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Re: PDFs and JAWS

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From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Jul 11, 2011 3:33PM

Yes, and there is a way to make a web page read like the bad behavior you describe also. The PDF probably has each phrase tagged as a separate paragraph - tagged correctly, it would read as you prefer.

Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick
Group Product Manager, Accessibility
Adobe Systems

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http://twitter.com/awkawk
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-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of David Ashleydale
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 5:22 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] PDFs and JAWS

Hi,

I've noticed that when I listen to a PDF using JAWS, it generally reads one line at a time instead of one sentence at a time (or until a certain number of characters have been read). Is this expected Adobe Reader behavior, or is there a way to create a PDF so that it reads more like a web page?

For example, if there is a PDF formatted like this:

Temperatures in the Northeast (pause)
will rise into the 80s and 90s, (pause)
and into the 90s and 100s in (pause)
the Southeast. Temperatures (pause)
in the Southern Plains and the (pause)
Southwest will rise into the 90s (pause) and 100s, and into the 80s in (pause) the Northwest. (pause)

JAWS will pause at the end of each line and wait for the user to hit the down arrow before reading the next line. I have indicated this by putting the word "pause" at the end of each line.

Is there a way for me to format the PDF so that it reads entire sentences without pausing for line breaks?

Thanks,
David