WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

RE: .pdf files and accessibility

for

From: Prof Norm Coombs
Date: Apr 4, 2002 2:41PM


Kevin:

Your observation about the Adobe access page is very convincing!
Norm Coombs
CEO EASI
http://easi.cc
At 04:22 PM 4/4/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Interestingly enough - the access.adobe.com website provides HTML, and
>plain-text versions of most of the documentation re: Acrobat and
>Accessibility (glean what you will from that simple fact) - along with
>documentation on how to convert PDF's to accessible plain html.
>
>I'd have to agree - the level of effort required to generate accessible
>pdf's is still fairly prohibitive in my opinion (only because I can
>crank out an accessible html version of even the most complex layouts a
>lot quicker than jumping through multiple hoops, ya know?). While the an
>html version isn't "necessary" per se - I'd consider it the necessary
>other half of the equation to ensure that the information is accessible
>to all.
>
>
>
>Kevin Spruill
>National Library of Medicine
>OCCS
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
>(301) 402-9708
>(301) 402-0367 (fax)
>www.nlm.nih.gov
>
>>>> <EMAIL REMOVED> 04/03/02 07:26PM >>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mark Rew [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
>>
>> Well, we are using Adobe 5.xx PDF files with mixed results.
>> When the screen
>> reader user is running the accessible Adobe reader and the
>> PDF has been made
>> accessible they work well with Jaws 4.0. But, many people
>> who generate PDF
>> documents are not aware of accessibility or are not trained
>> properly in how to
>> make PDF files accessible. So, our agency is having Adobe
>> provide in-house
>> training on generating accessible documents and forms. I'm
>> hoping this will
>> make it possible to provide all of our documents accessible
>> for all disabled
>>users.
>>
>> I will keep this list informed how well our efforts go with
>> accessibility and
>>PDF.
>
>Are Adobe 5.xx PDFs accessible to other AT besides the more recent
>versions
>of JAWS and Window-Eyes? Even if the accessibility features of PDFs
>have
>improved, isn't an alternate version (HTML?)of the information still
>necessary to provide accessibility to the largest possible audience?
>
>I've been able to create PDFs that test well with Micro-Eyes. However,
>I'm
>beginning to think that the amount of time it took to "Make Accessible"
>
>documents with complex layouts would be better spent in creating
>accessible
>HTML versions of the PDFs.
>
>Any thoughts/answers/information anyone can provide is greatly
>appreciated.
>Thanks.
>
>Israel Pinto
>Advanced Performance Consulting Group
> <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >
>
>
>----
>To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
>visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>
>----
>To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
>visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/
>
>


----
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view list archives,
visit http://www.webaim.org/discussion/