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Re: Technical PDF Accessibility Question

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From: Duff Johnson
Date: Jun 8, 2011 2:45PM

Jennifer,

> Yes, content is being added to an existing pdf, positioned using x-y
> coordinates.

Ok, so you are "painting" content into a PDF page - you aren't populating a PDF form. Thus the problem.

AFAIK, iText won't help you edit the structure tree, create new tags, etc. Instead, your new content is simply breaking the file's accessibility by introducing content without also introducing (and correctly situating) the tags in the file's structure-tree.

It may _look_ like a form, but in the PDF argot, it's just a dumb page. A "PDF form", by contrast, includes fillable form fields. In an accessible fillable form, those fields are also tagged into the structure-tree.

> The shell PDF files being used are government forms, so we
> don't have an option to modify those to include form fields.

...and why not? You are "modifying" them when you add text, no?

Unless I'm missing something, why not download a copy and add fillable fields to the government forms, tag the resulting interactive PDF file properly, then use a server application such as <commercial> our very own FDFMerge </commercial> to populate the form-fields with your data?

If you must flatten the resulting filled form, however, you'll have the same problem (untagged content) as you do now. One way around this: make the fields "read only", then encrypt the file on the server prior to delivery.

Duff Johnson, CEO
Appligent Document Solutions

22 E. Baltimore Ave
Lansdowne, PA 19050
+1 610 284 4006
+1 617 553 1934 (direct)
<EMAIL REMOVED>
http://www.appligent.com
http://www.twitter.com/duffjohnson





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