[Athen] Advise for complex PDF form

[Charlie Watson via athen-list]

I agree with Karen, Excel is always a bad choice for screen-reader accessibility.

However, the PDF is pretty far from accessible. Some problems I found quickly by testing with Microsoft Edge, Firefox, NVDA, and Adobe Acrobat:

Non-accessibility problems:

  *   Money values are not validated. I can enter "2...4" or "2a" and the form treats it as "2".
  *   Negative money values are allowed. It's not clear if that's valid.
  *   The total row in the first table has cells for every column, but only totals the last column.
  *   The checkboxes in "Summary of Funding Requests" on page don't automatically check according to entries on other pages. The user can submit an form with incorrect boxes checked, so anyone reviewing a submitted form will have to check everything anyway. There's no point to the checkboxes.

Tagging problems:

  *   The first lines ("BFET &...", "FY26/FFY25...", and "FUNDING SURVEY...") are all in the H1 element.
  *   The SBTC Contacts section, College Information section, and Summary of Funding Requests section are all tagged as a mess of a table. It shouldn't be a table at all, but the table elements are quite mis-grouped and the reading order is wrong.
  *   The section 2 heading is not tagged as a heading.
  *   All other headings are tagged as level 2 headings, regardless of nesting/subsections.
  *   Probably more, but you can look through them with the tagging tool in Adobe Acrobat.

General accessibility problems:

  *   Cell background colours in the first table (Returning WF General...) are confusing. Light blue (or whatever colour your PDF viewer uses) means fillable, while white and green mean non-fillable. A non-fillable cell should be extremely distinct from a fillable cell.
  *   All the text fields on the first page use 32 underscores to create an underline, instead a visual line element or field border. A screen reader will usually read those underscores aloud.
  *   Text in all tables on pages 1-9 is left-aligned, but the text in the tables on page 10 are centred.

I strongly recommend a web form. However, I have not worked with Gravity Forms or Form Assembly.

Charlie Watson, he/they
Manager of Accessible Technology and Data
Centre for Accessible Learning (uvic.ca/accessible-learning<https://www.uvic.ca/accessible-learning/>)
University of Victoria
dcwatson at uvic.ca<mailto:dcwatson at uvic.ca>, 250-472-5483

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Karen McCall via athen-list
Sent: July 24, 2025 2:48 PM
To: Monica Olsson <molsson at sbctc.edu>; Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>; educause-itaccess at connectedcommunity.org
Subject: Re: [Athen] Advise for complex PDF form

Hi!

If the form stays in Excel, in order to make the form accessible, you're going to have to protect all of the text and force the screen readers to only access either the active X, legacy form controls, or content controls.

This means someone using a screen reader will not have access to any of the text in the form, including instructional text.

 Additionally, within the past five or six years, screen readers, such as JAWS or NVDA, are not reading the tool tips for active X form controls or legacy form controls accurately.

I am a word MVP and these types of forms often crash word, and or the adaptive technology.

 Content controls, if they are available in Excel, are also not accessible. They were never designed to be accessible. They are keyboard traps, and none of the tool tips or instructions that would be in a content control are accessible to the screen readers or text to speech tools.

I did take a look at the form and you have designed it. Well, using topic changes/headings and keeping the tables small.

For this form, the most accessible route is going to be either PDF or HTML.

The advantage of tagged accessible PDF is that the end user will be able to read the instruction text and the tool tips for the form controls. They will also be able to archive a copy of the form on their computer and fill it out at their leisure, as well as maintaining an archive copy.

 As a way of introducing myself to this list, I am on the ISO committee for establishing the PDF standards and the PDF accessibility standards and have over 25 years experience in PDF, PDF forms, and accessible Microsoft Office content.

Hope this helps.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me.

Cheers, Karen

Sent from my mobile device!
________________________________
From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman22.u.washington.edu>> on behalf of Monica Olsson via athen-list <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2025 5:30:35 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>; educause-itaccess at connectedcommunity.org<mailto:educause-itaccess at connectedcommunity.org> <educause-itaccess at connectedcommunity.org<mailto:educause-itaccess at connectedcommunity.org>>
Subject: [Athen] Advise for complex PDF form

Hello,

I am requesting guidance on accessibility best practice for a specific complex fillable form.

Please see the attached form in PDF. There is a lot going on with tables, calculations, columns, etc.

The document owner is experimenting with using Excel for the form<https://sbctcedu-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/djilek_sbctc_edu/EexcANs86ktOrX1mE0dUUlcBtXej-d_wJ_rDOaiKk_ViIg?e=LfgNDX>, rather than PDF. In one sense, this may make editing the source document easier, and Excel may handle calculations better. On the other hand, I worry about the user experience in this format.

What is your advice on how best to remediate this form? My gut tells me to stick with PDF...

Do folks have insight on the accessibility of web-based form tools like Gravity Forms or Form Assembly?

Thank you!
Monica



Monica M. Olsson (she/her/hers)

Policy Associate - Accessible IT Coordinator

Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges

*Email: molsson at sbctc.edu<mailto:molsson at sbctc.edu> * Phone: 360-704-3922



The power of the Web is in its universality.

Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman22.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20250724/8907f3f0/attachment.html>