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

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From: Birkir Gunnarsson
Date: Apr 8, 2010 5:15PM

Hi Simius

Oh, do not get me wrong, I did not mean to criticize you on your link or
advertizing, merely point out even if I were in the position to contract
such things to you the language is a bit of a barrier *smiles*.
Thanks to you and al the other folks on this list for very helpful input.
I am trying to find out what the source of the document is and I have
forwarded the advice overview from this list to the ministry, after that the
issue is more or less out of my hands.
My problem with plain text files (they have a .txt) is that when it comes to
a report of over 2000 printed pages with chapters and subchapters, tables,
lists etc I prefer a structure to allow me to jump to a particular section
that interests me or a way to jump past a long list of names or a table of
numbers that does not interest me. The first 3 pages is a list of
contributors and "special thanks" people and with Jaws and the arrow down
key, having no ida how long the list will be, just getting past that list
takes a minute or two. For a document of, say, up to 10 or so pages that can
easily be read as a whole plain text is great, for anything this bulky I
feel some indexing and link structure is vital to the quick perusal of said
text.
Thanks
-B

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Simius Puer
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 3:25 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Html from a .pdf file, what is the best way?

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.