Other authoring tools
[Narrator:] In previous chapters we saw how to use Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign to create accessible PDFs. There are also other software tools that offer similar solutions. We will introduce LibreOffice, which is a free and open-source office suite alternative.
As this course cannot offer a detailed description of all the available software solutions, we will just mention some of them. The World Wide Web Consortium maintains a list of PDF authoring tools that provide accessibility support, which you can view using the link under the Documents tab on the platform.
LibreOffice
LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite. It offers programs for word processing, the creation and editing of spreadsheets, slideshows, diagrams and drawings, working with databases, and composing mathematical formulae. The program is available for Windows, macOS and many UNIX derivatives; for example, Linux.
LibreOffice has been translated into more than 100 languages. It offers the same features set on all operating systems. Unfortunately, the program does not include an accessibility checker. Please refer to the chapter “Testing PDFs” to learn how to test PDFs created with LibreOffice for accessibility.
We will now show the necessary steps to create an accessible PDF using LibreOffice. If you compare this chapter with the one for creating accessible PDFs with Word, you will notice a lot of similarities.
This is an example document. It contains information like headings, which present the structure of our document. The text uses links, which can guide the user to a website. We can see an image, which needs additional information. Furthermore, we can see a list and a table.
Text
First we use the headings to add structure to our document. This is the first heading and, therefore, a heading of level 1. We mark it as a Heading 1 using the built-in styles. This is the preferred method to mark headings as it guarantees that a heading is recognised as a heading. If you do not like the visual appearance, you can modify the styles to format your text with different fonts, sizes or colours. Now we mark this line as a heading of level 2. And another heading 2. We assume that these are headings of level 3. Each heading is marked with its appropriate heading level. This enables LibreOffice to detect a content hierarchy.
We continue with a link in the text. This looks like a weblink. Let's mark it as a hyperlink in LibreOffice, so that the resulting PDF will have a real clickable link. We select the link text. With the right-mouse button we can open the context-sensitive menu to activate the Character menu. In the dialogue box, we select the Hyperlink tab. We can now enter the target web address. Finally, we confirm our choice by clicking the OK button. This now looks like a clickable link.
At the bottom of the page we can see a list, which looks broken somehow. The indentation of the second lines is not correct. In fact, this list was created by adding a leading minus character to each line. LibreOffice has no idea that this should be a list. We select the lines and press the list button in the toolbar. Note how the second line of each list item is now properly formatted.
At the end of the page, we have an issue with the page break. The table with a single row at the end of the page does not look nice. So we would like the table start to be moved to the next page. We select the paragraph that should be the first of our next page. We open the context-sensitive menu with the right-mouse button and select Paragraph… In the dialogue box, we select the Text Flow tab, and activate the Insert checkbox with the Page option. Voilà! This looks much better. Now we can add any content before it and the line will always remain the first line of the following page.
Images
Next we take care of the image. Screen readers need an alternative text, so that they can present the content of the image to the user. To add an alternative text to the image, select it with the mouse, open the context-sensitive menu with the right-mouse button and select the Properties menu item. Activate the Options tab. We can now enter the alternative text in Alternative (Text only). We type our text.
An image has a position in the text. It can be in-line with the text or it can flow, with the text wrapped around it. Screen readers prefer a fixed in-line position, so that they know when to speak the text of the image. To bring an image in-line, we select the Wrap tab, and select None. We could have also used the context-sensitive menu to select Wrap off.
Tables
Let's continue with the table. The first row in our table is a table header, which describes the type of content in all our table data cells. To mark it as a header, we position the cursor in the table, open the context-sensitive menu with the right-mouse button, and select Table properties… In the dialogue, we select the Text Flow tab to activate the checkbox at Repeat heading. Note how the table header is now repeated on page breaks.
Meta information
Before saving the document, we should enhance it with meta information, which can help a user to understand what your document is all about. Use the File menu to select the Properties menu item. Activate the Description tab. Here you can update the document title, the subject, some describing keywords and comments. LibreOffice will embed this information in the resulting PDF.
To select the language of the document, open the LibreOffice menu and select Preferences. In the menu tree on the left, select Language Settings, and Languages. Here we can configure the language of the user interface of LibreOffice for all installed languages. Additionally, we can define the language settings of the document. If you write documents in a single language, you will need to define this only once. If you write documents in multiple languages, you should define the language for every single document. For exceptional language handling, just select For the current document only.
When generating the PDF, LibreOffice will set the language of the PDF in the meta information of the PDF file.
Limitations
Although LibreOffice offers a rich toolset to create accessible documents, it cannot do everything. You have to check the colour contrast of the document elements manually. You can find more information about colour contrast and how to check it in the chapter "Fonts, sizes and colours".
Saving the document
As we have seen before, there are multiple ways to create a PDF. So it is important to know how to save a PDF correctly in LibreOffice. We select File, Export as, and Export as PDF. In the dialogue box, select the first tab General, if not already selected. Make sure you have selected Tagged PDF to add the document structure to the PDF.
To create bookmarks based on the structure of the headings, select the Export bookmarks checkbox. To ease navigation for the user even more, we can configure LibreOffice in such a way that the bookmarks are shown when opening the PDF file. In the second tab, select Initial View, and activate the Bookmarks and page radio button.
When we export the PDF, LibreOffice will convert the document to an accessible PDF.
With LibreOffice we have introduced a solution to generate accessible PDFs, which can be downloaded and used for free. We will now discuss additional programs offering similar solutions.
Creating accessible PDFs with other software tools
Apache OpenOffice is a free open-source alternative. The program offers a similar range of functions as LibreOffice. In fact, they share some of their source code and development history. OpenOffice is available for Windows, macOS and many UNIX platforms.
As an alternative to Microsoft Word, you can use WordPerfect Office which is an office suite developed by Corel Corporation. The program was first released in 1982. It can create tagged PDFs. It will analyse the document content and automatically apply the tags for headings, paragraphs, tables and images, so that they are presented in the correct order to be used by screen readers. WordPerfect is only available for Windows.
Adobe FrameMaker is a document processor designed for writing and editing large or complex documents such as technical documentations. FrameMaker can create tagged PDFs and is only available for Windows.
Quark XPress is a desktop publishing software and the biggest competitor to Adobe InDesign. The software is available for macOS and Windows. XPress was first published in 1987. Until the release of its 2018 version, it was not able to create tagged PDFs.
As we have seen, there are multiple solutions to create accessible PDFs. The World Wide Web Consortium maintains a list of solutions to create tagged PDFs. You can find the list PDF Authoring Tools that Provide Accessibility Support under the Documents tab on the platform.
Where to continue?
You have been introduced to several programs that can create accessible PDFs. Depending on your personal interests you could continue with one of the following chapters:
- From Word to PDF
- Adobe InDesign
- Testing PDFs
[Automated voice:] Accessibility. For more information visit: op.europa.eu/en/web/accessibility.