Do you need to have a document online?
We try to add content and information as HTML webpages rather than documents wherever possible.
- HTML webpages are a more accessible format than documents.
- Web browsers have accessibility tools to adapt web content and work with assistive technology.
- It can be hard to find information contained in documents (content not visible to search engines).
- Broken links in documents are not picked up by automated quality assurance checks
- It is harder to customise documents for ease of reading, and they may not work as well with assistive technology like screen readers.
The source/original document remains the responsibility of the author/creator. If your documents do not meet accessibility standards we could be breaking the law if publishing them on our website/s.
See our Accessibility guidelines page for details of legislation and guidance.
Supplying documents for publishing
There are steps you need to take before your document can be published online.
Documents should be made accessible when they are created, rather than at the point of being supplied for publishing on a website. It is a lot harder to make a document accessible retrospectively.
Third party / commissioned work
If you have paid a third party to supply a PDF, you should be asking for it to be supplied as an accessible document for the web (Web accessibility is different to 'print design' accessibility/legibility).
In-house documents
You should have already done an automated accessibility check (see 'Top tips and common issues', below. You should have used the information and resources available to fix common issues before providing your content to us.
The 'Website team' will decide whether documents are accessible and suitable for publishing on our public website. There are many complex considerations to ensure compliance with 'Public Sector Accessibility legislation'. We will make manual checks before online publication.
- Please supply the original source documents, as incorrect 'conversions to PDF' can create issues.
- We provide a manual approval process to ensure documents are accessible
- We can provide advice and support if we recommend further changes to your source document are required.
- Depending on the issues we may fix and supply the original back to you.
- If a document is supplied in an unsuitable format, we may ask you to recreate it in alternative software.
- We do not save or store your supplied documents.
The 'communications team' will refuse to publish supplied material that does meet current digital accessibility standards. You must allow time for us to manually check and advise on any changes, that you must make before it can be published.
SCULPT your document
Always run the inbuilt Microsoft accessibility checker and ensure any issues are fixed. The SCULPT process below also covers manual checks and good practice.
Microsoft Word accessibility checker is the easiest way to check your document in the first instance. If any issues are found it will tell you where they are and what you need to do to fix them. Further information and a video - using the accessibility checker (Microsoft website).
Automated checks are not perfect
Automated accessibility checks can help you check for issues but have limitations. You will also need to manually review your document.
Automated checks:
- won't recognise text with a bigger font size, bold, or different colour as a heading.
- don’t understand if the content under each heading is suitable, or where to use a heading to break up content.
- don’t know if the alternate text is ‘meaningful’ to the user, or ‘excessive.’
- will not know if you have incorrectly used a table to create columns for layout purposes.
- won’t ensure you have 'meaningful' hyperlink descriptions.
- don’t know if an image should be marked as decorative.
- will not understand the intended use. For example, Microsoft PowerPoint is for presentations, slides and notes. Passing checks, does not mean content will be accessible as a booklet or poster.
The bullets above are for awareness, and not a comprehensive list.
Microsoft guide explaining the rules and limitations of their accessibility checker, and the distinctions it makes between Errors, Warnings, and Tips.
Once converted to PDF there are further checks to do. Adobe Acrobat Pro can often highlight further accessibility issues with PDF. These issues are sometimes better to do in the source document rather than the PDF.
Further reading and resources
- Further explanation of why content should be published in HTML and not PDF is also available from GOV.UK.
- Accessibility and assistive technology from a users perspective (Microsoft)
- Email accessibility (Microsoft)
- PowerPoint accessibility (Microsoft)
- Excel accessibility on the (Microsoft)
- SCULPT - Worcester County Council
- Adobe PDF Accessibility overview
- Adobe Acrobat user guide
- Create and verify PDF accessibility (Acrobat Pro)