Public sector digital team · Accessibility · Content Design
Making Guides Accessible: A Systems Approach to Content
A UX case study on fixing the root cause, not the symptom.
- Process Mapping
- Accessibility Audit
- Partner Training
- Authoring Standards
Section 01 — The Brief
Convert PDFs to accessible HTML.
The organisation was authoring content heavy user guides for cross border traders. Once done, they then converted the guides to the PDF format and uploaded to the organisation website. As the client was a UK Gov department, the need was that the guides should be accessible and meet WCAG 2.2. The PDF guides broke many accessibility guidelines so the requirement was to convert these PDFs to accessible HTML.
"The PDF wasn’t the problem. The Word document that created it was."
— Root-cause discovery insight
Problem Depth
5 — Systemic
Scale
1 = Surface fix · 5 = Root-cause issue
needed authoring guidance
of inaccessible source content
rebuilt upstream
Section 02 — Discovery
The real problem was upstream.
Simply converting PDF to HTML would not fix the underlying issue. The source Word documents, authored by partners, were themselves inaccessible: screenshots replaced real content, colour carried meaning on its own, headings lacked semantic structure, and tables were used for layout rather than data.
"Treating the PDF as the problem would have fixed the symptom while leaving the inaccessible production process untouched."
Section 03 — The Approach
Move the fix to the authoring stage.
I mapped the end-to-end production process, identified the authoring stage as the point of failure, and rebuilt the workflow as a four-step programme that fixes accessibility at the source.
Step 1
Build a new accessible Word template
Create a Word template with semantic styles, proper heading structure, accessible colour use, and built-in guidance — so accessibility is the default, not an afterthought.
Section 04 — The Outcome
A sustainable publishing system.
The process now produces accessible HTML guides that a web content editor can upload directly, with no expert remediation needed. Content editors author to an accessible standard from the start.
Accessibility is a process problem
The inaccessible guides were not only a technical output issue; they were created by an upstream authoring workflow without clear standards.
Training outlasts remediation
Show-and-tell sessions, WCAG 2.1 AA guidance, and GOV.UK content principles created culture change beyond a one-off fix.
Work upstream for compounding benefit
Introducing standards for semantic headings, real text, alt text, accessible colour use, and data tables improved every future guide at source.
Key Lessons
Fix the system, not the file.
Accessibility problems are often process problems. Working upstream with content authors creates compounding benefit, while show-and-tell is more persuasive than documentation alone.
Accessibility · Content Design · Public Sector Digital Team