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Re: PDFs that read one word per line

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From: Bevi Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Jan 27, 2010 3:45PM

Elizabeth wrote:
" I agree with Julie that Adobe is inadvertently sending out a bad message
about PDF accessibility. ... An instructor, administrative assistant pushes
a convert to PDF button and voila a PDF, but usually not an accessible
one..."

In no way do I intend to justify Adobe's actions.

But so much of a PDF's accessibility depends upon how well the source
document was created (i.e., Word, Excel, InDesign documents) and has little
to do with Adobe's software itself.

In Dreamweaver, a web developer is constructing the document (the HTML page)
from scratch and it becomes the deliverable. So it's relatively easy to
build in accessibility from the start when you're creating a webpage.

But in Word, InDesign, or other software, someone is creating a source
document from which the PDF is then exported. It's more difficult to add
accessibility after the fact, after the PDF is made, then it is when you're
creating the original source document in, say, Word.

Bottom line: A poorly structured Word or InDesign document will create an
inaccessible PDF.

--Bevi Chagnon

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Bevi Chagnon | <EMAIL REMOVED> | www.PubCom.com
Consultants + Trainers + Designers | for print, web, marketing, Acrobat, &
508
PublishingDC Group Co-Moderator |
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PublishingDC
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