WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Reading upper-level Unicode glyphs in PDF

for

From: ejp10
Date: Sep 8, 2009 6:30AM


Welcome to my favorite black hole in the standards. For the record,
the problem isn't Unicode, but lack of Unicode support on JAWS. For
low vision audiences, Unicode does provide significant accessibility
advantages over, for example, images because text can be zoomed and
not pixellate.

For JAWS, it should be possible to add .sbl files which match things
like Unicode 2126 to an actual Unicode name like "Ohm".

http://www.personal.psu.edu/ejp10/blogs/gotunicode/2008/09/getting-jaws-61-to-recognize-e.html
http://blog.carrolltech.org/archives/23

Another thing to be careful of is to NOT use the Microsoft Word Insert
palette. That often inserts non-Unicode material.

Hope this helps

Elizabeth


> 1. Reading upper-level Unicode glyphs in PDF (Bevi Chagnon | PubCom)
>
> From: "Bevi Chagnon | PubCom" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Date: September 7, 2009 11:37:42 AM EDT
> To: "'WebAIM Discussion List'" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: [WebAIM] Reading upper-level Unicode glyphs in PDF
> Reply-To: <EMAIL REMOVED> , WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >
>
>
> I'm trying to find what the best solution is for inserting upper-level
> glyphs into InDesign documents which are later exported as 508-
> accessible
> PDFs. These glyphs are often symbols, such as bullets or scientific
> characters, but can also include foreign language characters.
>
> If I insert upper-level glyphs (higher than 255 from an OpenType or
> Unicode
> font's extended character set) into an InDesign layout, the PDF
> doesn't pass
> Acrobat's accessibility checker. Plus, when the glyphs are read by
> Acrobat's
> Read Aloud utility, they're read as "blank" or "dot dot dot" or
> absolutely
> nothing thereby ignoring the glyph.
>
> My client's JAWs reader also isn't reading them correctly (I don't
> know
> which version of JAWS my client is using).
>
> Glyph examples:
>
>> From Myriad Pro, the Ohm sign (towards the end of the list) CID 390,
> Unicode 2126
>
> Or MS Arial Unicode, the Black Knight chess character, Unicode 265E
>
>> From Wingdings, the "checkmark in box" character, 0xFE (this is not
>> a check
> box field in a form: instead it's a symbol of a checked box you'd
> use in a
> to-do list).
>
> What's the best way to handle these symbol glyphs?
>
> FYI, I can create character-level tags in InDesign (such as
> <emphasis> and
> <strong>) but they are not retained when a PDF is exported from
> InDesign.
>
> TIA,
> --Bevi Chagnon
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> . . .
> Bevi Chagnon | <EMAIL REMOVED> | www.PubCom.com
> Government and non-profit publishing specialists for print, web,
> marketing,
> Acrobat, & 508
> PublishingDC Group Co-Moderator |
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PublishingDC
> Bevi blogs on Facebook |
> www.facebook.com/pages/Takoma-Park-MD/PubCom/139231069223
> And she tweets on Twitter | www.twitter.com/pubcom
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
> . .
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>