Documents published on GOV.UK must meet the GDS accessibility standards and this includes all PDF documents.
Why we prefer HTML web pages to PDFs
As a rule, all new content to the PHE website should be published as HTML web pages (where HTML stands for 'Hyper Text Markup Language', the basic code most web pages are created in).
Read our guide on the benefits of HTML compared to PDFs.
PDFs must be accessible
But if you do need to publish content as a PDF:
- make sure you're using the new PHE template and follow the how-to template instructions
- save it as a PDF/A
What is the PDF/A format?
The PDF/A format was developed for the archiving and long-term preservation of electronic documents.
Its distinguishing feature is that it forces the PDF to be 100% self-contained. What this means is the PDF does not rely on any external programs or elements. PDFs which did so would risk becoming inoperable as the dependent softwares evolved.
The Wikipedia article gives a detailed technical explanation of PDF/A's features.
From an accessibility point of view, the PDF/A format is designed 'to increase the accessibility of conforming files for physically impaired users by allowing assistive software, such as screen readers, to more precisely extract and interpret a file's contents'.
So saving our PDFs as PDF/As is a good first step to making PHE's PDFs more accessible.
How to create a PDF/A in Microsoft Word
This step-by-step guide assumes that you are using Microsoft Word version 10 or above.
In a Word document, click the File tab at the top left
Then select Save as... from the menu.
Under the title field, click the format field to open a dropdown menu of possible formats and select pdf
If you clicked Save the Word doc would save as a PDF.
To make it save as a PDF/A, click More options under the title and format fields.
This opens the Options dialogue box.
- Tick the PDF/A compliant box.
- Make sure the Document structure tags for accessibility box is ticked.
Click OK to return to the Print page and click Save to create a PDF/A.
You should only need to do this once and Word should remember your preference, but it may be worth checking from time to time that the PDF/A box is still ticked.
Note:
If you have selected Minimise size to create a PDF with a smaller file size, make sure to double-check that the 'Document structure' box is ticked.
This is because minimising the size of a document can sometimes uncheck the Document structure tick box.
Resources
- Adobe Acrobat, makers of PDFs, have a comprehensive Accessibility section, including tutorials, training, guides and videos
- Microsoft has created a suite of ten training videos about PDF Accessibility