From 0a987403ce1c7bb563f5c2e6483ab351455c2ee9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Steven Clontz Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2026 23:40:00 -0500 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] add pdf accessibility post --- _posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md | 77 +++++++++++++++++++ assets/images/20260611/image.png | Bin 0 -> 14 bytes assets/images/20260611/image2.png | Bin 0 -> 14 bytes assets/images/20260611/image3.png | Bin 0 -> 14 bytes assets/images/20260611/image4.png | Bin 0 -> 14 bytes 5 files changed, 77 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md create mode 100644 assets/images/20260611/image.png create mode 100644 assets/images/20260611/image2.png create mode 100644 assets/images/20260611/image3.png create mode 100644 assets/images/20260611/image4.png diff --git a/_posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md b/_posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..513df70 --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +--- +title: Accessibile PDFs? +tags: accessibility pdf html +authors: +- clontz +comments: true +--- + +A frequent question our community is asked: "How do I make an accessible PDF?" + +And, even setting aside the large commercial incentives for certain businesses to make accessible PDFs viable, +there is a huge community working towards this goal! I have a huge respect for professionals +like [Deyan Ginev](https://kwarc.info/people/dginev/), codeveloper of [LaTeXML](https://github.com/brucemiller/LaTeXML/) +and instrumental in the [ar5iv project](https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/) converting arXiv preprints +to accessibile HTML. + +But that's just it -- why are the most significant projects aiming to make accessible scholarly STEM documents +not aiming for an accessible PDF, but instead aiming to help authors create accessible HTML? + +I believe it's because it's just **not possible to create accessible PDFs**. + +Accessibility is not a trivial concern, and I do not claim to be an accessibility expert myself. +But I do my best to help professionals in the mathematical sciences create accessible documents, +particularly those affected by +[DoJ's April 2027 deadline for public institutions](https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/) +to ensure all web content meets meet WCAG 2.1, Level AA requirements. + +For working professionals in the mathematical sciences, it's not trivial or reasonable to become +an expert in accessibility. So how can we ensure we're doing not meeting our legal obligations, but also +ensureing we are serving our readers as best we can? + +My advice is to connect with communities and technologies that help you author and disseminate +semantic and accessible HTML-format mathematical documents. As a co-creator of [PreTeXt.Plus](https://pretext.plus) +I obviously would suggest trying us out, but more crucially I would emphasize the importance of +choosing any solution that targets accessible HTML, and not "accessible PDF". + +While initiatives like the [LaTeX Tagged PDF Project](https://latex3.github.io/tagging-project/) attempt to +help authors create mathematical PDFs that are as accessible as possible, I'm very concerned that this +effort is a non-starter. In addition to the +[numerous examples of failed screenreader parsing of PDFs with math equations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxeh5MLNjNU), +we must consider the accessibility requirement that +[content reflows to fit the device viewport](https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/reflow.html), +even if the user zooms in to read text at the size they can visually perceive. + +How do PDFs meet this standard? Well, in practice, they simply don't! Below I'll illustrate a PDF recently published +in the open access [Bulletin of the AMS](https://pubs.ams.org/journals/bull), +and a zoomed-in (via the most popular web browser Chrome) PDF that fails to meet this standard. + +![PDF screenshot with all text in the viewport](/assets/images/20260611/image.png) + +![further zoomed PDF of the same content that does not reflow content to fit the viewport](/assets/images/20260611/image2.png) + +Now, it's technically possible for readers to spend signficant money on proprietary Adobe software that reflows PDF output. +But meanwhile, any HTML file will immediately and trivially meet this simple standard. +To illustrate this point, let's compare the content of the +Republican National Convention homepage at a standard zoom setting with a zoomed-in view. + +![standard zoom setting for RNC.org](/assets/images/20260611/image3.png) + +![significantly zoomed in view of RNC.org; all content reflows to fit the device viewport](/assets/images/20260611/image4.png) + +Nothing special has been arranged to ensure the accessibility +of the RNC homepage, other than content happened to be +authored in HTML rather than +print-focused PDF. In a nutshell, this is the issue: PDFs +are not written to be accessible content for all audiences. +Instead, they are designed for creating print-ready documents +for fully sighted readers. + +So what can we do to help our readers? The first and easiest +step is to assume that all PDF output is inaccessible, and +then to look towards solutions that publish HTML instead. +While writing HTML is not sufficient to guarantee +accessibility (nothing, not even AI, can replace the human +responsibility to author useful alt text for graphical +information), choosing HTML over PDF is an important first +step to serving all readers. diff --git a/assets/images/20260611/image.png b/assets/images/20260611/image.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..19eb84b90fa6f76ba05ba4fe51f1c228f91b11d9 GIT binary patch literal 14 VcmaFAe{X=FJ1>_MFBby?0{|*r1DOB- literal 0 HcmV?d00001 diff --git a/assets/images/20260611/image2.png b/assets/images/20260611/image2.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..19eb84b90fa6f76ba05ba4fe51f1c228f91b11d9 GIT binary patch literal 14 VcmaFAe{X=FJ1>_MFBby?0{|*r1DOB- literal 0 HcmV?d00001 diff --git a/assets/images/20260611/image3.png b/assets/images/20260611/image3.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..19eb84b90fa6f76ba05ba4fe51f1c228f91b11d9 GIT binary patch literal 14 VcmaFAe{X=FJ1>_MFBby?0{|*r1DOB- literal 0 HcmV?d00001 diff --git a/assets/images/20260611/image4.png b/assets/images/20260611/image4.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..19eb84b90fa6f76ba05ba4fe51f1c228f91b11d9 GIT binary patch literal 14 VcmaFAe{X=FJ1>_MFBby?0{|*r1DOB- literal 0 HcmV?d00001 From 531f98e615bfb4b57b10a59db042cf48fe9415cd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Steven Clontz Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2026 23:52:32 -0500 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] humility --- _posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/_posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md b/_posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md index 513df70..a341043 100644 --- a/_posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md +++ b/_posts/2026-06-11-accessible-pdf-question.md @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ not aiming for an accessible PDF, but instead aiming to help authors create acce I believe it's because it's just **not possible to create accessible PDFs**. -Accessibility is not a trivial concern, and I do not claim to be an accessibility expert myself. +Accessibility is not a trivial concern. But I do my best to help professionals in the mathematical sciences create accessible documents, particularly those affected by [DoJ's April 2027 deadline for public institutions](https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/)