Web Accessibility: Documents
Before deciding to post a PDF to the web, the first questions to ask is “Can this be an HTML web page instead?” Avoid posting PDF and Word documents when possible. If you can't avoid posting non-HTML documents - create documents that are accessible to people with disabilities or people who use assistive technologies.
Guidelines for Documents
Before publishing documents, consider the following:
- Avoid using PDF and Word documents on the web if possible. Use an HTML page instead.
- Start with an accessible document. If you are starting with a Word document and converting it to a PDF document, ensure that the Word document is accessible first.
- Ensure that images have informative alt text.
- Correctly uses headings, lists, and tables.
- Provide meaningful link text.
- Check color contrast.
- Ensure keyboard-only users can tab through the document in a logical order.