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Re: Technical PDF Accessibility Question

for

From: McDonald, Jennifer
Date: Jun 8, 2011 2:57PM

Thanks for the info. I've forwarded it on to the developers.

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Duff Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 3:45 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Technical PDF Accessibility Question

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





>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Duff
> Johnson
> Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2011 2:33 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Technical PDF Accessibility Question
>
> Jennifer,
>
> I don't understand the question... see below....
>
> On Jun 8, 2011, at 3:18 PM, McDonald, Jennifer wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I have a question about some specific PDF files that are used on my
>> website. These files are forms, that are pre-populated with user
>> information dynamically (using iText). The PDF files are tagged, but
>> when the information is populated online, that information is not
>> tagged.
>
> If the files are forms (ie, they include fillable form-fields), then
> the information should be populated directly into the fields. No new
> tags required (assuming the fields are themselves properly tagged).
>
>> I'm not aware of a way to tag an "empty" space in the shell PDF file.
>
> ...and that should not be necessary... unless you are adding content
> to the page itself instead of populating a form-field. In which case
> I would say: "Don't do that - make the PDF a fillable form and
> populate the fields instead".
>
> 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
>
>
>
>> When JAWS 12 first opens the file Adobe opens the Accessibility
>> Settings Window: Reading Untagged Document. This is the window that
>> gives you the "Reading Order Options". If I leave this selection
>> defaulted to the recommended setting (Infer reading order from
>> document)
>> - the only information read on the PDF file is the text that has been

>> populated (essentially name, address, phone number, etc). If I change

>> the selection to "Left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order" or "Use

>> reading order in raw print stream" all of the text is read correctly.
>>
>> If I was a person relying on the screen reader to read this PDF I
>> would probably choose the recommended setting, and then determine
>> that
>
>> the PDF was inaccessible when it was not properly read. I would not
>> think about changing that selection. It's my goal to have this PDF
>> file work correctly with default settings, but I'm at a loss.
>> Googling "pre-populate PDF Accessibility" has gotten me nowhere.
>>
>> Any ideas or information if anyone has dealt with this before would
>> be
>
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Jeni
>>
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