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Re: More problems with tables, PDF, and screen readers

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From: Karlen Communications
Date: Apr 4, 2018 7:11AM

I still recommend that you have the Header Row Repeat so that when the table spans more than one page, visually people with visual, learning or cognitive disabilities will be able to identify the column titles.

Not sure/can't remember if the PDF and PDF/UA specs state that tables (and lists) aren't to be broken over pages...or that paragraphs aren't to be broken over pages for that matter.

While in Word, the adaptive technology reads the content seamlessly although we do have the ability to go into the Page Header/Page Footer information if we want. We are also notified when we move to the previous or next page. We don't have that in the PDF environment. When documents are converted to tagged PDF or other formats, the Page Breaks are respected. This is the major reason I recommend the Header Row Repeat is turned on. As of last year, with Word 2016/Office 365, Word Tags the Header row Repeat information on each page as the table spans multiple pages.

This is an ongoing discussion. If having page numbers tagged is not an issue, then having all of a paragraph, list or table together is something we remediate. If the page numbers are to be tagged, it is recommended that the page number either proceed or follow an entire paragraph rather than create a comprehension issue by placing the page number in the middle of text. However, I'm not sure that the PDF/UA specs cover how to add page numbers as Tags if you want a list or table to be intact under its parent Tag as it spans multiple pages. Where would the Page Number Tag be placed without interrupting the list or table content?

Perhaps this should be an option when converting to tagged PDF. We have the choice of keeping all of the content for a paragraph, list or table together or we have the ability to strategically Tag page numbers/leave room to Tag page numbers? We would still have the problem of where to add the Page Number Tags for lists and tables that span multiple pages, but it might help us in some PDF remediations where page numbers aren't important.

Cheers, Karen