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The Australian Government’s study into the Accessibility of the Portable Document Format for people with a disability

Publication Summary

When the Australian Government released the Website Accessibility National Transition Strategy in June 2010, it noted that “New technology has huge potential to make life better for people with disability, but we need to make sure that it is as easy to use as possible for all members of our community.” Online accessibility depends on the manner in which documents are presented and how they interact with the assistive technologies that are increasingly available.

The Portable Document Format (PDF), first created by Adobe Systems in 1993, now in its ninth version, is very widely used for online documents. While it has wide utility, its suitability for accessibility purposes has been criticised. In 2010, AGIMO, working with Vision Australia, and with the cooperation of Adobe, undertook a study of the Portable Document Format’s accessibility capabilities. The study’s scope was focussed on PDF and was designed to increase understanding of its strengths and weaknesses.

Not surprisingly, the study has found that while accessibility of the Portable Document Format is improving, like most tools, it cannot compensate for poor design. Content authors need to design accessibility into their documents from the outset. The Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy provides the necessary guidance to ensure the needs of all are reflected online.

The study’s main and supplementary reports can be found below. The AGIMO Blog discusses this matter further, however comments are now closed.

PDF Versions

• Main Report [872 KB]
• Supplementary Report [971 KB]

Table of Contents

• Executive summary
  • Key findings
  • User consultations (Vision Australia)
  • Public online consultation (AGIMO)
  • Technical evaluation
  • User evaluations
  • Conclusions
• Introduction
  • About WCAG 2.0
  • About the Portable Document Format
  • The legislative context in Australia
  • Computer use by people with a disability
• Phase one: user consultation - the user perspective
  • Focus Groups
  • Encountering PDF files
  • Problems using PDF files
  • Workaround solutions
  • Assistive technologies and PDF files
  • Interaction with Adobe Reader
  • Public online consultation
• Phase two: technical evaluation - the technical perspective
  • Common assistive technologies used in Australia
  • Vendor support for assistive technologies
  • Technical testing
  • Exclusions
  • Phase two - technical evaluation results
• Phase three: user evaluations - the lived experience
  • Participants
  • The PDF test documents
  • User evaluation tasks
  • User evaluation result (measure of effectiveness)
  • Acceptance of time (measure of efficiency)
  • Satisfaction ratings (measure of satisfaction)
  • Problems experienced by users
  • Overall combined accessibility testing results
• Study approach and methodology
  • Focus groups
  • Online consultation
  • Technical evaluation
  • User experience evaluations
• Appendix
  • Submissions to the public consultation
  • Organisations providing assistive technology data
  • Glossary

Supplementary Report

• Supplementary report
• Phase one – user consultations
• Phase two – technical evaluation
• Phase three – user evaluations
• User evaluation test results by assistive technology
• Detailed test results by assistive technology
  • PAC Mate
  • JAWS 9 & 10
  • NVDA 2009.1
  • SATOGO 3.0
  • Window-Eyes 7
  • MAGic 10
  • ZoomText 9.14
  • Read Out Loud (Adobe Reader 9)
  • Read & Write Gold 9
  • Dragon Professional 10.1
  • Operating System (OS) configuration
  • Auslan

Copyright Notice

ISBN 978-1-921600-57-9
The Australian Government’s study into the Accessibility of the Portable Document Format for people with a disability (Online)

ISBN 978-1-921600-58-6
The Australian Government’s study into the Accessibility of the Portable Document Format for people with a disability: Supplementary Report (Online)

Creative Commons

With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, the Vision Australia logo, and where otherwise noted, this report is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/

The report and its associated Supplementary Report must be attributed as the Australian Government Portable Document Format Accessibility Study.

Use of the Coat of Arms

The terms under which the Coat of Arms can be used are detailed on the It’s an Honour website
http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/coat-arms/index.cfm .

Inquiries regarding the licence and any use of the report are welcome at:

Assistant Secretary
Online Services Branch
Australian Government Information Management Office
Department of Finance and Deregulation
John Gorton Building
King Edward Terrace Parkes ACT 2600
Email: WCAG2@finance.gov.au

Acknowledgement

The Australian Government would like to acknowledge Adobe Systems Incorporated, which extended its PDF Test Suite to incorporate the common assistive technologies used in Australia, the results of which are published in this Study. Thanks also to members of the Australian Human Rights Commission who ensured a collaborative process for the finalisation of this Study. Special thanks to Vision Australia’s Online Accessibility Team whose ongoing dedication, both professional and personal, help to make online content available to people with a disability.

Contact for information on this page: WCAG2@finance.gov.au

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