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Re: achieving PDF/UA compliance

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From: Duff Johnson
Date: Mar 29, 2023 7:42AM

> I'm not sure passing a PDF/UA check is always a good sign of sufficient accessibility.

Most checkers have to deal with the problem that (today) questions such as…

- Is all the content tagged correctly, or has some real content been marked as artifact?
- Are the choices of tags (semantics) accurate?
- Does the flow of content through the tags reflect the author’s intent?

Today, most software does a lousy job of getting this stuff right, or doesn’t try at all, trusting the human author.

I’m aware of AI that’s getting better and better with this sort of thing.. doubtless there will at some point be AI-powered products that are really smart at validating PDF/UA’s (and WCAG’s) human checks… but it ain’t today.

> Just had a PDF from a client that consisted of only P tags, and several tables and sidebar boxes weren't even tagged at all.
> But it did pass the Acrobat checker, and even had the PDF/UA identifier/medallion on it.

Sounds like the author flat-out cheated (e.g., marked real content as artifact), doubtless among other crimes.

With PDF/UA, downstream users at least have an accountability mechanism, whether or not they choose to use it…

Duff Johnson
PDF Association
pdfa.org