Create accessible PDFs
The German Accessibility Improvement Act (BFSG) ensures that people with disabilities are given equal access to digital content. We help you make your documents accessible and attract new target groups at the same time.
People with disabilities should be able to navigate digital documents just as easily as those without disabilities. Certain rules were established in June 2025 for creating PDFs and online content with this in mind. Mandatory elements include:
– Alternative text (alt text) for images and other visual elements
– Text elements labelled with corresponding tags
The goal is to ensure that people with disabilities have equal access to digital content. Tools such as screen readers, which can read out important information and metadata from accessible documents, provide additional support.
Accessibility is not only useful for your customers – it also benefits your company. Digital accessibility offers considerable SEO advantages with longer dwell times, better crawlability by search engines and increased reach.
Plain language for easy-to-read content
6.2 million adults in Germany have difficulties with reading and writing. Around 15.6 million people communicate at home mainly or entirely in a language other than German. Since the reading skills vary greatly among people in these households, it can be difficult to address all of them with complex marketing content. Content in plain language helps you reach these target groups more effectively, thereby expanding your customer base.
We can either reword your existing content in plain language or rewrite it completely. This will make your message easier for everyone to understand. The most effective marketing speaks directly to the audience, using clear, concise language without convoluted wording or distracting clauses.
Content in easy language
Accessibility also makes your content easier to understand for people with learning difficulties, dementia or other reading difficulties. For this type of audience, we create content in easy language, which differs from plain language in that it is based on everyday speech and contains clarifying details. Cities and municipalities have been required to use easy language for their websites and online services since 2020. It’s also recommended that places providing important information – such as public offices and authorities – use easy language so everyone can understand it.
When writing or rewording your content, we use established easy language guidelines to ensure that everyone understands it.
Our services
- Guidance on compliance with the legal requirements for accessible documents
- Creation or revision of accessible documents
- Content structuring (correct format templates, tags, heading ranks, etc.)
- Creation of alternative text for images, infographics, logos and hyperlinks
- Content in plain language
- Content in easy language (with optional external review)
- Training and support for your teams in creating accessible content, accessible formatting of existing templates, presentations or brochures
- We can also redesign all your content or help your team with any specific adjustments needed to make it accessible.
FAQ
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What does accessibility mean for documents?
To be considered accessible, a document must meet the following requirements:
- Structured content: Use of clearly defined headings, paragraphs and lists, including tags that can be recognised by screen readers.
- Alternative text: Descriptive text for images, photos and hyperlinks.
- Sufficient colour contrasts: Readability for people with impaired vision or colour vision deficiency.
- Legible fonts and font sizes: Easy-to-read, appropriately-sized fonts (at least 12 pt).
- Tables: Clear, comprehensible structure with header rows and correctly assigned data cells for easy reading by screen readers.
- Navigation: Clearly defined, logically structured content and tables of contents.
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Why are accessible documents so important?
Accessible documents ensure that all people have equal access to information. People with visual impairment, motor impairment or cognitive challenges can easily read, understand and use accessible documents. This is the most inclusive and fair way to provide information to all. By making your documents accessible, not only are you promoting equality of opportunity, but you are also fulfilling legal requirements.
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Which standards does kontextor comply with when creating accessible documents?
When creating accessible documents, we comply with the current legal requirements and established standards for digital accessibility. In doing so, we deal with more than just formatting requirements. Above all, we determine how to make the content accessible, understandable and usable for everyone. Our aim is to create solutions that are legally compliant, inclusive and suitable for everyday use, while also meeting requirements such as readability, user-friendliness and search engine optimisation.
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Why do documents need to be accessible?
The German Accessibility Improvement Act (BFSG) came into force on 1 June 2025. It implements EU Directive 2019/882 and stipulates that certain digital products and services must be accessible. The accessibility requirement also applies to documents such as PDFs, whose content must meet specific standards and be screen reader-friendly.
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Who is required to comply with the German Accessibility Improvement Act (BFSG)?
The BFSG applies to digital services such as websites, e-commerce and apps. Public authorities, healthcare facilities and many other service providers have also been subject to the legal accessibility requirements since June 2025.
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What are the benefits of accessibility for my company?
Accessible documents offer companies many advantages:
- They allow you to reach new target groups
- They position your company as socially responsible, inclusive and progressive
- They ensure your compliance with legal requirements such as Germany’s Barrier-Free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV). Furthermore, accessible documents are clearly structured and presented, improving both search engine optimisation (SEO) and overall user-friendliness. This is beneficial not only to people with disabilities but to all users. Accessible documents remain compliant with standards and usable across platforms over time, making them an important part of a sustainable and future-proof information strategy.
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What’s the difference between easy language and plain language?
Easy language and plain language serve two different target groups. Easy language is specially designed for people with learning difficulties or cognitive impairments. Texts can be made easier to understand by reducing the number of words per sentence and applying a simple sentence structure. Unlike easy language, plain language doesn’t follow an established set of rules. But there are many effective guidelines and best practices. It uses clear, easy-to-understand language tailored to the target audience, without oversimplifying the content. It is especially helpful for people with reading difficulties and non-native German speakers.