Making a PDF accessible: Episode 02 | Oxnard Community College

In today’s episode, we explore PDF accessibility at Oxnard College. This is part two of our series on making college PDFs accessible. Let’s see what we can find.

Video Guide

If you’re interested in the real-life practice and nuances of document remediation, here are Episode 1,  Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12 Episode 13, Episode 14, Episode 15, Episode 16, and Episode 17 in our PDF Accessibility Community College Series.

Challenges and Solutions for Accessible PDFs

Oxnard College’s website mostly features PDFs without accessibility features. We downloaded a 362-page document for example. The document had only the first two pages tagged, rendering it inaccessible. Here’s our process for checking and fixing another file.

Steps to Improve PDF Accessibility

We downloaded a press release PDF. Running an accessibility checker showed minor errors. Notably, it lacked proper headings.

1. Auto-Tagging: Auto-tagging saved time. The auto-tagger automatically inserted document and section tags, along with heading levels.
2. Manual Checks: Some elements like pesky links and untagged content required manual adjustments.
3. Validation: The final check revealed missing fonts and metadata. These were corrected.

Download the Free Section 508 Checklist for PDF Accessibility:

I can be your accessibility expert. For more detailed insights, tutorials, and in-depth discussions on accessibility and related topics, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel: The Accessibility Guy on YouTube. Subscribe for regular updates!