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Updated
08/21/2008
As more document preparation utilizing photos and desktop publishing is being
done in-house by PMCs, it is helpful to know some of the tricks to obtain good
quality images and publications. When publications are posted to the
internet in an electronic format, they must meet Section 508 accessibility
requirements and NRCS document hosting requirements. Following these
guidelines will also facilitate POMS document processing, as well as
creating documents and publications that are easily searched and identified
by Internet search engines.
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Add file properties to documents.
Document properties are details about a file that help identify it— for example, a descriptive title, the author name, the subject (a
narrative descriptive paragraph), and keywords
that identify topics or other important information in the file. Use document
properties to display information about a file or to help organize your files so
that you can find them easily later. You can also search for documents based on
document properties.
- After you have converted the document to PDF format, be sure to
add file properties to the document. Doing so will identify the
document and its content to Search Engines on the internet, and
identify the PMC, type of publication, fiscal year, and document.
- Be sure that you enter the same file name into the POMS record.
How to Add File Properties
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Adding file properties can be done in two ways:
- Recommended option: With the PDF document open, go to
File, Properties, Description - Add the document information.
Note: add a descriptive paragraph in the subject line. Click
on the Metadata button in the Description Tab to enter keyword
information to the document.
- Alternative option: Right click on the PDF file in
Explorer. Choose properties. In the dialog window under
the PDF Tab add the Title, Author and page description in the
subject and key words. Add this information under the Summary
Tab as well.
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It is important to maintain a consistent file naming convention
to easy identification and processing of electronic files. The National
Plant Materials Program Web Site houses thousands of publications.
Following file naming facilitates and simplifies the maintenance and
identification of these publication files. Follow these file naming guidelines on all files submitted to the National PMC.
Keep the file name as short as possible. It should never exceed
15 characters. It will be further identified at the National PMC
with an ID# from POMS once it is processed.
Using this file naming convention makes it easy to identify where
this file is from, what type of publication it is, and the year it
was published. A properly named file will name will indicate who, when,
and what.
-
File names are LOWER CASE.
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Never use spaces or characters
other than a dash or underscore in the file name.
-
Don't exceed 15 total characters in the file name.
File Naming for POMS
-
The file name starts with the lower case acronym of your PMC
web site. NOTE: Use the
acronym used on your PMC
Web site.
Example:
http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/ndpmc
= ndpmc
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Identify the publication type with the two
letter publication type code found in the POMS
Publication
Types, Description, and Codes. Example:
The publication type code
for a brochure is br.
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Identify the publication fiscal year.
Example:
fiscal year 2008 =
8
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Identify a brief name, word, or acronym to identify the
document. The file name should never exceed 15 characters.
In this example the publication is an indiangrass brochure. To
identify it some examples follow: ingrs, igrass, indigrs,
Example:
indiangrass =
ig
-
This example file name
ndpmcbr8-ig.pdf
is easily identified as a NDPMC indiangrass brochure published in FY
2008.
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Keeping file size
to a minimum is important for Web storage and quick download purposes.
As a rule of thumb, document file size should not exceed 3 MB and the maximum
file size is 6 MB for documents that are hosted on NRCS Web sites.
- Resize image dimensions BEFORE they are
inserted into the document. Doing so will decrease the file
size of the document dramatically. Additional information on
this can be found on these pages.
All graphical elements and images in
publications and documents hosted on NRCS Web sites must have
alternative text.
- Alternative text is a textual description of an image or graphic.
- All graphical elements within your document must be tagged with
alternative text within the document.
- In most applications, you can right click on an object, image,
or hyperlink to set alternate text properties.
- In Microsoft Word, right click on the graphic, choose
format picture, click on the Web Tab in the Format Picture dialog box,
add the text in the Alternate Text box.
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All U.S. federal agencies were mandated under Section 508 of the U.S.
Rehabilitation Act to make their websites accessible by June 21, 2001. As
amended, section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires access to the Federal
government's electronic and information technology. The law covers all types of
electronic and information technology in the Federal sector and is not limited
to assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. It applies to all
Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use such technology.
Federal agencies must ensure that this technology is accessible to employees and
the public to the extent it does not pose an "undue burden."
