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RE: PDF conversions?

for

From: MacKay, Graham (JUS)
Date: Oct 17, 2002 4:45PM

Glenda, our department is battling this very topic right now... It is a HUGE
task, depending on the complexity of the document. The product you're
interested in is called "Capture" from Adobe, I believe there also a plug-in
(not sure if it is free or not) from Adobe for Acrobat called the "Paper
Capture Plugin".

Some things you should know: to be accessible, all pictures must have ALT
TEXT defined in Acrobat for the image, the files must be "tagged PDF files",
they must contain structure information and formatting information, etc.
There are a few good documents on the W3C site, in particular one aimed at
developers which sheds some light on the scope of this issue called "PDF
Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and 2.0" also two
docs on Adobe accessibility site called "How to Create Accessible Adobe PDF
Files" and "Advanced Techniques for Creating Accessible Adobe PDF Files".
But beware, there is more than meets the eye than in the Adobe manuals...
also, if you're dealing with FORMS... good luck :) They are NOT easy.

Lastly, there is no COMPLETELY automatic solution to converting them. While
"Capture" like products help a lot, they still must be manually edited and
checked.


Cheers,
G