VGAR Test Procedures - PDF
PDF
PDF Accessibility - Test Procedures & Requirements
The Visa Global Accessibility Requirements (VGAR) is a combination of requirements and complimentary test procedures that help teams create and verify accessible PDF documents.
For accessibility testing, the tester simply executes the test cases and determines whether each page in the PDF document being tested passes or fails the test case. When a failure is found, the tester then documents the failure and provides it to the development team for remediation. The development team subsequently references both the identified failure and the corresponding requirement to assist in the remediation effort.
Test Order | Requirement Order
Requirement Order
The following table contains the VGAR PDF requirements.
| Req Order | Req Group | Name | Requirement |
| 1 | General (PDF-1) | PDF-1-1 Use an Automated Testing Tool | When run against the page, the automated PDF Accessibility Checker validation tool MUST NOT report any errors. |
| 2 | General (PDF-1) | PDF-1-2 Document Title | The document has a title that describes topic or purpose and displays the document title in the title bar of a user agent |
| 3 | Document Colors (PDF-2) | PDF-2-1 Color Contrast Ratio | The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. However, if the text is 18 point or 14 point bold or larger, a lower ratio of 3:1 is acceptable. |
| 4 | Document Colors (PDF-2) | PDF-2-2 Non-Text Contrast ratio | All significant user interface elements and graphics have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1 against adjacent colors including the background and other non-text objects |
| 5 | Document Colors (PDF-2) | PDF-2-3 Not Only Color | Color is not used as the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element. |
| 6 | Tags (PDF-3) | PDF-3-1 Semantic Tagging of Text | The most semantically appropriate tag shall be used for each logical element in the document content. Content shall be tagged in logical reading order. |
| 7 | Tags (PDF-3) | PDF-3-2 Table of Contents | If a PDF contains a table of contents, it MUST contain bookmarks that link to the proper locations within the document |
| 8 | Tags (PDF-3) | PDF-3-3 Headings | Heading tags shall be used as follows: — If any heading tags are used, H1 shall be the first. — A document may use more than one instance of any specific tag level. For example, a tag level may be repeated if document content requires it. NOTE: H1 H2 H3 H3 is a valid sequence if the content has one top-level heading, one second-level heading, and two consecutive third-level headings. — If document semantics require a descending sequence of headers, such a sequence shall proceed in strict numerical order and shall not skip an intervening heading level. H1 H2 H3 is permissible, while H1 H3 is not. Heading levels are said to descend if they use a sequence from H1 to H2, H2 to H3, H3 to H4, etc. — A document may increment its heading sequence without restarting at H1 if document semantics require it. H1 H2 H3 H4 H3 is a permissible sequence. |
| 9 | Tags (PDF-3) | PDF-3-4 Lists | Lists shall be tagged with L tags with the following additional provisions: — Individual list items shall be specified by LI tags. Lbl and LBody tags may be included. — Lists shall only be used when required when the content is intended to be read as a list. |
| 10 | Tags (PDF-3) | PDF-3-5 Footnotes and Endnotes | Footnotes, endnotes, note labels and references (cross-references or citations to locations within the document) shall be tagged with a Note tag. Each note tag shall have a unique entry in the ID key |
| 11 | Tags (PDF-3) | PDF-3-6 Mathematical Expressions | All mathematical expressions shall be enclosed within a Formula tag and shall have an Alt attribute. |
| 12 | Graphics (PDF-4) | PDF-4-1 Text Alternatives | Provide text alternatives for images via an /Alt entry in the property list for a Tag. |
| 13 | Graphics (PDF-4) | PDF-4-2 Decorative Images | Purely decorative images in PDF documents MUST be marked with /Artifact so that they can be ignored by Assistive Technology |
| 14 | Graphics (PDF-4) | PDF-4-3 Images with Captions | A caption accompanying a figure shall be tagged with a Caption tag. |
| 15 | Graphics (PDF-4) | PDF-4-4 No Images of Text | Text is used to convey information rather than images of text except logos and instances where text within images is unavoidable, such as in graphs or screenshots |
