Chax Chat Accessibility Podcast

Letterhead may be designed to lock in an organization's branding, but it can also lock meaningful information away from screen reader users. When logos, contact information, board listings, and hyperlinks are placed in Microsoft Word's header or footer, important content may disappear from the reading order and links can create untagged annotation errors in the exported PDF. In this episode of Chax Chat, Dax Castro and Chad Chelius explore what accessible letterhead should contain, why a flattened image is not a reliable solution, and how to decide where letterhead information belongs in the reading order. They also discuss live text, repeated links, first-page treatment, efficient heading navigation, and when bookmarks provide a better experience than trying to make a PDF behave like a website.

Automated accessibility checkers can flag errors, but they cannot always tell you whether a heading is tagged correctly, a nested list has the right structure, or several pages of content never entered the tags tree at all. In this episode of Chax Chat, Dax Castro and Chad Chelius explain what it means to "walk the tags tree" and why this manual review remains essential to accessible PDF remediation. They cover efficient keyboard navigation, Highlight Content, page-to-page reading order, misplaced figures, nested lists, role mapping, when to return to the source file, and why rotated tables require a different approach. They also discuss the judgment behind remediation: how to distinguish a genuine barrier from a technical imperfection and balance user impact, time, and budget without losing sight of accessibility.

Accessibility software does not always move quickly, but several recent updates are changing how accessible documents are created, remediated, and tested. In this episode of Chax Chat, Chad and Dax break down the advances that are actually worth knowing about. They cover accessible PDF forms exported from Word, improved table headers and scope in InDesign, MathML support, PowerPoint reading-order and heading tools, Canva's accessible PDF workflow, new PAC checker tabs, browser-based auto-tagging, and the growing family of IQ tools. They also flag the places where automatic features, standards, and assistive technology still do not line up. Every other week, we unravel accessibility to help you create documents that are more inclusive, compliant, and practical for real users.  

What happens when a PDF tag is technically in the right place, but a screen reader never voices it? In this episode of Chax Chat, Chad and Dax dig into nested tags and the places where the standard, accessibility checkers, and real-world assistive technology do not always agree. They explore captions nested inside figures and tables, QR codes that combine figures and links, table summaries, and multilevel lists. Along the way, they explain why the parent tag often wins, when moving a caption outside its expected structure improves the user experience, and why passing a checker is only part of the job. Every other week, we unravel accessibility to help you create documents that are more inclusive, compliant, and practical for real users.  

Can one InDesign plugin turn hours of PDF remediation into a few minutes of source-document work? In this episode of Chax Chat, Chad and Dax walk through MadeToTag and explain why they consider it essential for creating accessible PDFs from Adobe InDesign. They explore its seven-task workflow, including export-tag mapping, Articles panel review, alternate text management, document metadata, language settings, accessible tables, and PDF export. They also share practical shortcuts, common mistakes, and the features that can dramatically reduce the amount of cleanup required after export. Every other week, we unravel accessibility to help you create documents that are more inclusive, compliant, and practical for real users.

How do you make a highly visual graphic novel accessible without flattening the story into a series of disconnected image descriptions? In this episode of Chax Chat, Chad and Dax explore the unique accessibility challenges created by panels, speech balloons, visual action, pacing, suspense, and complex reading order. They present a seven-step approach for preserving the experience, including understanding the story, establishing reading order, identifying visual hierarchy, determining information dependencies, describing rather than interpreting, prioritizing meaningful details, and testing the final reader experience. The result is an accessibility strategy that treats a graphic novel as a story to be experienced, not simply a collection of images requiring alternate text. Every other week, we unravel accessibility to help you create documents that are more inclusive, compliant, and practical for real users.

Complex infographics can be one of the most challenging accessibility problems to solve. In this episode, Chad and Dax break down a practical framework for evaluating, designing, and remediating complex visual content. From water cycle diagrams and flowcharts to data-rich visualizations, they explore how to determine the intended user experience, choose the right delivery method, and decide when alt text, live text, body copy, or alternative formats are the best solution. They also discuss common mistakes, the role of AI in creating descriptions, and why accessibility decisions should happen during the design phase—not after the document is finished. Whether you're a designer, accessibility specialist, or document creator, this episode provides actionable strategies for making complex information more understandable and accessible for everyone.

In this episode, Chad and Dax explore one of the most overlooked accessibility features in document design: the table of contents. They discuss why a properly built TOC often provides a better user experience than bookmarks, how screen reader users interact with document navigation, and why automated TOCs are worth the effort. We dive into common objections to using table of contents features, practical workflows for Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Word, techniques for handling custom TOC styling, and solutions for one of the most common accessibility problems: dot leaders. If you've ever wondered whether a table of contents is really necessary, or struggled to create one that meets both design and accessibility requirements, this episode is packed with practical guidance and real-world remediation strategies. Tagged PDF Best Practice Guide: Syntax

You're always surprised at how many people who are document remediation specialists have never listened to their document using assistive technology. Passing an accessibility checker does not guarantee a good user experience. In this episode, Chad and Dax break down the real-world issues that only show up when you actually test your documents with assistive technology. From acronyms and ligatures to bullets, tables, links, company names, and financial data, they explain why screen reader testing reveals problems that automated tools completely miss. If you create accessible PDFs, reports, proposals, or digital documents, this episode will change the way you think about testing. Plus, they share a downloadable handout packed with the top reasons you should be testing your documents with assistive technology.  The handout for this podcast can be found here.

PDF navigation menus might seem helpful, but are they actually creating barriers for assistive technology users? In this episode, Chad and Dax unpack the hidden accessibility challenges caused by page navigation in PDFs, including "Back to TOC" buttons, navigation bars, bookmarks, and linked page controls. They explain why something that feels intuitive for sighted users can become frustrating and disruptive for screen reader users, and share practical strategies for making navigation more usable without sacrificing accessibility. If you create PDFs, reports, proposals, or digital publications, this conversation will change the way you think about document navigation.