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- Section
508: The Road to Accessibility - Section 508 requires that
Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is
accessible to people with disabilities. IT Accessibility & Workforce
Division, in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of
Government-wide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating
Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to
support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal
employees and the public can access resources for understanding and
implementing the requirements of Section 508.
-
PDF Accessibility
- Adobe's Accessibility Resource Center
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Create an accessible Office document - Microsoft Office
Tutorials
-
PDF Accessibility
- Adobe's Accessibility Resource Center
-
How to Create Accessible Adobe PDF Files Booklet
- This Adobe PDF booklet is a step-by-step guide that covers the
basics for creating and optimizing Adobe Portable Document Format
(PDF) files so that they can be made accessible to users with
disabilities such as blindness or low vision.
-
Non-Discrimination Statement
This document requires Adobe Acrobat.
A
Guide to Creating Accessible PDF Documents from word-processing and desktop
publishing applications (PDF, 10.0 MB)
Section 4 of this guide is an excellent
resource for creating accessible documents using Microsoft and Adobe Products.
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Below are a few tips to assist in the creation of accessible documents.
These are general guidelines only.
- Consider the layout and design of your publication
before you start.
- Design the original document with accessibility in mind.
When the original document is created and tagged for accessibility,
those elements will be maintained when the document is converted
into a PDF document.
- Always use paragraph styles, such as Heading 1, Heading 2, and
Body Text when formatting text. These structured elements will
be tagged when converting to PDF.
- Use bullets and numbering to create lists and outlines.
These convert well to tags.
- Underlines are discouraged because the text will confuse users
who expect the text to be a link.
- Make sure that all hyperlinks have a short but sensible text
description. Don't use Link or
Click here.
- When you create hyperlinks, give them text descriptions
(alternate text).
To do this, right click on the link, choose Edit
Hyperlink, add text in the Text to Display box.
- A PDF document can be tagged for disability in Adobe Acrobat,
however, depending on the design and layout of the original
document, tagging the document after it has been converted to PDF
can be more time consuming.
For example: If a document has a text box with a colored background
and graphical elements within the text box (such as an image, lines,
or symbols) the conversion to PDF format will change all elements
within the text box an object. This object is no longer
recognized as text unless it has been tagged with alternate text.
If the graphical elements are tagged in the original document the
information will be included when the document is converted into PDF
format.
- Creating tagged documents creates accessibility and identifies
the document structure and its content to sight impaired individuals
using accessibility equipment such as screen readers.
- Create tables by using the Table feature (Table>Insert>Table).
- If the table layout has two or more columns, use Word's Columns
feature (Format>Columns) to layout the columns. Don't use tabs
or the Table feature to simulate multicolumn text. Columns
translate cleanly to a tagged Adobe PDF, while tabs and tables often
require manual repair work with the Touchup Reading Order tool in
Acrobat.
- Check if a PDF document is accessible.
To do this in Adobe
Acrobat, click Advanced - Accessibility - Quick Check.
- There is also menu tool in Adobe Acrobat that can assist in making
a document accessible.
To do this in Adobe
Acrobat, click Advanced - Make Accessible. See note below.
Note: This tool can
only assist in making the PDF document more accessible. It
will not create style formatting or add alternate text tags for graphics
and images. These elements need to be added to the original
document or to the PDF document after conversion. Please refer
to Resources & Guides For Section 508
Compliant Documents for additional information on Adobe Acrobat
accessibility tools.
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- Creating tagged PDF documents by using Acrobat PDFMaker generally provides better accessibility results than creating untagged documents and then tagging them from within Acrobat. Acrobat PDFMaker
menu and buttons that appear in the interface of many non Adobe
Windows applications. This tool is installed as a command,
menu, and/or a toolbar within many authoring applications.
- The best way to create Adobe PDF documents from Adobe
applications is to use the application's Save As command or Export
Command.
- Many non Adobe Windows products do not support Acrobat PDFMaker
for creating Adobe PDF documents by using Save As, Export, or a
similar command. For these applications, you can use Adobe PDF
Printer, which enables you to create untagged PDF documents from any
application that can print. (File - Print - change printer to Adobe
PDF). You must then use Acrobat Professional to add tags,
hyperlinks, and other accessibility features to the PDF Document.
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