SAIF: A Brief Guide to PDFs and Accessibility
2. Creating PDFs
PDFs are rarely created from scratch. They are usually created from a source document using PDF conversion software.
PDF Conversion Software
In 1993, the software company Adobe introduced a tool called Acrobat to create, edit and view PDFs. It is still the major source of PDF Conversion Software. However, since 2001, many other companies have been able to develop their own PDF conversion software. These are often cheaper than Adobe products but may not have the same ability to create Accessible PDFs. It is a good idea to check this out before you buy. (See the section Creating Accessible PDFs later in this document).
Source Documents
Documents created from any of the following applications can be converted to PDF:
• Word Processing, e.g. Word
• Presentations, e.g. PowerPoint
• HTML files
• Spreadsheets, e.g. Excel
• Desktop Publishing, e.g. Publisher
• Pictures
• Charts
• Scanned Documents
Multiple files of the same type or several different file types can be combined to create a single PDF. This makes PDF a very powerful tool for sharing information.
In the great majority of cases PDFs are created from word processed files and less often from presentation files. These may or may not include pictures and charts. All these aspects can be made accessible by using an alternative text description for the pictures and charts. (See the section on alternative text later in this document).