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Re: reading order

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From: chagnon
Date: Aug 23, 2023 10:35PM

When remediating PDFs, we stress this process in our classes:

(Caution: this is a longish, detailed answer)

1. Examine the PDF. Use your eyes first and see how accurate the tag tree is — check both the tags themselves and the tag reading order.

2. If there are any changes that need to be made, make them in the Order panel (with what you're calling TURO, touch up reading order, but Adobe removed that great name a few versions back). This order is more accurately called the Architectural Reading Order because it's based on the actual encoding of the content in the PDF file — a k a, the architecture of the file's code.

The tag tree, on the other hand, is more like an overlay above the actual content stream.

You can use the Content panel, too, but it's more disorganized and the newest version of the Architectural Order panel has easier options for tagging large portions of text like paragraphs, notes, etc. With today's versions of Acrobat, we go into the Contents panel less frequently than before and usually only to artifact something.

3. Any changes made in the Architectural Order — both with tags and the reading order — will also be made in the Tags tree. But note, if you first make those same changes in the Tag tree, they will NOT be made in the Architectural Order panel. The process goes from Architectural Order to the Tags tree, not vice versa.

4. Run the internal Acrobat checker and any 3rd party checkers of your choice. And also run Acrobat's built-in Preflight for PDF/UA, which can check and fix many technical problems (not with tags or reading order, however).

5. Have a human who has a disability review the file, too.

RE: the importance of the Architectural order...

It's the core foundation of a PDF file and contains the "content stream" which is the actual live text and graphics encoded into the file. It's used by a lot of technologies, not just those specifically for accessibility. Most of our cross-media technologies use this order, not the tag tree order. So if your content will migrate to two or more different technologies, like XML or HTML, the Architectural order is critical.

So there are a lot of assistive technologies that still use this core part of the program and completely ignore the tag tree (note that I'm told by programmers that it's much more difficult to program for tags than it is for the content stream). Many tools look at the Architectural reading order, especially those tools that are free.

I have many family members with major sight and mobility disabilities (inherited disabilities) and universally, their social workers teach them to use the free tools, especially in the early stages of their disability. They may eventually migrate to a more formal assistive technology later, but in the beginning they're using easy and cheap technologies that often don't recognize or voice the tags.

Academic institutions discover this every day. Their students come into class with everything under the sun, and their files have to work with those non-compliant technologies. Government, too. They can't tell students and taxpayers which software tools to use!

If you've read this far, you can check our blog about a PDF's 4 reading orders at https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_08-18_ReadingOrder/reading-orders.shtml

Hope this helps.

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Bevi Chagnon | Designer, Accessibility Technician | <EMAIL REMOVED>
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PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
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