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Re: A better PDF editor for accessibility?

for

From: Duff Johnson
Date: Jun 11, 2013 9:38AM

On Jun 11, 2013, at 11:19 AM, Jonathan Metz < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> It happens when not using TUROT too. If a user moves content around in the
> Reading Order (RO), then tags get moved around as well.

Yes… I neglected to mention that; thanks.

> If a user
> mistakenly moves content up (instead of down) in the RO, then they run
> into another issue of having content physically hidden in the real content
> of the page (does this section have a technical name?).

Yes, it's (very) possible to screw up the visibility of objects on the PDF page by messing with the Reading Order.

One *must* remember that content reading order in PDF isn't equal to the linear sequence of a user's experience of the content. It's the order in which objects are *painted* onto the PDF page. There's a *big* difference!

> I always been told that making adjustments to the Reading Order was an
> essential part of fixing a page. Are you saying that the reading order not
> matter then, if we just focus on the tags? This goes against everything
> I¹ve learned in marking up a page.

It should be said up-front that PDF creation software *should* align content reading order with the logical order provided by tags when the PDF is created. At least, it says as much in ISO 32000.

Ok, back to reality...

The reason to invest the time and sweat in adjusting content Reading Order in an existing PDF file would be to accommodate software that doesn't understand tagged PDF.

If you consider that a good reason then you are welcome to it. There's no other reason.

> I¹ve sort of approached the Reading Order panel as knowing the best way to
> adjust the content on that page before ever opening the Tags Panel (unless
> there are elements that should not have been made tags like with what
> happens typically with PowerPoint slides).

If you are adjusting both content reading order and tags then, yes, it makes sense to adjust the content reading order before tweaking the tags.

Doing it in any other sequence will simply drive you down a self-imposed death-spiral of fixing the fixes and then, fixing again...

Duff.