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Re: accessibility guidelines/normative for PDF?

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Aug 5, 2016 11:13AM


PDF/UA is more efficient, not just to implement, but to understand.

Although all the requirements for accessible PDFs are in WCAG, it takes knowledge and time to figure out which 20+ WCAG guidelines affect PDFs.

In a way, WCAG is overkill for PDFs and is difficult to interpret by most non-expert users, too.

PDF/UA was developed by Acrobat experts who have been a part of PDF development for decades. The PDF/UA guidelines "harmonize" with WCAG -- that is, they match the concepts and goals of WCAG, sometimes point by point -- but PDF/UA tweaks the language and usage specifically for PDFs, not web content.

Summary: if you read PDF/UA, you can pretty much figure out what's needed in the PDF for accessibility.

--Bevi Chagnon

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Bevi Chagnon | www.PubCom.com
Technologists, Consultants, Trainers, Designers, and Developers
for publishing & communication
| Acrobat PDF | Print | EPUBS | Sec. 508 Accessibility |
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-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Olaf Drümmer
Sent: Friday, August 5, 2016 10:15 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] accessibility guidelines/normative for PDF?

any idea which approach might be more efficient to implement - following WCAG 2 A/AA, or following PDF/UA?

Olaf