them for accessibility manually.
If the check fails, open the Tags panel, and make sure that each Table Row in a table is a child of Table, THead, TBody, or TFoot in PhantomPDF Business.
For accessibility, Table Header <TH> and Table Data <TD> are children of Table Row <TR>. If the check fails, verify it in the Tags panel in PhantomPDF Business.
For accessibility, all tables must have a header. If the check fails, verify it in the Tags panel in PhantomPDF Business.
Tables must contain the same number of columns in each row, and rows in each column. If the check fails, verify it in the Tags panel in PhantomPDF Business.
A table summary is not a must, but it can make the document more accessible. The document author can add or edit the table summary with Foxit PhantomPDF Business.
• Choose Accessibility > Setup > Reading Order.
• Right-click on the table, and select Edit Table Summary.
• In the popup Table Summary dialog box, input a summary, and click OK.
Lists
The rule check reports whether the list structure in the document is correct. Lists must have the following structure: A list element must contain list item elements; a list item element may have a label element (optional) and a list item body element (required). To fix the issue, do the following steps:
· Right-click the failed element in List items in the Accessibility Check panel and choose Show in Tags Panel from the context menu.
· Create elements, change the types of elements, or reorganize the existing elements by dragging them to the proper position.
See also List items.
Headings
The check reports whether headings are nested properly. If the check fails, do the following steps:
· Right-click the failed element in Headings in the Accessibility Check panel and choose Show in Tags Panel from the context menu.
· Create elements, change the types of elements, or reorganize the existing elements by dragging them to the proper position.