PDF use in Queensland Government

How much PDF is used in Qld Government?

How long is a ball of string?

Image Copyright © Michael Richmond.

25.1% of documents are PDF

The use of PDF ranges from 43.1% at communitysafety.qld.gov.au to just 1.4% at publicworks.qld.gov.au. Most departments sites have over 15%

These figure do not account for …

• Domains excluded from Funnelback (Qld government search engine)

• Multiple versions of the same document– Yes, bad bad bad! Another issue with PDFs

• PDFs with alternative formats (HTML, RTF etc.)

How many are accessible?

Good question …

Accessibility

We stipulate:• accessible equivalents must be made

available (HTML preferred)• minimum requirements …

Minimum requirements

• Hierarchical headings etc.– proper styles used, not random formatting

• ToC, links and bookmarks• Reading order• Layout and contrast (white space, margins etc.)• Accessible tables (never for layout)• Specify ‘natural language’• Include metadata• Force download (don’t open in browser)

General position

Applying accessibility techniques to PDFs (without alternative format) reduces risk, but PDFs are not fully accessible.

HTML is recommended. Strongly. With much arm waving …

What are PDFs good for?

• Print documents• Things a customer may want to keep on

file– e.g. receipts from online transactions

• That’s about it …

What are PDFs actually used for?

• Everything, unfortunately

Why?

• ‘Print first’ culture (web an afterthought)• Belief that some ‘legal’ content must stay

in its original format (e.g. forms)• Content owners are proud of their creation

and want it to stay pretty• There’s no time! Get it online! We’ve promised

the minister! Argh! Is it online yet? Don’t worry, we’ll fix it later!

We’re trying to change this

• Most communications staff are aware of requirements and understand why– Some don’t feel a minority should be catered

for

• More executive level people are starting to get it …

The rules

• Module 6—Non-HTML documents (CUE Standard 3.0)

• Information Standard 26—Internet (Mandatory principle 1—Online presence)

• Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwlth) (Part 2, Division 1, Section 24)

How to fight the PDF horde

• Educate– Effect on accessibility, usability, mobile devices, low

bandwidth, SEO

• Sell the benefits– Give customers what they want, save money, avoid

legal issues, manage content easily (one source of truth in an easily updateable form)

• Ease concerns– e.g. create print style sheets, clarify legal

requirements in writing

Example of companion cards page from new Qld

govt website

Example showing how this page transforms with a print style

sheet

Still fighting …

• Educate some more!– how people read on the web, share web stats

showing HTML is preferred

An example

1 January 2011 – 30 June 2011Top line: HTML (2,213 page views)Bottom 2: PDF (6 page views)

Still …

• Challenge common practice– Just because a document is available in print

doesn’t mean it needs to be online (what do our customers want?)

– Do we even need the print version?

Things are changing

• OSR traditionally provided their Compliance Program as PDF only

• The last few years they moved to offering a HTML version as well

• This year it’s HTML only

When the revolution comes …

• Single website experience– Educate– Mandate