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Font size and Italics in PDFs

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From: Malosh, Dan (MDE)
Date: Oct 25, 2011 8:39PM

Hi all,

This is my first posting to the list so I apologize if what I'm asking has been addressed numerous times in the past.

I am working on converting Word documents into PDFs (I have Word 2010 and Acrobat Pro X) and I am concerned about font sizes. My agency has us using a font size 11 for general text, and has no qualms about italicized text. As I create these PDFs, I am concerned about people with low or partial vision.

Is there an agreed upon font size for PDFs? And is italicized text something that should only be done sparingly? Does Section 508 and/or W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative address font sizes for PDFs directly? I find those sites painful to navigate and to read, and what little I have found addressing PDFs and printable documents is vague ("be sure to use a large enough font size"-type of language).

I know that it's best to use HTML whenever possible because the end user can change the font size to their liking, but for information that people may want to print, PDF seems to be the preferred format.

I would appreciate any feedback I can get from you experts and accessibility enthusiasts.

Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
-Dan

Dan Malosh, Digital Reference Librarian
Minnesota Braille & Talking Book Library