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Re: PDF files and marking up data tables for screen reader users

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From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Nov 3, 2011 8:54AM

Birkir,
Steve beat me to it, but just to point out that the PDF6 technique includes a working example. http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/2011/WD-WCAG20-TECHS-20110929/working-examples/PDF6/table-example-repaired.pdf


Thanks,
AWK

Andrew Kirkpatrick
Group Product Manager, Accessibility
Adobe Systems

<EMAIL REMOVED>
http://twitter.com/awkawk
http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility


-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Steve Faulkner
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2011 7:48 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] PDF files and marking up data tables for screen reader users

hi Birkir,

This WCAG 2.0 PDF techniques document may be of use: Using table elements for table markup in PDF Documents
http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20-TECHS/pdf.html#PDF6


regards
SteveF

On 3 November 2011 06:54, Birkir R. Gunnarsson
< <EMAIL REMOVED> >wrote:

> Andrew
>
> Would you have a sample, properly makrd up table, PDF document for me
> to test out?
> Can you point to a specific website/chapter on marking up tables
> accessibly with Acrobat Pro?
> If not, I'll just point to your website ado.com/accessibility, or do
> some digging around.
> Thank you
> -Birkir
>
> On 11/3/11, Andrew Kirkpatrick < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
> > Birkir,
> > You can make tables in PDF documents include all of the expected
> > table objects, it doesn't matter whether the document comes from
> > Word,
> PowerPoint,
> > other applications, or a scanner even. However, there is a
> > difference in the ease of authoring. Powerpoint will give you table
> > tags in the
> resulting
> > PDF if the standard table object is used, but not headings, which
> > you
> would
> > need to apply after the pdf is produced. Word can give you the TH
> > tags,
> but
> > if you create a more complex table from word you may need to add the
> > headers/id or scope information in that PDF.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > AWK
> >
> > Andrew Kirkpatrick
> > Group Product Manager, Accessibility Adobe Systems
> >
> > <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > http://twitter.com/awkawk
> > http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
> > [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Birkir R.
> > Gunnarsson
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 7:26 PM
> > To: WebAIM Discussion List
> > Subject: [WebAIM] PDF files and marking up data tables for screen
> > reader users
> >
> > Evening all (or morning, if you are strange enough not to check your
> email
> > last thing at night).
> >
> > I have seen a few PDF discussions on here, and I know Andrew and
> > others
> are
> > monitorring it, so I hope a PDF related question is ok.
> >
> > I have been asked to provide feedback on an opinion pole, produced
> > by
> Gallup
> > on behalf of an organization I work for.
> > The report is in PDF format (originally created from Powerpoint,
> > which
> is a
> > very bad idea for accessibility).
> > After some back and forth with them , and with some good advice,
> > I've managed to get the report text tagged correctly, and it reads
> > fine (the people I have communicated with at Gallup were not aware
> > of
> accessibility,
> > but they've been very responsive to my suggestions).
> > As soon as the report gets to the point where the results of the
> individual
> > questions are analyzed, the report is, more or less, just a series
> > of
> data
> > tables. Currently they are not marked up, and it would take hours of
> > painstaking screen reading word by word, to get anything meaningful
> > out
> of
> > the mess.
> > What is the current situation regarding tagging data tables in PDF files.
> > Can they be read at a similar quality and accuracy levels and
> corresponding
> > html tables (captions, scope, headings, row titles etc)?
> > Even with accessible and tagged text, this report is nearly useless
> without
> > that work being done, and I worry it would be extensive and probably
> enough
> > so that it would behard to convince the company to do it (though I
> > have
> not
> > discussed it with them).
> > Would it be more sensible to suggest they provide said tables in
> Word/Excel
> > or HTML formats, or is there a fairly straight-forward way to tag
> tables, I
> > am not positive, but I am pretty sure the tagging takes place inside
> Adobe
> > Acrobat X.
> > Thanks for any information on this.
> > -Birkir
> >