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Re: PDF Accessibility

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From: Karlen Communications
Date: Jan 20, 2010 6:03AM

My approach as someone who uses a screen reader is that if I don't use it
and provide feedback....like we are doing here...Adobe or other developers
won't know or understand what needs to be fixed or added or repaired to a
document format to make it accessible for everyone.

PDF is not going to go away and any help I can provide in making it more
usable for those of us who encounter it on a daily basis is my goal.

I have books I've written and sell as tagged PDF that worked perfectly in
Acrobat and Reader 7 and 8 but both Window-Eyes and JAWS have problems with
in 9. Adobe knows this but if I hadn't provided them with this type of
feedback they couldn't work on it for the next iteration of their products
or improve the tagging of documents so that it gets to the "just as
accessible as Word" that people ask for and expect. [I know, there are some
horrid Word documents out there but the measure seems to be "as accessible
as Word."]

I am equally frustrated with some of the PDF documents I have to read or
repair. But if we don't provide the feedback on what is and isn't working,
how will the format evolve and how will document designers and authors know
what they need to do to create better documents?

I guess this has just been part of "my workflow" since we've been able to
Tag PDF documents.

I also want to produce my books in an accessible format. DAISY doesn't let
me include complex formatting for content when I am trying to demonstrate
formatting in an Office document. A license to provide full text and audio
DAISY in MP3 format is expensive. A license for synthesized voices for DAISY
to have full text and audio is expensive. Print is too expensive and not
terribly accessible for people using a screen reader. Word does not provide
a secure format to distribute my material. PDF offers me the ability to have
a secure document that is accessible.

I struggle with these issues and try to find the best and most accessible
and secure method of delivering content.

I've been following the eBook evolution with interest but so far none of the
eBook readers are looking at full accessibility of content and device so I
come back to PDF.


So I will help in whatever way I can to improve accessibility to PDF...even
if at times it is painful to try to access.

Cheers, Karen