With a keyboard, a free screen reader and two simple tricks, you can find the worst barriers yourself in 15 minutes.
1. The tab test (2 minutes)
Open the PDF and use only the Tab key: can you reach all links and form fields? In a sensible order? If the focus jumps around wildly or gets stuck, the structure is not right.
2. The selection test (1 minute)
Try to select and copy text in the PDF. Doesn’t work? Then it is a scan without text recognition – invisible to screen readers. (DokAudit fixes this automatically using OCR.)
3. The read-aloud test with NVDA (10 minutes)
NVDA is a free, professional screen reader (nvaccess.org). Install it, open the PDF, let it read aloud: do you hear headings as headings? Are images described, or is only “graphic” announced? Is the order right? Nothing convinces the head of a department more than hearing their own official gazette just once the way blind citizens hear it.
4. The zoom test (1 minute)
Zoom to 200 %: does everything remain readable and usable? Very small print and tightly squeezed tables stand out immediately here.
5. The machine check
Finally, the technical side: drag the PDF into DokAudit. The check finds what no quick test can see – missing tags, language, title, contrast, violations of the standard – translates it into plain language and fixes whatever can be automated straight away.
Recommended order
Machine check first (objective, fast, documented), then the NVDA test for acceptance of the content. Together, these are the two pillars that professional testing bodies use as well.