Why Ordinary PDFs Fail Screen-Reader Users, and How to Fix Them

Most PDFs are made for the eye. For people who use screen readers, the same file can be a wall of unlabelled images and scrambled tables.

A PDF can look perfect and still be unusable. Screen readers do not see the page; they read the structure underneath it. When that structure is missing, the reader gets lost.

Where ordinary PDFs break

• Images without descriptions are skipped, so charts, diagrams and photos carry no information at all.
• Tables without markup are read cell by cell in a random order, so rows and columns stop making sense.
• Without tags there are no headings to jump between, and a long document becomes one continuous stream of text.

Four steps to an accessible PDF

• Tag everything: headings, paragraphs, lists, tables and figures.
• Add alternative text to every meaningful image and chart.
• Set a logical reading order, especially on pages with columns, sidebars and captions.
• Choose sufficient colour contrast and clear, readable fonts.

Why it matters now

Accessibility is no longer an optional extra. Under the European Accessibility Act, in force since June 2025, more organisations in the EU must provide accessible digital documents. For translation agencies, each language version needs the same care: tags and alt text have to be translated and checked, and the reading order verified again after the text reflows.

If a client asks for accessible files in several languages, the work sits in the layout stage, which is where a DTP partner can take it off your hands.