The Commons has long supported two plugins that allow users to embed PDFs and other documents within their Commons-hosted websites: PDFjs Viewer and the Google Docs Embedder. Both of these plugins are now obsolete and are being retired. We have converted embedded documents to download links.
There are cases where embedding documents may be useful, but embedding them into websites can have unintended consequences for users. Issues include:
- Documents may not be accessible [for example, “An accessible PDF works with assistive technology software and devices, like screen magnifiers, screen readers, speech-recognition software, text-to-speech software, alternative input devices and refreshable Braille displays.” (CommonLook)]:
- Images, graphs, and tables may not have alt-text to support visually impaired readers
- Text size is not resizable and does not reflow as the page size changes
- Screen magnifiers may not work on an embedded PDFs]
- Users on mobile devices or tablets may be unable to read content as the document gets smaller on smaller devices
- Embedded documents can be used by bad actors to spread malware, including ransomware
More on the issues with documents on websites can be found at the following sites:
- PDF Issues & Recommendations – Penn Accessibility
- Avoid PDF for On-Screen Reading – by the Nielson/Norman Group
- This data and password-stealing malware is spreading in an unusual way – ZDNet
In the interests of accessibility, readability, and security we’ve chosen to remove support for embedding documents in websites. We realize that they can be useful for sharing information such as forms and fliers for download. If possible, we suggest converting your documents to HTML and including a download link to the original. For more information on updating sites that have embedded documents, feel free to email us at hello[at]hcommons.org and we can discuss strategies.
Tiwari, Ashish. “Can Screen Readers Read Pdfs?” PDF Accessibility and Compliance, CommonLook, 18 Nov. 2020, https://commonlook.com/can-screen-readers-read-pdfs/.