PDF accessibility
with LaTeX/xerif

PDF accessibility

Standards

• PDF/A-1a (2005)
• PDF/A-2a (2011)
• PDF/UA (2012)

also called “tagged PDF”, not to be
confused with regular PDF/A

Common PDF Tags

• Part, Sect, Div, BlockQuote
• H1–H6
• P, LI
• Table, Figure, Formula, Form
• Artifact

PDF requirements

• complete tagging of all perceivable content
• maintain logical reading order
• tags must represent the semantic structure
• no illogical headings, color/contrast to convey information, inaccessible JavaScript, and more

PDF requirements

• alternative text for images and equations
• security settings must allow assistive technology
• embed Unicode-compatible fonts
• ability to navigate the document

Anatomy of a PDF/UA file

Example

PDF accessibility with LaTeX/xerif

PDF accessibility with LaTeX

• LaTeX: pdftag package by Ulrike Fischer
• le-tex: TeX accessibility framework by Axel Strübing
• xerif
  • 2023: implement in TeX framework, testing
  • 2024: production

xerif: To-Dos

• PDF XMP metadata ✓
• implement accessibility in xerif macros
• develop accessibility features for customer-specific styles
• testing and get feedback from DZB and partners