| 16 | Text (PDF-5) | PDF-5-1 Language of the Document | Each document MUST have a language property that matches the language of the document |
| 17 | Text (PDF-5) | PDF-5-2 Tab and Reading Order | Users shall be able to navigate through content in a logical order that is consistent with the meaning of the content |
| 18 | Text (PDF-5) | PDF-5-3 Headers and Footers | Users shall be able to locate themselves in a document by providing running headers and footers in a consistent and predictable way via pagination artifacts. |
| 19 | Text (PDF-5) | PDF-5-4 Language of Parts | A lang attribute MUST be set on every word or phrase that is in a different language than the document's main language. |
| 20 | Navigation (PDF-6) | PDF-6-1 Page Numbers | Page numbering displayed in the PDF viewer page controls has the same page numbering as the document. |
| 21 | Navigation (PDF-6) | PDF-6-2 Bookmarks | Make it possible for users to locate content using bookmarks (outline entries in an Outline dictionary) in documents that are 21 pages or longer. |
| 22 | Tables (PDF-7) | PDF-7-1 Tables | Tables should include headers. Tables can contain column headers, row headers or both. As much information as possible about the structure of tables needs to be available when assistive technology is relied upon. Headers play a key role in providing structural information. Structure elements of type TH should have a Scope attribute. If the table’s structure is not determinable via Headers and IDs, then structure elements of type TH shall have a Scope attribute. Table tagging structures shall only be used to tag content presented within logical row and/or column relationships. |
| 23 | Tables (PDF-7) | PDF-7-2 No Layout Tables | Tables are only used for tabular data with a logical column/row relationship and not used for layout or positioning |
| 24 | Annotations (PDF-8) | PDF-8-1 Links and Link Text | Link text in PDF documents is marked up in a way that is identifiable by keyboard and assistive technology users. Links in PDF documents should be represented by a Link tag and objects in its sub-tree, which includes a link object reference (or Link annotation) and one or more text objects. The text object(s) within the Link tag should be utilized by assistive technologies to provide a name for the link. |
| 26 | Forms (PDF-9) | PDF-9-1 Form controls | A Widget annotation shall be nested within a Form tag. Widget annotations are used for interactive forms. |
| 27 | Forms (PDF-9) | PDF-9-2 Form-Tooltips | Provide name, role, state, and value information for all form components to enable compatibility with assistive technology. |
| 28 | Forms (PDF-9) | PDF-9-3 Form-Radio Buttons | Make sure forms are accessible and usable by programmatically associating labels that convey the purpose of the fields. |
| 29 | Forms (PDF-9) | PDF-9-4 Required Form Controls | Notify the user when a field that must be completed has not been completed in a PDF form |
| 30 | Forms (PDF-9) | PDF-9-5 Form-Input Validation | Notify the user when user input to a field that requires a specific, required format (e.g., date fields) is not submitted in that format. |
| 31 | Forms (PDF-9) | PDF-9-6 Target Size | Actionable components have a minimum target size of 24x24 CSS pixels except for: — Objects with a target offset of at least 24px. EX: A 20px width “Cancel” button has its right most edge at least 4px away from a “Submit” button placed on the right. — Inline content within a sentence or block of text. EX: A wiki paragraph has multiple instances of hyperlinked text. Increasing the height and width of these links would impact the presentation of text and make it more difficult to read. |
| 32 | Media Content (PDF-10) | PDF-10-1 No Blinking or Flashing Content | Content that blinks or flashes MUST never be used. |
| 33 | Media Content (PDF-10) | PDF-10-2 Captions for Video | All video (both live AND prerecorded) content MUST include accurate captions. |
| 34 | Media Content (PDF-10) | PDF-10-3 Audio Description for Video | If video content provides any information visually that is not described by an accompanying audio track, it MUST also include an Audio Description track that fully explains the visual information. |
| 37 | Media Content (PDF-10) | PDF-10-4 Transcripts for audio-only/video-only | For audio-only and video-only media, a transcript MUST be provided which provides the same information as presented in the original media content. |
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