Tag
Accessibility
Making PDFs usable by everyone. Tagged structure, reading order, alt text, contrast, and the PDF/UA and WCAG requirements that apply when you publish documents to the public.
10 posts
The ADA Title II Deadline Moved, and Your PDFs Are Still the Problem
On April 20, 2026, the Department of Justice published an interim final rule extending the compliance dates for its Title II web accessibility rule by a full…
Text to Speech and PDFs
Listening to a document instead of reading it has moved from an accessibility accommodation to a mainstream habit — commuters, people with dyslexia, anyone…
How to Add Alt Text to PDF Images
An image in a PDF is, to a screen reader, nothing at all — unless somebody attached a text description to it. Alt text is that description, and adding it is…
Making Accessible PDF Tables
Tables are where PDF accessibility usually breaks. A table is a two-dimensional relationship rendered as a one-dimensional stream of drawing operations, and…
Reading Order in Tagged PDFs
A PDF page is a set of drawing instructions with positions. Nothing in it says which text comes first — the visual order a sighted reader infers from layout is…
WCAG 2 for PDF Accessibility
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the dominant standard for web accessibility, and it applies to PDFs too, perhaps surprisingly to teams that…
Tagged PDF vs Untagged PDF: What the Difference Actually Means
Open two PDFs side by side that look identical on screen. One has been written for visual layout only. The other carries an invisible scaffolding describing…
PDF/UA Explained: The Accessibility Standard Every Document Should Meet
If you have ever tried to read a poorly-made PDF with a screen reader, you already understand why PDF/UA exists. PDF/UA, short for "Universal Accessibility"…
PDF Accessibility Tags: What They Are and Why They Matter
A visually polished PDF and an accessible PDF aren't the same thing. The first looks right; the second works right for everyone, including users of screen…
PDF Accessibility Guide: Making PDFs Everyone Can Read
An inaccessible PDF is not slightly harder to read for some people. For a screen-reader user, a scanned document is completely empty — not difficult, not…