[Athen] VoiceOver Suggestions for Fillable Forms

[Steve Green via athen-list]

The fact that the PDF form that passes PDF/UA and WCAG standards according to PAC doesn't really mean much. When we create PDF forms, we do a variety of things that are not required for conformance but greatly improve the user experience. That work is all done in Acrobat because you can't do it in the source document. It would be interesting to see your PDF because it may not be as good as you think.

I would not use a Word document for this. There are three types of form control. The Legacy controls are very old, the ActiveX controls are quite old, and the Content Control controls are the newest. The accessibility varies from appalling to really bad. With effort, it's sometimes possible to find a way to use them with some assistive technologies, but I really don't recommend it.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Lindsay Viars via athen-list
Sent: 26 February 2025 14:45
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Athen] VoiceOver Suggestions for Fillable Forms

I have a student who uses VoiceOver on his iPad as his choice of screen reader.  The student has some forms in a class that we have been asked to make accessible and fillable.  I have made a fillable PDF form that passes PDF/UA and WCAG standards according to PAC.  We had a student tester who utilizes JAWS for his schoolwork and daily life to verify that the PDF created was accessible on JAWS, and he found it to be very accessible.  The student who uses VoiceOver does not find it to be accessible - he has issues with VoiceOver reading the fields, saving when he marked any radio buttons, and saving the edited version of the document.  The student would not confirm but I would assume he used Safari to open the PDF form.  I worked with the JAWS student tester to test the document with VoiceOver on an iPad, and he confirmed it was not accessible or usable.  I downloaded the Adobe app on our iPad and the student tester informed me that the document did not work well with VoiceOver even in the Adobe app.  Are there any suggestions for making an accessible fillable PDF form that works for both JAWS and VoiceOver?

Additionally, I created a Word version of the fillable form using the Developer tab in Word to create plain text fields and checkboxes, but my student tester informed me that he would not suggest this option to be used for JAWS or VoiceOver. Does any one have any suggestions for creating Word accessible forms that work for both JAWS and VoiceOver as well?

I have included below the notes from the student tester on what did not work for additional details:

PDF Fillable Form Tested on iPad in Adobe:
I did not enjoy trying to fill this form out. The labels for text fields and check boxes are read as being separate from the page elements. Additionally, textboxes are not read by VoiceOver which is annoying. Example: tap a descriptor such as "name" and then swipe right to get focus onto the textbox, VoiceOver does not read this as "text field" but rather just announces the opportunity to select a custom action: "swipe up or down to access a custom action, then double tap to activate". When the textbox is selected, the keyboard does come up , and the user can type into it, but once they are finished, there's no way to read the entirety of their text simply as the text field doesn't populate anywhere on the screen for the user to listen to their entry.
The checkboxes are similarly problematic. For the portion where the options are" MSW online, MSW on campus, and BSW", there is no indication from VoiceOver that they are being selected whatsoever. It just announces the same thing the textboxes did as described above.
The portion where the student is meant to select more than one option for populations and services they would like to engage with is somewhat manageable. Same set up as the other elements described above, the element to interact with is separate from the descriptors, and it initially has to inform the user of the ability to "swipe up or down to access custom action, then double tap to activate" before it will tell the user that the checkbox is checked or not. If it isn't, there is nothing read, if it is, VO says "checkmark" So, it sort of works, but it's cumbersome and not ideal by any stretch.
Final thoughts: I would not recommend this be the direction moving forward for delivering this document accessibly.

Word Fillable Form (using developer tab options) Tested with JAWS in Microsoft Word
I was able to enter text into the text fields for date and agency etc. Something to note: quick navigation does not work particularly well with this type of form. It does not want to move to elements with quick keys which means everything has to be arrowed to within the document before the user can interact with it. The user has to listen very carefully to JAWS when trying to write inside the textboxes as well. For example, because entering the date requires the user to navigate to the textbox on the line using the arrow keys, before typing inside it JAWS reads a message that I have transcribed into text: "date of interview plain text content control, (another arrow to the right) "Date of interview edit"; this is where the user can input the date.
                After some investigative work, I discovered that I was able to interact with the checkboxes on this form. As with the textboxes, the user must arrow to them on the line before they can engage with these page elements. For example, JAWS will read this as "Yes, move forward and confirm this placement, checkbox not checked, ballot box content control not checked"; to select to change this, press the spacebar. Pressing Enter does not work.
Final thoughts: it's usable, but not ideal. It would be very easy for someone who didn't have the time or patience to sit down and research how to accomplish this task to say it wasn't accessible. It doesn't "just work" as it should. Work arounds are required.

Word Fillable Form (using developer tab options) Tested on iPad using Microsoft Word
                I was not able to get any of the textboxes to open using quick navigation. When I arrowed through, I was able to type into the textboxes though. VoiceOver says, "click or tap here to enter text", however, just typing when the cursor is in that position seems to insert the text desired.
                The checkboxes are togglable, but their descriptors aren't read aloud. VoiceOver just says "unchecked" or "checked". Note: it is important to understand that when using the iPad there are essentially two versions of the document shown at all times. There's the version that is within the main text field that the user uses to move through the document, and a version that displays outside of the text field. The one outside of the text field is the one I was able to check or uncheck the checkboxes with. When they are navigated to within the text field itself, it says ballot box like with JAWS on windows, but when I double tap to activate it, the cursor gets thrown to another location within the document.
                Final notes: it's not user-friendly, and the checkboxes are still issues that need to be addressed.

Any advice using VoiceOver for students (especially for fillable forms) would be greatly appreciated!

/ Lindsay Viars, M.A.
Alternative Format Specialist
Office of Student Accommodations
505M Hodges Hall
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV 26506

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