August 26, 2025

PDF Accessibility for USU Extension Websites

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What Is Accessibility?

Accessibility is the practice of ensuring things like places, services, and information are usable by people with a variety of needs. Examples include wheelchair ramps for buildings.

For web purposes, accessibility focuses on making sure content functions for users relying on assistive technology like screen readers, video captions, or input devices other than a mouse and keyboard. It also includes designing for users who require increased contrast of text and navigation.

New Web Accessibility Rule

Beginning April 24, 2026, a new Department of Justice rule concerning digital accessibility for state and local government websites takes effect at Utah State University. The rule provides clarified guidance on how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to online content. 

To comply with the rule, PDFs posted to USU sites after that date must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility guidelines. 

The accessibility guidelines are quite technical but deal with such things as reading order, alternative text, and proper use of links and heading levels for screen readers along with sufficient color contrast for text.

PDFs exported from apps like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint, Canva, Illustrator, and InDesign require extra steps to meet accessibility compliance.

What Does This Mean for USU Extension Faculty and Staff?

The rule means everyone posting or providing content to the web needs to be aware of accessibility and take the following Steps.

  • Think web first: HTML web pages are more accessible, and in most cases, more appropriate than PDFs for posting information to the web. HTML pages work better for users on mobile devices, where a majority of web traffic comes from. Consider if content is best posted as a PDF, or if it should be posted as a web page instead. See Reduce, remove, remediate: PDFs and government websites for more info. 

  • When working with USU Extension’s graphic designers or other staff to create PDF content that will be posted to the web, ensure it’s compliant by communicating that the PDF is intended for the web and needs to meet accessibility standards. 

  • Think of accessibility from the beginning of a project. If the end product is a print PDF, but the information is to be posted to the web as well, it may be better to create a PDF version for printing and a separate HTML page for the web. Both web editors and print designers need minimally formatted documents, similar to a school report, with images as separate files to work from, so the same documents can likely be submitted for both print and web projects. The same minimally formatted document is also the first step for creating an accessible PDF for the web.

  • If PDFs come from outside organizations, they must also be compliant. If you’re unsure if a PDF is compliant or not, it likely isn’t.

  • If PDFs aren’t compliant, they can’t be posted. Non-compliant PDFs can be remediated (made accessible), but it’s far better to think web first and post content as HTML web pages or to work accessibility standards into the document creation process from the beginning.

NOTE: Documents in FastTrack go through a PDF accessibility process by default.

If PDFs Are Necessary, Plan for More Time

Ensuring full compliance is a time-consuming process that often involves troubleshooting. Tagging a document for accessibility can be as much or more time consuming than the process of designing the document. Plan online PDF content well in advance, so it can be posted in time for key deadlines. This is especially true for longer documents.

For Designers and Other PDF Creators

When creating accessible PDFs, it’s easier to build accessibility into the original file than to fix it after exporting a PDF. Use built-in styles to set headings, paragraphs, tables, lists, etc. Make sure the reading order is correct, especially with columns. Add alt text for images and mark decorative items as artifacts so screen readers skip them. Adobe Illustrator doesn’t handle accessibility tags well. Illustrator documents must be remediated in Acrobat. Even with more accessbility friendly software, some final remidiation in Acrobat may be required to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

PDF Accessibility Training Resources

Below are accessibility resources available to people tasked with creating PDFs: