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Re: PDFs that read one word per line

for

From: Geof Collis
Date: Jan 26, 2010 7:48AM

Hi Mike

I like that , PDFu, I'll start using it as it is very fitting.

I think it has gotten worse, 3 months ago when I was using my old
system, JAWS 6.0 and an earlier version of Adobe Reader I was able to
at least get some of the text now I get that "open parent document'
business and it's a crap shoot whether I can read any of it.

I can say from experience that not too many Municipalities in Ontario
care whether it is accessible, as you say because it is widely
thought that pdf's are accessible that's all they need to know and
telling them any different falls on deaf ears and trying to sell them
on how to create accessible ones is a harder sell than web accessibility.

I still cant let Adobe off the hook completely because I dont see
enough from them stating that they need to be made accessible and
that it doesn't come accessible right out of the box.

cheers

Geof

At 09:29 AM 1/26/2010, you wrote:
>Hi Geof
>
>Believe me we feel your pain. The vast majority of PDFs are created
>with no regard for accessibility. And there is a huge misconception
>that all PDFs are accessible. Thus there is an attitude among many
>users that all I need to do to post an accessible version of any
>document is convert it to PDF. Add to that the number of automated,
>database driven reporting tools that publish to a totally
>inaccessible PDF format and you have a situation that has led many
>of my friends who use screen readers to add the letter "U" to the
>end of the PDF acronym.
>
>Adobe is not wholly responsible for this mess. They don't create the
>reporting tools, and they are not responsible for teaching folks to
>use their document creation and PDF conversion tools properly. They
>don't even make all of the tools that create PDFs from Office
>documents. The do promote PDF as an accessible format though, and
>unfortunately their success has made the Adobe name synonymous with
>PDF in the eyes of the general public.
>
>We are taking a holistic approach to the problem. First we provide
>training to people in how to use their MS Office tools properly to
>create well structured documents. Next we teach them how to use
>those well structured documents to create accessible PDFs, and HTML
>documents and how to make judgments about which format is
>appropriate for the intended audience. We encourage document authors
>to make materials available in multiple formats to meet the needs of
>a variety of users. Once people see how easy it is to create
>documents that are accessible in their native format, and then
>easily convert them to accessible PDF and HTML then we have a
>community that is creating a document library that is easier to use
>and to maintain. That's our theory anyway, ask me again in about a
>year how well we are doing.
>
>As for the automated reporting tools... we test, we report, and we
>try to influence the manufacturers of the tools to do a better job.
>
>Mike Moore
>
>