PDF/UA Accessibility

Commercial License Required - This feature requires a commercial license. See printwell.dev/pricing.

Create accessible PDFs compliant with PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) standards.

PDF/UA Levels

Level	Standard	Description
`PdfUA1`	ISO 14289-1:2014	Original PDF/UA standard
`PdfUA2`	ISO 14289-2:2024	Updated standard

Validating PDF/UA Compliance

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use printwell::pdfua::{validate_pdfua, PdfUALevel};

let result = validate_pdfua(&pdf_data, PdfUALevel::PdfUA1)?;

println!("Compliant: {}", result.is_compliant);
println!("Pages checked: {}", result.pages_checked);
println!("Tagged elements: {}", result.tagged_elements);

for issue in &result.issues {
    println!(
        "[{:?}] {:?}: {} (Page {})",
        issue.severity,
        issue.category,
        issue.description,
        issue.page
    );
    if let Some(suggestion) = &issue.suggestion {
        println!("  Suggestion: {}", suggestion);
    }
}
}

Issue Categories

Category	Description
`Structure`	Document structure tags
`Tags`	Missing or incorrect tags
`AltText`	Missing alternative text
`Language`	Language specification
`ReadingOrder`	Content reading order
`Metadata`	Accessibility metadata
`Tables`	Table structure
`Headings`	Heading hierarchy
`Color`	Color contrast issues
`Fonts`	Font accessibility
`Navigation`	Navigation aids

Adding PDF/UA Metadata

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use printwell::pdfua::{add_pdfua_metadata, AccessibilityOptions};

let options = AccessibilityOptions {
    language: "en".into(),
    title: "Accessible Document".into(),
    generate_placeholder_alt: false,
    include_reading_order: true,
    generate_outline: true,
};

let accessible = add_pdfua_metadata(&pdf_data, PdfUALevel::PdfUA1, Some(options))?;
}

Node.js Example

import { validatePdfua, addPdfuaMetadata } from 'printwell';

const result = validatePdfua(pdfData, 'PdfUA1');
console.log(`Accessible: ${result.isCompliant}`);

const accessible = addPdfuaMetadata(pdfData, 'PdfUA1', {
    language: 'en',
    title: 'Accessible Document',
    generateOutline: true
});

Python Example

from printwell import validate_pdfua, add_pdfua_metadata, PdfUALevel, AccessibilityOptions

result = validate_pdfua(pdf_data, PdfUALevel.PdfUA1)
print(f"Accessible: {result.is_compliant}")

options = AccessibilityOptions(
    language="en",
    title="Accessible Document",
    generate_outline=True
)
accessible = add_pdfua_metadata(pdf_data, PdfUALevel.PdfUA1, options)

Best Practices for Accessible PDFs

1. Document Structure

Use semantic HTML that maps to PDF tags:

<article>
    <h1>Main Title</h1>
    <section>
        <h2>Section Heading</h2>
        <p>Paragraph content...</p>
    </section>
</article>

2. Alternative Text

Always provide alt text for images:

<img src="chart.png" alt="Sales chart showing 20% growth in Q4">

3. Language Specification

Set the document language:

<html lang="en">

4. Reading Order

Ensure logical reading order in your HTML source.

5. Tables

Use proper table markup:

<table>
    <caption>Quarterly Sales</caption>
    <thead>
        <tr><th>Quarter</th><th>Sales</th></tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr><td>Q1</td><td>$100k</td></tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

6. Headings

Maintain proper heading hierarchy (h1 → h2 → h3).

7. Color Contrast

Ensure sufficient contrast ratios (WCAG 2.1 guidelines).

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