WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: PDF vs. HTML

for

From: inekemaa
Date: Jul 31, 2004 12:06AM

JHello Mike,


>That said, as developers we still must satisfy our client's
> wishes to use other forms of content


i don't know who are you clients, but my clients only say:
You are the expert, so you know how to build (accessible ) websites.
I also don't tell the butcher how to treat the meat..


i don't want to exclude anybody from information, so I will never offer
pdf-files as the only file-format.
And especcially not when statistics tell that only 10% has the plug-in.
I don't see any reason to use it.





And what legal reason?
----- Original Message -----
From: "mmoore" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 4:02 AM
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] PDF vs. HTML



>
> Gutten tag Ineke,
>
> I agree with you - this is the reason that we recommend that people
using
> pdf's or any other plug-in do two things. First check to see if the
plug-in
> is accessible and second provide a link to acquire the plug-in.
>
> In general I much prefer to present content in html over any other
format.
> It has more predictable results and requires less expertise to get to
the
> content on the part of the user, particularly when using assistive
> technologies. That said, as developers we still must satisfy our
client's
> wishes to use other forms of content. The main reasons that I have
heard
> for desiring pdfs seems to be that it is much more difficult to alter
this
> type of content so it makes sense from a legal standpoint. Also pdfs
can
> produce better results when printed but you can achieve very good
results
> using stylesheets. The final reason is the ability to use scanned
> documents, saving considerable development costs over recreating the
> content. Unfortunately this is also where the most frequent
accessibility
> issues occur.
>
> What we really need is a quantum shift in attitude about publishing on
the
> WWW. If the information that we place on the web is worth publishing
then
> it should be easily available to everyone. If it is not worth taking
the
> effort to make it accessible we should ask ourselves if it is really
worth
> publishing at all.
>
> Well enough of a soap box for tonight. (Must be the election season)
>
> Mike
>
>
>