Manual Document Review for Accessibility

Here is a practical checklist for the Review phase. This is designed to catch the errors that automated checkers (like the Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Checker) often miss or flag for manual inspection.

Manual Review Checklist for Document Remediation

1. Logical Reading Order (The "Z" Pattern)

  • Check: Open the "Order" panel (not just the Tags panel).

  • Action: Verify that the numbering follows the visual flow of the document (usually left-to-right, top-to-bottom).

  • Critical: Ensure sidebars, callout boxes, and captions are read after the relevant section, not in the middle of a sentence.

  • Quick Reference Guide to Fixing Reading Order

2. Alternative Text (Images & Non-Text Elements)

  • Check: Right-click figures/images and select "Edit Alternate Text."

  • Action:

    • Informative Images: Does the text description convey the meaning or data, not just the appearance? (e.g., "Chart showing 10% growth" vs. "Blue bar chart").

    • Decorative Images: Are they marked as "Artifacts" (background)? If so, they should have no alt text and be invisible to screen readers.

    • Logos/Watermarks: Do they have appropriate alt text or are they artifacted if redundant?

3. Headings & Structure

  • Check: Look at the Tags panel for <H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc.

  • Action:

    • Hierarchy: Do headings follow a logical order without skipping levels (e.g., H1 > H2 > H3, not H1 > H4)?

    • Visual Match: Does text that looks like a heading visually actually have a Heading tag?

    • Single H1: Is there only one <H1> tag representing the main document title?

4. Data Tables

  • Check: Inspect the <Table> tag structure.

  • Action:

    • Headers: Are the top row and/or first column marked as <TH> (Table Header) and not just <TD> (Table Data)?

    • Scope: Do the headers have the correct scope assigned (Row vs. Column)?

    • Regularity: Are merged cells (complex tables) properly spanned, or should the table be split into simpler tables?

5. Lists

  • Check: Verify that visual lists (bullets or numbers) use the <L>, <LI>, <LBody> structure.

  • Action:

    • Broken Lists: Ensure that a single list isn't broken into multiple separate list tags.

    • Fake Lists: Ensure that lines starting with hyphens or asterisks are tagged as real lists, not just paragraph text.

6. Links

  • Check: hover over links or check the Link Object annotation.

  • Action:

    • Descriptive: Is the link text descriptive (e.g., "Download the 2024 Report") rather than vague (e.g., "Click Here")?

    • Consistency: Do the link text and the URL destination match?

    • Keyboard Focus: Can you tab to the link using the keyboard?

7. Color Contrast & Use of Color

  • Check: Use a color contrast analyzer (like the TPGi CCA or WebAIM tool).

  • Action:

    • Ratio: Does text meet the WCAG AA standard (usually 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text)?

    • Meaning: Is color the only way information is conveyed? (e.g., "Required fields are in red" > fails. "Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*)" > passes).

8. Metadata & Language

  • Check: Go to File > Properties.

  • Action:

    • Title: Is the "Document Title" field filled in and set to display instead of the filename?

    • Language: Is the primary document language (e.g., English) set correctly?