Do I really need to set the Reading Order in my PDF?

08/15/23 • 53 min

CAUTION: Highly controversial accessibility topics in this podcasts:

Do we need to set the reading order in my PDFs?
2. Title Tag or H1?

We discuss a real-world situation where someone's barrier to information in a PDF is not vision. However, because of a traumatic event this person has dyslexia and requires audio input to fully understand the content on the page they are reading. We discuss how reading order is affected by the source document. We look at MS Word and InDesign and discuss the challenges with each when considering reading order. We also discuss designing with accessibility in mind to account for setting the reading order as the content is developed rather than addressing it in the end.

Once again we approach perspectives on using the Title tag as the title on the cover of a document even though screen readers today only announce it as a

tag which doesn't declare any structure or importance. We also discuss the potential risks and benefits of manually "fixing" the title tag or the H1.

Buckle up for this one! You will either love us or start yelling at your phone or computer! No worries. We can take it.

CAUTION: Highly controversial accessibility topics in this podcasts:

Do we need to set the reading order in my PDFs?
2. Title Tag or H1?

Once again we approach perspectives on using the Title tag as the title on the cover of a document even though screen readers today only announce it as a

tag which doesn't declare any structure or importance. We also discuss the potential risks and benefits of manually "fixing" the title tag or the H1.

Buckle up for this one! You will either love us or start yelling at your phone or computer! No worries. We can take it.

Previous Episode

7 Questions to ask yourself before creating an accessible infographic

This week's podcast is truly an amazing goldmine of information if you struggle with creating accessible infographics? Chad Chelius and Dax Castro walk through 7 Questions to ask yourself before creating an accessible infographic:

What do we want the user experience to be?
What is the most important information?
Does Content order matter?
Does color or line weight indicate additional information?
What is the volume of data? (Do I need an alternate presentation?)
Can I support the graphic with additional body text?
Can I test the user experience?

Stay tuned toward the end, where we talk about how certain bullets are voiced by JAWS and the info on how to download the PDF that lists a ton of them. I bet you will be surprised at more than a few.

I hope you find this podcast useful because it is definitely one of my new favorites we have recorded this year!

Next Episode

Is Alternate text for hyperlinks really required?

Listen to Chad and Dax talk about alternate descriptions for hyperlinks and what WCAG has to say about it. We mention PDF/UA-2 set to remove the mandatory requirement for alternate link descriptions. Chad shares a users comment "I want users of assistive technology to have the same crappy experience a sighted person has when reading long URLs." You will get a chuckle out of our "Six Degrees of separation from Dyson," and why where the link takes you matters.

Later on we discuss how visual cues reduce our cognitive load and share the PDF for the Do No Harm Guide on Design Visualization found at https://bit.ly/a11yDNHG

Chad explains "Reading through a rectangle" and Dax discusses at what point is the level of effort too much or enough? We end with balancing "no significant barrier" and level of effort in documents. Definitely an information-packed episode.