How to Create Accessible EPUBs: PubCoder's Built-In Tools and Free EAA Compliance Checker

Making digital content accessible isn’t just good practice anymore — it’s the law. Here’s how PubCoder helps publishers meet accessibility requirements without the complexity.

Why Accessibility Matters Now More Than Ever

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) took effect on June 28, 2025. If you publish ebooks in the EU market, your digital content must now meet accessibility standards. Non-compliance isn’t just an ethical issue — it carries real legal and financial consequences.

But accessibility isn’t only about regulations. Over 1 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability. When we create accessible content, we’re ensuring that learners with visual impairments can use screen readers, that students with dyslexia benefit from synchronized read-aloud features, and that users with motor disabilities can navigate with keyboards instead of touch screens.

Accessible content serves users with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities — but also benefits everyone through better structure and flexibility.

The challenge? Creating accessible ebooks has traditionally been complex, expensive, and time-consuming. Publishers needed specialized expertise just to understand requirements like screen reader compatibility, proper reading order, and semantic document structure.

That’s exactly the problem we set out to solve with PubCoder. See our full accessibility features page for details.

The Fixed-Layout Accessibility Challenge

Here’s something most publishers don’t realize: fixed-layout EPUBs present unique accessibility challenges that reflowable content doesn’t have.

In a reflowable EPUB, text naturally flows from one element to the next. Screen readers follow this flow without issues. But in fixed-layout content — which is essential for children’s books, textbooks with complex diagrams, comics, and design-heavy publications — every element has an absolute position on the page.

In fixed-layout EPUBs, elements are positioned absolutely. Without explicit reading order, screen readers may announce content in the wrong sequence — title, sidebar, caption, main text instead of the logical flow.

This creates problems. Without explicit guidance, a screen reader doesn’t know whether to read the title first, then the sidebar, then the main text, or some other order entirely. Interactive elements like buttons and hotspots may be invisible to assistive technologies. Images might lack descriptions. The reading experience becomes fragmented or completely unusable.

PubCoder was built specifically for fixed-layout content creation. We’ve spent years working with publishers, educators, and accessibility experts — including our collaboration with UNICEF’s Accessible Digital Textbooks initiative — to solve these exact problems.

Built-In Accessibility Features in PubCoder

Rather than bolt accessibility on as an afterthought, we’ve integrated it into every step of the authoring process. Here’s what PubCoder handles automatically — and what you can customize when needed.

Automatic Reading Order

Objects in PubCoder export in logical top-to-bottom order by default. For complex layouts where automatic ordering isn’t sufficient, you can customize the reading sequence using tab indexing. The result: screen readers encounter your content in the order you intend.

Screen Reader Compatibility

PubCoder outputs are compatible with VoiceOver, TalkBack, and other assistive technologies. Proper ARIA roles are applied automatically. Interactive images with tap actions are marked as buttons so screen readers announce them correctly.

Keyboard Navigation

Every interactive element in your PubCoder export is accessible via keyboard. Users who can’t use a mouse or touch screen can navigate your entire publication using Tab, Enter, and arrow keys.

Read-Aloud and Media Overlays

EPUB 3 Media Overlays allow synchronized text and audio narration. As the audio plays, the corresponding text highlights on screen. This feature is essential for learners with dyslexia, visual impairments, or anyone who benefits from multimodal reading. PubCoder’s Read Aloud Editor makes it straightforward to create these synchronized experiences.

Alt-Text Management

Every image needs alternative text to be accessible. PubCoder makes this manageable: images imported from Unsplash and The Noun Project retain their original alt text. For your own images, there’s a dedicated interface to add and manage descriptions. You can also mark purely decorative images so screen readers skip them entirely, reducing auditory clutter.

Good alt text describes the meaning and purpose of an image, not just its appearance. “Bar chart showing Q3 sales increased 40%” is more useful than “chart” or “image123.png”.

Semantic Structure

Proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3…) and document landmarks help screen reader users navigate your content. PubCoder lets you define heading levels and manage page order visually, building proper document structure without touching code.

Proper heading structure (H1 → H2 → H3) helps screen reader users navigate and understand content organization. Skipping levels (H1 → H3) breaks this navigation.

Accessibility Metadata

Accessibility metadata tells readers — and reading systems — exactly what accessibility features your publication includes. PubCoder provides built-in fields for this metadata, improving discoverability in catalogs and libraries.

