WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: Html from a .pdf file, what is the best way?

for

From: Simius Puer
Date: Apr 8, 2010 2:24PM


Hi Birkir

It wasn't meant to be a technical analysis as such - more an overview of a
common situation that a great many people suffer and a look at different
ways to solve the issue depending on the scale of the problem.

And yes, one solution we offer is a bureau transcription service - I think
you can forgive us for advertising on our own website.

Alas, my Icelandic is a little rusty ;] Whilst it is perfectly possible to
do the conversion without speaking the language, it is impossible to
guarantee accessibility without being able to check the content itself. I
only mention this as there are companies out there who make outrageous
guarantees of accessibility to clients who are not usually in a position to
know any better.

Just a note on marking-up the source document up for auto-conversion (as
that sounds like the route you have chosen) - even if you get this right *
and* you have a reliable conversion tool you still need to check the final
document (in code view - HTML/XML or whatever you decide) to ensure it is
accurate. Just because it looks right visually and validates/parses does
not guarantee accessibility - not by a long way. This was why I suggested
the manual conversion route given your scenario as a you can either:

a) mark-up the source document, auto-convert (having evaluated the
conversion tool) to your chosen code format, and then check the output is
both accurate (in terms of reading order and structure) and accessible

or

b) mark-up the content directly in your chosen code format

sure, you still need to check the document that comes out of option b) but
it normally a lot less work and more accurate.