This article was created in collaboration with Klaas Posselt.
As in the Instructions for creating an accessible PDF As already mentioned, document creation in Adobe InDesign is only the first step in the process of creating an accessible PDF. You will then have to edit the document. But to keep this rework to a minimum, you will learn here what you should definitely pay attention to when creating documents in Adobe InDesign.
document properties
For professional documents, you should always fill in the document properties as best as possible. At a minimum, however, you must insert the document title. You can add this in the “File” > “File information…” tab.
templates
At the beginning and during the creation of the document, it is also important to create and use formatting templates. There are templates for colors, tables, objects and more. In general, it is a good habit to use all of these templates. The most important templates, however, are those for paragraph formats and character formats. You can open the template functions in the "Window" > "Formats" tab. Then create individual paragraph formats for the various heading levels, the body text and any special text content (e.g. lists, footnotes, etc.) and apply them to the content of your document while you are creating it.
By right-clicking on the paragraph format and selecting “Edit [Paragraph Format]…”, the paragraph format options open:
Now switch to the menu item “Tag export” and select the correct export tag for your template:
texts
When it comes to text, it is a good habit to avoid empty paragraphs. You can display formatting symbols via the “Font” tab > “Show hidden characters”. This way you can see the empty paragraphs directly, which are represented by a symbol that resembles a mirrored “P”. Instead of empty paragraphs, use the “Spacing after” in the paragraph options.
tables
If you want to include tables in your document, you should use the table header function correctly. If your table has a header row, the table header number is 1.
Pictures
If images are inserted into the document, they must be anchored in the body text at a suitable location, unless you between text blocks of a continuous text field should be output. When you select the inserted image, you will see a filled square in the upper right corner of the image:
Drag this square to the relevant place in the body text and your graphic will be anchored there.
If the image not relevant in terms of content within a text field but before or after a text field, it should not be anchored. Instead, the reading order should be controlled via the article window.
In addition to anchoring images, you must also assign an alternative text to them or mark them as a non-text element. To do this, select the graphic and open the “Object export options…” in the “Object” tab:
If it is a relevant content Image, select in the Equestrian “Alternative Text” in the “Alternative text source” dropdown the value “Custom” You can then enter the alternative text for the image in the text box.
If the image is a pure decorative element without relevant content that has been anchored in the text flow, you can "Tagged PDF" tab in the “Apply Tag” dropdown simply “Extratextual Element” and do not need to enter alternative text. Images that are not anchored in the text flow do not need to be marked accordingly, but it is still a good idea to establish this as a habit. This way you develop a consistent way of working and reduce the risk of overlooking the marking of an (anchored) decorative element.
design elements
Design elements such as shapes are generally not relevant to the content. These should also be marked as extra-text elements. Proceed in the same way as with images that are not relevant to the content.
hyperlinks
When you insert a new hyperlink, you should none Enter alternative text. Hyperlinks require a contents key entry, which is technically not the same as alternative text. Unfortunately, the contents key entry cannot be created directly in InDesign and must therefore be generated afterwards using Adobe Acrobat.
reading order
To ensure that all elements are exported in the correct order when exporting to PDF, you should set the reading order via the article window. To do this, drag and drop the elements one after the other into the article window and reorder them if necessary.
PDF export
Once you are ready to export your document as a PDF, click on the “File” tab and then “Export”. Select either “Adobe PDF (Print)” or “Adobe PDF (Interactive)” as the file type. Once you click “Save”, the PDF export options will open.
Here, in the “General” section, select the option “Create PDF with tags” and include bookmarks and hyperlinks.
Once you have created your document according to the instructions above (or at any time during the creation process), you can Check the document with a suitable PDF Accessibility CheckerYou will then receive a test report with error messages. These then need to be fixed in Adobe Acrobat, for example.