One-Click Fixes

Common accessibility issues like missing language declarations can be fixed automatically. Rather than hunting through your project for problems, PubCoder identifies and resolves them for you.

Zero Errors in Ace by DAISY

Ace by DAISY is the industry-standard accessibility checker for EPUBs. It validates your files against WCAG guidelines and EPUB accessibility specifications.

When we released PubCoder 5.1, we focused heavily on accessibility improvements. The result: a sample project created in PubCoder now achieves zero validation errors in Ace by DAISY.

This wasn’t always the case. Earlier versions had hundreds of issues. Through collaboration with organizations like UNICEF’s Accessible Digital Textbooks initiative and feedback from publishers worldwide, we systematically addressed every category of accessibility problem. The tools described above are the direct result of that work.

As Elias Constantopedos, Technology Adviser for UNICEF’s Accessible Digital Textbooks initiative, puts it:

“In the context of accessibility, PubCoder provides easy-to-use tools to create accessible educational material and allows it to be published in many formats to aid in the adoption of these materials by the students who need them.”

Introducing the Free EAA Compliance Checker

Creating accessible content is one thing. Verifying that it actually meets requirements is another.

We’ve launched a free EAA Compliance Checker that lets you validate any EPUB file using the same tools professionals rely on: EPUBCheck for technical validation and Ace by DAISY for accessibility checking.

How It Works

Simply drag and drop your EPUB file — or click to select one from your computer. The checker accepts files up to 100MB.

Upload any EPUB file to check its accessibility compliance. Files are processed securely and deleted immediately after validation.

Once uploaded, the checker runs both EPUBCheck and Ace by DAISY validation and returns a detailed report showing any issues found.

The checker categorizes issues by severity: Critical, Serious, Moderate, and Minor. Each issue includes a description and guidance for fixing it.

Your files are processed securely and deleted immediately after validation. We don’t store or access your content.

What the Checker Can — and Can’t — Verify

Automated tools are powerful but not comprehensive. Our checker can identify many accessibility issues, but some requirements need human review:

Automated tools detect:

• Missing alt text on images
• Improper document structure
• Missing language declarations
• Navigation and landmark issues
• Many WCAG violations

Manual review still required for:

• Color contrast — Tools can flag potential issues, but manual review is needed for text/background combinations
• Meaningful alt text — Automated tools detect missing alt text but can’t evaluate quality
• Logical reading order — Complex layouts may need human verification
• Content clarity — Language simplicity and comprehension requirements need human judgment

Automated accessibility checkers catch structural issues but can’t evaluate content quality. Both automated and manual review are needed for full compliance.

Passing the automated checker is an important first step, but full EAA compliance may require professional review of these additional criteria.

Access Levels

PubCoder users: Log in with your PubCoder account for unlimited checks.

Everyone else: Subscribe to our newsletter to access the checker with up to 5 validations per session. It’s a fair exchange — you get a professional-grade validation tool, and we keep you informed about accessibility updates and PubCoder news.

TRY EAA CHECKER

What If Your EPUB Fails Validation?

If the checker identifies issues, you have options.

If you’re creating content yourself (and it’s a fixed-layout EPUB): PubCoder’s built-in accessibility features help you fix problems at the source. Rather than retrofitting accessibility onto finished files, you build it in from the start.

If you need expert help: Our team offers accessibility audits, remediation services, and training. We’ve helped publishers worldwide meet EAA requirements — from fixing specific files to establishing organization-wide accessible publishing workflows.

Download PubCoder to start creating accessible content with a 15-day free trial, or contact our services team to discuss your accessibility needs.

The Bigger Picture

Accessibility isn’t a checkbox. It’s a commitment to ensuring that everyone — regardless of ability — can access the content we create.

The EAA deadline has passed. Publishers who haven’t addressed accessibility are now operating outside the law in EU markets. But beyond compliance, there’s a simple truth: accessible content reaches more people, serves more learners, and creates better experiences for everyone.

We built PubCoder to make accessible publishing practical. Not easy — creating good content always takes effort — but practical. The tools are there. The validation is there. The expertise is there if you need it.

The only question is when you’ll start.

Have questions about EAA compliance or accessible publishing? Contact our team — we’re here to help.