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Re: Who benefits of PDF tags asidefromscreenreaderusers?

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From: Wyant, Jay (MNIT)
Date: Sep 6, 2013 1:45PM

I would imagine proper tagging of an OCR document would increase searchability/Google rank, as well as readers' ability to find document headings and sections. For example, when you tag a scanned document, the document may visually look the same, but the tagging provides another layer of information that is of value to a wide range of users as well as tools such as search engines.

Jay

-----Original Message-----
From: McMorland, Gabriel C [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 9:48 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?

You're very right, and I didn't express my previous question properly.

I'm planning some introductory accessibility workshops for faculty at our university. I'm going to explain the importance of OCR and tagging to make PDFs accessible.
I'd also like to tell faculty abouthow OCR and tagging benefit students who do not use assistive technology. OCR allows anyone to search text and copy and paste.
I'm still looking for ways that tagging benefits students who don't use AT. Most of these students will open PDFs in their web browser or in Adobe Reader. Many will probably read them on their mobil phone or tablet. Also, professors in this workshop are probably not using PDF forms.

Are there benefits to the students who don't use AT, and view PDF in browser or adobe reader? Or on a mobile phone or tablet?

Thanks again,
Gabe
-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Duff Johnson
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2013 1:00 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?

> To me, it sounds like most people who are not using screen reading software do not need the tags. Is that true?

I'm not sure why you've gathered this impression. In the previous email I explained that tags can power a variety of AT, not just screen readers. To re-iterate the question and answer...

>> Do tags affect how the PDF is displayed visually in a browser?
>
> Implementers of PDF viewers may use tags in any number of ways, including to influence visual display, drive navigation systems (such as zooming, or a joystick), move between form-field elements and more.
>
> Example: one could use tags to represent a three-column document in a single column of text. Existing tools such as pdfGoHTML and VIP Reader provide precisely this capability.

Duff.