Making Fillable Forms Accessible for Screen Readers

Question

I am in charge of accessibility training at my institution and am needing to train on making fillable forms accessible. What is the best method for creating forms that work with assistive technology like Jaws and NVDA? Should I use Legacy controls or content controls? Any suggestions would be helpful.

-Krystal

Answer 1

I thought I should clarify. You can make an accessible form template in Word. You can then use that template to create an alternate format if requested.

To make an accessible PDF form from a Word template, here are some basics:

1. Use the title style for the name of the form/do not put it in the Header of the document.
2. Do not use tables for design layout unless you are creating ratings questions, then make sure to have column and row titles/table headers.
3. To position information without using tables, use Tab Stops or Columns.
4. Do not use symbols for form control stand-ins. In the PDF document they may show up as Unicode errors or require remediation to make them Artifacts.
5. Make sure you give enough room in the form for the answer you expect. for example, don't give someone two inches of a line to answer a question where you ask for a lot of detail.
6. Use Heading styles to identify different sections of a form. For example, contact information, education or other areas.
7. Use standard fonts like Calibri or Cambria and be consistent in the use of fonts.
8. Organize the information you are requesting in a form in a logical reading order.
9. If there are any specific instructions, make sure they appear before the questions.

Once you have the accessible Word template:

1. Press F12 and choose PDF as the file type.
2. Before yu activate the Save button, activate the Options button and make sure that Headings are used for Bookmarks.
3. Then save the Word document as a tagged, accessible PDF document.
4. Once the save is complete, it should open in Adobe Acrobat Pro. You will need that application in order to make an accessible PDF form.
5. Run the Accessibility Full Check and get the form template conforming or passing an Accessibility Full Check in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
6. Then add the form controls to the PDF document making sure to add them/arrange them in their Tab Order/logical reading order.
7. Once the form controls are added to the PDF document, use the Find tool in the Tags Panel to add the form controls to the Tags Tree.
8. Each form control must have its own <Form> Tag and be placed with the corresponding .text for the question it is related to.

Do a final Accessibility Full Check to make sure the document passes. You may need to make some minor remediations.

In the Document Properties for the PDF document, under the Advanced tab, make sure that a plain vanilla language like English, French or Spanish is used not a localized one. Under the Intial View tab, make shure that Doucment title not File name is going to be shown.

This is a VERY brief overview of the process to make an accessible word form template and convert it to an accessible PDF form.

Cheers, Karen

Answer 2

Here are a few references:

http://www.dor.ca.gov/DisabilityAccessInfo/DAS-Docs/Creating-Accessible-Forms-in-Word-and-PDF-rev-062016.pdf

https://www.queensu.ca/accessibility/how-info/accessible-documents/accessible-forms-word-and-pdf

https://www.amherst.edu/offices/it/knowledge_base/accessible-information-technology/webforms---accessibility

Answer 3

Hi Krystal,

Are the references shared by Jay helpful to you?

To decide to use Legacy Form Field or Content Controls, it may depend on your own need.

The chief difference is that you need to lock the document.

You can refer to the pros and cons in this thread: Need some advice on Legacy bs regular control form fields

Best Regards,

Gloria

Answer 4

Thanks Jay. I will take a look at those.

Answer 5

Thanks Gloria,

Both your references and Jay's have helped me understand the differences, but I am still trying to figure out which type of control is best from an accessibility standpoint (specifically that of the user trying to fill out the already created form).