2 May 2007

Companies which use Adobe PDF files have been warned that they do not comply with accessibility standards.

Struan Robertson, a senior associate at Pinsent Masons, claimed that businesses could be inviting trouble by relying on this format without supplying accompanying text files, ZDNet reports.

Mr Robertson, in addition to his appointment at the law firm, is the editor of online legal service Out-law.com.

"Many PDFs are not accessible and the solution is to provide accessible HTML in addition to PDFs if you wish to use PDFs," he remarked.

The expert added that there is a "legal duty" upon organisations to supply accessible information - although he conceded that legal action is less likely over the matter if a company has fulfilled other accessibility requirements.

In the UK, provision for disabled and blind web users, or those with other physical impairments, is mandatory under the Disability Discrimination Act.

A similar law in the US has recently been the cause of several lawsuits, including one brought against major retailer Target over an alleged lack of website accessibility.

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