WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

PDF/UA Matterhorn Protocols - how to use?

for

From: Christine Hogenkamp
Date: Jun 14, 2022 10:45AM


Hello everyone,

I am working on creating a how-to doc for my organization for how to create
a PDF that passes PDF/UA, which includes a section on how to check the PDF
to ensure it has passed. I have downloaded a copy of the Matterhorn
Protocols which was recommended as a way to help users interpret the PDF/UA
standards doc which is, in itself, a fairly complex technical document. The
problem I am having is that I can't seem to find instructions on how this
checklist should be used.

For example, this article:
https://www.pdfa.org/climbing-the-matterhorn-an-introduction-to-the-definitive-algorithm-for-pdfua-conformance/

"How to Use the Matterhorn Protocol
The basic approach for implementing the Matterhorn Protocol is to map the
Failure Conditions to the various tasks implied by the specific
word-processing, content extraction or other context."

Perhaps I am just obtuse, but I am having a hard time parsing what this
actually means in real life terms. How does one "map the failure
conditions"? Am I meant to open the accessible PDF in question in Acrobat,
then read through the Matterhorn Protocols while I go through my PDF to
manually check each Human checklist item to see if I can find any instances
of failure in the PDF, using the Tags panel? Then use PAC3 to check the
Machine checklist items?

It would be very helpful if anyone could point me towards more specific
step by step instructions for using the Matterhorn Protocols.

Thank you in advance!

*x*
*Christine Hogenkamp (She, Her)*
Front-end Developer
ContextCreative.com <http://contextcreative.com/>;

*20 years of purposeful creativity*
* ˟**˟*