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Re: ALT attributes in PDFs

for

From: julian.rickards@ndm.gov.on.ca
Date: Oct 25, 2004 6:58AM


This appears to work, but only on the first page of the document. I can
mouseover the images on the first page and the ALT text is displayed. But
nothing is displayed for images on subsequent pages.


I have been creating Accessible PDFs in Acrobat 5 for nearly 2 years now
(accessible in that they pass the accessibility checker and that as many
check points in WCAG as can be used in PDFs have been applied) but I too am
running into some strangeness in Acrobat 6 Pro: an image without Alternative
text is not flagged as an error by the accessibility checker. Just make
certain that in Word, every image has alternative text.


And I can't add the ALT text later, because Acrobat tells me that it's
already been tagged.


You *can* add Alternative text after the fact. In Acrobat, open the Tags
panel (View>Navigation Tabs>Tags) (if this menu isn't present in Acrobat
Standard, then it must be just a feature of Acrobat Pro and you must go back
to Word to add the Alternative text). Click on the plus symbol to the left
of Tags to open it. From here on in, it is a bit tricky because you must
find the tag with the missing alternative content. Right-click on a tag and
select Highlight Content. Click on a tag and find what content is
highlighted until you highlight the tag with the image. For example, you may
select a Normal tag that contains the image. Click on the plus symbol to the
left of to expand the tag. Right-click on the tag and
select Properties. In the Tag tab at the top of the dialog box, you may
enter Alternative text.

HTH,

Jules

-----------------------------------------------
Julian Rickards
A/Digital Publications Distribution Coordinator
Publication Services Section,
Ministry of Northern Development and Mines,
Vox: 705-670-5608 / Fax: 705-670-5960