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Re: A better PDF editor for accessibility?

for

From: Olaf Drümmer
Date: Jun 12, 2013 1:53AM

Just to really make this clear...:

- in 2001 the first version of PDF (1.4) and Acrobat (Acrobat 5) were released that defined/supported tagged PDF
- tagged PDF is the basis for accessible PDF, and has some conceptual similarities to tags in HTML
- tools to create tagged PDF emerged over time, some significant dates being
- 2002 FrameMaker
- 2007 Microsoft Office
- 2008 OpenOffice
- in 2001 Adobe InDesign CS5.5 was released, with tagged PDF creation support that made it relatively easy for the average user to create tagged PDF
- in 2008 PDF was released as an ISO standard (ISO 32000-1), after in 2007 Adobe had indicated they'd be interested in handing further development of and control over the PDF format over to ISO
- in 2012 a tagged PDF based standard that defines accessible PDF was published by ISO and is called PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1).

With my statement (accessible PDF not being a success story yet) I referred to the time between 2001 and now.

---

A major pain point for a long time has been that the quality of tagged PDF export (and features helping in the preparation of a document for tagged PDF export) has been so flawed, that it was (and still) often is necessary to do extensive fixing after the tagged PDF has been created (and many users do this in Acrobat, which in itself has numerous unfortunate limitations in the 'tag fixing' area). If Microsoft Word and PowerPoint did at least an OK job at producing tagged PDF, life would be so much easier (just think if the fact that all images tend to jump to the beginning of the document, or the fact that doing decent structuring in PowerPoint is a nightmare). Adobe Indesign made a lot of progress in CS 5.5, but for non-trivial documents it is still highly flawed or limited. Even FrameMaker - a highly structured document creation tool - 11 years later - is still in a sad state when it comes to decently tagged PDF (how embarrassing is that? Just think of all the product docu
mentation that could actually be useful for everyone if only someone got their act together...).

Some developers have offered add-on tools that work around ugly problems in programs, and make creation of well tagged PDF feasible for the average user (tools like axesPDF for Word, CommonLook Office for Microsoft Office, axaio MadeToTag for InDesign). More modern and powerful AT is also emerging, not relying on crude hacks (like TUROT order) anymore but taking tagged PDF serious (like NVDA or the soon to be released VIP-PDF Reader).

For the upcoming more modern technology (creation, reading, and assistive technology) to be economically viable, it is key to leave all the weird stuff behind and to get it right on the conceptual level as much as possible. TUROT order cannot and must not be part of a brighter future, it eats away too much from the few precious resources that are available. Bad tools and processes must be left behind, they are a plague for everyone, and block the overall effort from being effective.

Olaf


On 12 Jun 2013, at 01:32, Jonathan Metz wrote:

> Chagnon | PubCom" wrote:
>
>
>> What's less than a year old?
>> Acrobat itself and the PDF standard were created in the late 1980s and
>> released to the public in 1993, 20 years ago.
>> Accessibility tools first appeared in Acrobat 6 (pdf spec 1.5) in 2003,
>> 10 years ago, although they were marginal.
>> Significant accessibility tools appeared in Acrobat 8 (pdf spec 1.7) in
>> 2006, and more tools/features have been added to every version since.
>
> Sorry, I should have clarified PDF/UA. Not PDF 1.7.
>
>
> Jonathan
>
> > >