Accessibility Feature of PDF – Progress of Legal Framework

Since 2005, in different countries such as France, UK, Germany, USA, Canada, Australia, etc, legislation has developed and progressed for the persons with disabilities in order to help them to access the digital files easily.

This step has been taken to prevent any discrimination amongst employees, customers, shareholders, journalists or any stakeholder etc. Discrimination in companies can also affect the relationship of employees, hence affecting the overall environment of the organization. There are many cases of legal actions that have been recently filed in numerous countries.

To develop a better accessibility of websites, the European Union is working on a draft directive on a European scale. In the coming future, this directive will be a part of the official journal. A time period of about 21 months will be given to each country so that they can come into compliance with accessibility standards set by European Union.

This action must not be taken as a legal restriction as it helps in improving the quality and performance of accessibility feature.

Benefits of PDF Accessibility Feature 

Apart from many other advantages provided by PDF format such as easy viewing, sharing and enhanced security of files etc; Accessibility is one of the most important features of PDF files. PDF documents can be made accessible by using any advance PDF erstellen kostenlos. Several advantages are offered by the accessibility feature of PDF format. In this article, we have highlighted some major benefits of accessibility. These benefits are provided below:

• Targets a wider audience: The document that is made accessible can be used by all, even the people who have certain impairments such as visually impaired persons. So, this type of document targets a wider audience.

• Preventing any discrimination: By using the accessibility feature, you can promote sustainable development and fulfill your social responsibilities. Transparent and accessible communication can be provided with the help of this feature. It helps in preventing any kind of discrimination amongst employees in the organization, hence providing rights to all irrespective of their physical impairments.

• A certified publication: Those publications that are made accessible in agreement with WCAG 2.0 / ISO 14289-1 standards are suitable for “e-accessibility” certification issued by Ipedis.

• Improved SEO experience: For making the websites accessible, XML tags are used. These tags help in structuring the document in the same way as an HTML page. This leads to a better indexing of content by different search engines such as Google. So, the ranking of pages can be improved by using XML tags.

• Visual Appearance of document: Making the PDF file accessible does not mean that the overall look of the document will be changed. So, there is no need to create a separate document. One document can be used by all.

Therefore, accessibility standards help a lot in improving the performance and quality of PDF files. If you convert the document into Word format for easy editing by using any PDF to doc converter such as Classic PDF Editor, then for integrating accessibility feature, you must convert the document back into PDF format. If you have any questions related to the article, please let us know in the comment section below: