SAMHSA's Section 508 Resources

Adobe PDF FAQs

Below is a collection frequently asked questions and answers for common 508 compliance issues.

CREATING ACCESSIBLE PDF DOCUMENTS

Where can I find instructions on creating Accessbile PDFs?

1. Visit Adobe's PDF Training Page which provides a variety of Adobe® Acrobat® accessibility training resources.
2. View HHS' Step by Step Guide
3. Download Adobe's "MS Word to PDF" Quick Reference Card

ACCESSIBILITY TESTING

Testing PDF files for 508 accessibility is a two step process:

1. Performing an automated test in Acrobat 8 Professional
2. Performing a manual test in Acrobat 8 Professional

GENERAL

• How do I update my document properties?
• What are keywords in document properties?
• How do I check my reading order?
• Can I use roman numerals in my documents?
• What fonts can i use in my documents
• Why do I have to use “recommended fonts”?
• Working With Bookmarks
• Working with the Table of Contents
• What is SAMHSA's Section 508 Team looking for when they use Assistive Technology (primarily JAWS) to test documents or site?

GRAPHICS

• How do I tag an image or chart and then add descriptive text?
• How do I add descriptive text to already tagged graphics and charts?
• When do I use a long description instead of ALT text?
• How do I add a long description to a graphic or chart?
• What is an Artifact?

DIGITAL SIGNATURES

• View HHS policy on digital signatures

TABLES

"Tables and 508 Compliance - Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables"

• Why are Tables Rows and Columns Necessary?
• Can I merge cells in a table?
• How do I test a Table to make sure it is tagged properly?

HTML Related Table Questions

Adobe allows users to edit and update the HTML code behind every PDF document. To edit the code, view the document "tags" window.

• How do I tag Tables in HTML using the 'Scopes' attribute?
  
• How do I tag large data tables in HTML using ID tags?

 

Last Update: 02/7/2009