Accessibility on a Photoshop-designed flyer that is now a PDF

[caitlinr70637941]

Hello, I'm trying to make a flyer that I designed on Photoshop and exported as a PDF accessible. The text boxes I created in Photoshop seem to get broken up and some text isn't even recognized when I use Read Aloud in Acrobat. When I try to tag the document in Acrobat, it only sees it as a single image. It does not allow me to create a box around a particular section of the design, for example there is some hand-lettered text, and I would like to set alt text for those individual sections. Do I need to do something with the original Photoshop file to set alt text? I tried to use slices but that didn't seem to work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

[Michael Bullo]

Do you know the basics of InDesign? If so I'm thinking this might be the best place to construct your flyer. You can still use Photoshop to build all of your imagery and place that into your InDesign file. Any text which you add in InDesign can easily have Alt text applied to it which is included when you export out a PDF.

[caitlinr70637941]

Hi Michael. I do know the basics of InDesign, and that is where I do my text for current designs, but this is for a file I made a few years ago. I'm an illustrator and hand-lettered text is very popular for clients, so the most important thing I'd like to know is know how to apply alt text to that portion of the design.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Do you remember how you saved the PDF?

Did you leave it fully layered, for instance?

Did you use the High Quality Print preset?

Can you zoom in all the way in Acrobat without losing quality of the text?

Have you asked in the Acrobat forum?

[caitlinr70637941]

Hi Trevor, yes, I saved the file high quality print. My work would like to both be able to print the file and have it on their website. Should I have two different versions, one for print and one for web?

[Test Screen Name]

Photoshop is certainly not the tool to make flyers, or accessible PDF. It often gets used for this, but that doesn't make it a good tool. Word would be much better, to be honest.

[caitlinr70637941]

Hi Test Screen Name. I'm an illustrator and Word is extremely limited in terms of what you can do with design and text. I now use InDesign for the text portion of my designs but 1- I still use Photoshop for the illustrated portions and 2- this is an older file I created before I started using InDesign. I am primarily interested in how to apply alt text to hand-lettered text

[jane-e]

We can move this thread to the Accessibility forum to see if your Photoshop document can be recovered. Adobe InDesign is the best software for creating flyers that will be Section 508 compliant.

Standards & Accessibility (tagged PDF)

[caitlinr70637941]

Hi Jane,

Do I need to do anything to move this to the proper forum?

I do use In-Design now for the text portion of my designs, but the problem is this is an older file I designed a few years ago that is fairly heavy in hand-lettered text. My work would like to be able to put it on their website but it needs to be ADA compliant. I am prepared to remove the text boxes from the PS file and export it to ID to place the text, but I still need to know how to apply alt text to hand-lettered text so a screen reader will read it aloud. Thanks so much

[caitlinr70637941]

Here is an image of the flyer in question if that is helpful to anyone. I now plan to remove the text boxes from the original PS file so I can use InDesign, but I still need to know how to make hand-lettered text accessible. Thanks again for any advice!

[Test Screen Name]

Making hand-lettered text accessible sounds a real challenge. You might find the best experts here: Standards & Accessibility (tagged PDF)

[Test Screen Name]

I wonder if the best way is to set some text over the top of it with the same spacing, then move it back as a layer. This will also be much more friendly to screen readers, web spiders and other simpler text tools that don't use accessibility information.

[caitlinr70637941]

That is a really good idea and I feel a little silly for not thinking of that! Thank you!

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Not so quick!

This is not a valid solution to meet accessibility requirements.

Accessibility laws and standards are designed for all assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. By focusing on a solution just for screen readers undermines people with other disabilities.

[caitlinr70637941]

Thank you so much for this information Bevi! I will definitely be in contact with you on Monday to learn more! (I'm not in the office today) I definitely want to learn how to create designs that are both attractive and accessible. I really appreciate your help!

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

caitlinr70637941  wrote

I definitely want to learn how to create designs that are both attractive and accessible.

Wonderful!

That's the mark of a true designer!

[Lumigraphics]

You could also just leave the original as-is and create a second, accessible page with essentially the same information (maybe even as plain text.)

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted solution]

@caitlinr70637941​ at MICA, greetings from a neighbor (and accessibility expert) in Takoma Park!

Love the graphic!

But anything and everything you create in Photoshop will be 100% inaccessible to all assistive technologies. Doesn't matter about layers or how you make the PDF or other exported file format.

Photoshop makes graphics, not accessible layouts. Plus there isn't one shred of accessibility in Photoshop for you to be able to make the graphic accessible. Only InDesign in the CS group of graphic design programs has the tools to make the final PDF accessible.

Consider your target audience -- students with disabilities that need to know how to get MICA's help at the disabilities resource center.

Putting the critical information they need into a graphic and its Alt-Text is a failure of the accessibility standards. The most critical info, such as the website, email, and location of the office, is buried in the graphic's Alt-text -- where it's non-navigable. That means the student won't be able to click the hyperlinks to the URL and email and get in touch with the resources office. (Think about the philosophical irony of this: a student with disabilities can't get in touch with the disabilities office for assistance!)

There are many ways to correct the accessibility problems, but too many to discuss here. Contact me off list and I can coach you through correcting the accessibility. I think you can do so through the Adobe system, but if not reach out to me via my studio's website, www.PubCom.com  Would love to work with my MICA friends on this.