AEM Forms Designer not fully compliance to WCAG 2.0

The WCAG standards really don't apply well enough to PDFs, whether you're making a traditional PDF, AcroForm PDF, or AEM XFA PDF form. (Wow, that's a mouthful for anyone who reads this and doesn't know the acronyms!)

Because an XFA PDF form is a PDF (a hybrid type of PDF, that is), it should follow the PDF/UA-1 accessibility standards, which are part of the references in Sec. 508 (US govt accessibility regulation) and other government laws.

We've found that there are small PITA (pain in the "anatomy") accessibility barriers with XFA forms. At best, accessibility will be "meh" but not great or as smooth as it should be.

But there are often major problems with XFA PDF forms, such as:

• Most tags come out as <P>, so you're not likely to have <Hx> heading tags, <Caption>, and other common tags that help users navigate the document and understand the relevance of the text.
• <Tables> and their sub-tags are often missing  <TH> tags for row and column headers.
• Hyperlinks aren't fully accessible per the standard.
• The 3 reading orders in the PDF are not good. They are:
  • Tab reading order (when you tab tab tab between the form fields.
  • The main Tag reading order (this is the tag tree's order).
  • The architectural/construction reading order (what you see in the Order panel).
• The scripts and advanced programming added to XFA forms are often barriers to accessibility.

If you need the high-end form development or special scripting in XFA forms, we recommend going to an online HTML form instead where you can create a more accessible, compliant, and usable form for those who use assistive technologies.

If you don't need those high-end functionalities, then we recommend creating a traditional AcroForms PDF. Adobe InDesign has very good forms-building tools that create a very accessible, compliant AcroForm that needs little remediation. However, it doesn't yet have scripting capabilities, but that can be added to the form fields in Acrobat after the form is created.

Hi,

I believe what this is referring to WCAG 2.0 Conformance and the different levels of accessibility compliance that must be met when you design a site that will provide accessible content for persons with disability.

If you check here: https://docs.adobe.com/content/help/en/experience-manager-64/authoring/siteandpage/creating-accessible-content.html   specifically look the sections that explain about using alternative text and out of the box components. Also, see the disclaimer:

"WCAG 2.0 Accessibility Conformance Levels
WCAG 2.0 provides guidelines (with related success criteria) covering the accessibility levels .
These, as they relate to AEM, are covered under Level A and AA Conformance . When creating your site, you should determine the overall level to which you would like your site to conform.
As it is not possible to satisfy all Level AAA Success Criteria for certain types of content, it is not recommended as a required level of conformance."

Quick WCAG 2.0  user guide here: https://docs.adobe.com/content/help/en/experience-manager-65/managing/accessibility/qg-wcag.html

Interesting discussion found here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/how-to-purchase-aem-forms-designer/td-p/10231089?page=1

See all reports categorized by Adobe products here: https://www.adobe.com/accessibility/compliance.html

See all accessibility conformance guidelines here:  https://www.adobe.com/accessibility/compliance/aem-6-5-assets-2019.html

How to create accessible adaptive forms : https://helpx.adobe.com/aem-forms/6/creating-accessible-adaptive-forms.html