The HTML Highway

Introduction

PDFs (Portable Document Format) have been commonly used as a convenient file format for sharing information, being seen as a secure file format, and easy to share. But it's increasingly clear that PDFs are easy to edit with the right software, are generally inaccessible, and are tricky and time-consuming to make accessible. Reducing their use will be of benefit to everyone, saving time, money, and frustration!

The HTML Highway project advocates for the use of HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), such as web pages, as a more accessible alternative to PDFs by raising awareness of the accessibility issues that PDFs can introduce.

This will be a long-term project, seeking to understand the use cases for PDFs, and to challenge them over time, ensuring that the right format is used in the right way for the information being shared.

We are planning a number of initiatives to put this project into action, including initial research to understand PDF use around The Open University, and an awareness campaign to get people thinking about their PDFs.

Whilst we are advocating for staff to use HTML, we do recognise this is a change that will take time to implement and embed due to various factors including the scale of work involved. We are working with staff to assess accessible alternatives and to support them with this journey. We also recognise that there are some cases when PDF documents are required, in which case they need to go through a full remediation process to make them accessible. Where HTML cannot be used, we would encourage other document formats to be made available, such as Word.

Aim

To advocate the use of HTML to create accessible content and to reduce the use of PDFs where appropriate across the university.

Objectives

• To understand and assess the use of PDFs across the university.
• To raise awareness and understanding of the accessibility issues that PDFs can introduce.
• To advocate the use and promote the benefits of HTML as a more accessible alternative to PDFs.
• To limit/reduce the use of PDFs across the university.
• To provide support, guidance, and sharing best practice on all the above.

Scope

Investigating the use of PDFs in a strictly academic/library/publishing context falls outside the scope of the HTML Highway.