Enhancing the Accessibility of the Web with Adobe Acrobat Software White Paper

Enhancing the Accessibility of the Web with Adobe Acrobat Software White Paper

Introduction
While the Web has broken down traditional barriers to communication, not everyone has been able to fully reap the benefits. For millions of individuals with disabilities, accessing information on the Web is not always easy. Seeking to bridge this digital divide, governments, the disabled community, and businesses worldwide are engaged in efforts to make the Web more accessible to people with disabilities, particularly those whose disabilities make it difficult to interact with computer technologies, for example individuals with blindness, low visual acuity, or motor impairment.

For authors and Webmasters, meeting this challenge means making accessibility a design objective. Electronic formats such as HTML and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) are not automatically accessible, but there are ways to make them so. Whether presented in HTML, Adobe PDF, or some other format, the key to making Web-based information accessible is to create content in such a way that it can be properly interpreted by assistive technologies, such as screen readers, used by people with visual disabilities. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has published guidelines on its Web site at www.w3.org to assist Web content creators with this task.

An industry leader in network publishing and digital document creation, Adobe has taken an active role in developing accessibility standards for digital content. As a member of the W3C, the company is part of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), whose mission is to promote accessible Web content. Adobe is also on the W3C committee for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an XML-based graphics format that includes accessibility features. In addition to helping set standards, Adobe has been offering accessibility solutions since 1997, when it introduced the access.adobe.com Web site offering free services that convert Adobe PDF files into HTML or plain text for easy interpretation by assistive technologies.

Adobe PDF is a standard for distribution of final form documents on the Web, and Adobe® Acrobat® products, such as Adobe Acrobat 5.0 and Adobe Acrobat Capture® 3.0, are essential tools for creating Adobe PDF files. Together, these tools give organizations the ability to convert any document into Adobe PDF and deliver it exactly as intended via the Web. Adobe Acrobat is also enabling the delivery of powerful ePaper® solutions that include electronic forms, digital signatures, security, and collaboration capabilities, making Adobe PDF the ideal platform for moving paper-based business processes to the Web.

Adobe is committed to providing tools that help organizations optimize their digital content for accessibility. Now, Acrobat 5.0 software enables organizations to realize e-business and e-government objectives with Acrobat and Adobe PDF while ensuring that their electronic information is accessible.