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Thread: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?
Number of posts in this thread: 15 (In chronological order)
From: McMorland, Gabriel C
Date: Thu, Aug 29 2013 2:22PM
Subject: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?
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Other than screen reader users, who benefits from tagged PDF? I understand that running optical character recognition benefits all users because the text is searchable, but I would like to know how adding PDF tags benefits people who do not use screen reading software.
I'm a screen reader user myself, but I think knowing the benefits to to others will help me make a stronger case for using tagged PDF. Thanks for your knowledge!
From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Thu, Aug 29 2013 2:51PM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?
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The publisher of the PDF benefits.
- If the PDF is logically structured, tagged with common <Hx> tags, and has
readable text, search engines can read the PDF and correctly index it. This
improves search engine optimization (SEO) for that PDF.
- If a PDF is exported to Word, InDesign, or another file format, the end
result will be better if the original PDF was logically tagged and
structured. This helps the publisher repurpose the content in other formats.
- Tab order is usually set to follow the tag tree order, so anyone tabbing
through the PDF will benefit. They'll navigate the document in a logical
order.
-Bevi Chagnon
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From: McMorland, Gabriel C
Date: Thu, Aug 29 2013 2:59PM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen readerusers?
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Do tags affect how the PDF is displayed visually in a browser?
If so, is there a difference between desktop browser and mobil browser?
From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Thu, Aug 29 2013 3:01PM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?
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Another perceived benefit, though mostly historical, and not
necessarily correct.
- is that PDF documents cannot be alterred accidentally by the user
(any document can be hacked or alterred purposefully, after all all
you need is Adobe Acrobat or similar).
- It is true that forms that require user input can be evaluated much
more easily and user input can be controlled more strictly than with,
say, a Word document or a text document.
Word forms can be created, but they have serious accessibility issues
for screenreader users (though this brings us back to that category).
I am not sure about this, but I believe that users who do not have
Microsoft Word could interact with complex Word forms using, say, a
text editor or Wordpad, though Open Office might do the trick.
A follow up question for the PDF experts in here.
How would you justify creating a PDF form over an HTML one?
Cheers
-Birkir
Birkir Gunnarsson
Accessibility SME | Deque Systems
On 8/29/13, Chagnon | PubCom < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> The publisher of the PDF benefits.
>
> - If the PDF is logically structured, tagged with common <Hx> tags, and has
> readable text, search engines can read the PDF and correctly index it. This
> improves search engine optimization (SEO) for that PDF.
>
> - If a PDF is exported to Word, InDesign, or another file format, the end
> result will be better if the original PDF was logically tagged and
> structured. This helps the publisher repurpose the content in other
> formats.
>
> - Tab order is usually set to follow the tag tree order, so anyone tabbing
> through the PDF will benefit. They'll navigate the document in a logical
> order.
>
> -Bevi Chagnon
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> www.PubCom.com - Trainers, Consultants, Designers, Developers.
> Print, Web, Acrobat, XML, eBooks, and U.S. Federal Section 508
> Accessibility.
> New Sec. 508 Workshop & EPUBs Tour in 2013 - www.Workshop.Pubcom.com
>
>
>
From: Duff Johnson
Date: Thu, Aug 29 2013 3:15PM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen readerusers?
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> Do tags affect how the PDF is displayed visually in a browser?
Implementers of PDF viewers may use tags in any number of ways, including to influence visual display, drive navigation systems (such as zooming, or a joystick), move between form-field elements and more.
Example: one could use tags to represent a three-column document in a single column of text. Existing tools such as pdfGoHTML and VIP Reader provide precisely this capability.
> If so, is there a difference between desktop browser and mobil browser?
Whether and how to use tagged PDF is a choice for each software developer.
To answer your specific question, I'm not aware of mobile browser software that makes use of tagged PDF at this time (but I would love to be corrected on this point!)
Duff Johnson
p +1.617.283.4226
e = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
w http://duff-johnson.com
From: Duff Johnson
Date: Thu, Aug 29 2013 3:35PM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?
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> How would you justify creating a PDF form over an HTML one?
Some forms really should be HTML. The archetypical example is a login form.
However some forms are intended to become part of a record; these really should be PDF. The archetypical example is a tax form.
The choice of PDF for a form is usually justifiable based on one or more of the following characteristics (and probably others, but off the top of my head):
- It must be signed
- The design must remain static
- The forms is too long or complex to complete in a single session
- The form must be operable when not connected to a server
- The workflow isn't completely predictable
- Integration with other documents is part of the workflow
- Archiving is part of the workflow
- Proper use of the form includes printing
Duff.
From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Thu, Aug 29 2013 8:49PM
Subject: Re: !Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screenreaderusers?
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Duff described some PDF readers/viewers that can change the visual
appearance of the PDF, but that type of viewer is not commonly used by the
general public.
The majority of PDFs are viewed as is. In fact, the main reason why
publishers, graphic designers, government agencies, and business use PDFs is
to "lock down" the document so that it deliberately can't be changed. PDFs
generally aren't edited or allowed to have the fonts, font sizes, white
space, and the basic appearance changed at all.
However, Adobe and other software companies do make tools that allow the PDF
to be altered, somewhat, and I expect we'll have more in the future.
The difference between an HTML webpage and a PDF of the same content is
mainly the visual appearance. Websites have the main body text run from the
top of the page to the end, continuously and linearly, and the story's H1
heading is usually at the very top of the page where it is read first.
Compared to print design, there's little control the designer has over how
the webpage will render or appear in everyone's browser. On a webpage, fonts
will adjust, sizes adjust, the layout can flip things from here to there,
especially with the current trend called "responsive design" that redesigns
the page depending upon whether it is viewed on a large monitor or mobile
device or tablet or whatever.
It's called "fluid" design or "responsive design" but as a graphic designer,
I call it pure chaos! Web design is 180 degrees opposite of how that same
content will appear in a 2-page spread of a highly-designed magazine.
When I art-directed commercial magazines and marketing materials, it was my
job to make the design as visually rich as possible: lots of graphics,
colors, unusual layouts, call-out boxes, wild typefaces...designers train
for years how to produce these designs with their software tools because
they win readers and increase sales for the people who hire them. For
example, one of my favorite designs had the 4" tall headline stacked at the
bottom edge of the page and running across both pages in the spread. The
bottom edges were clipped off leaving only partial letters. A custom
illustration was drawn that intertwined around the headline's individual
letters, snaking in and out and over and around them. The main body text
started on the right-hand spread, on the second page not the first. It used
very distinctive typefaces and overlapped part of the illustration and
headline. The first letter of the body text was a "drop cap" which portrayed
that letter in a visually eye-catching way (the industry has stats that show
drop caps increase readership by 10% ... sighted readers, that is). The left
page, the first page of the spread, was mainly blank with a "deck head"
which is 1 or 2 short sentences that lead the reader from the title into the
body text. Deck heads are meant to be visually sexy, attracting the reader's
eye and piquing his interest (and they increase readership by 15%).
This magazine article was a work of art that took 3 of us several days to
design, craft, and produce. It was one of the most heavily-read articles
that year so the publisher was very happy with the results. And it won us a
national design award, which made us very happy.
The last thing I, as a designer, would want to see is our handiwork hacked
to pieces and turned into a visually boring webpage (oh please, no!). Hence,
graphic designers make PDFs of their work so that it is locked down and
can't be changed. The PDF is an exact replica of the original design...each
letter, each pixel of white space, each dotted i and crossed t, and the
visual effect of the entire 2-page spread are preserved in a PDF.
Consequently, this type of PDF is an accessibility nightmare!
Not only does it have to be tagged with <h1>, <P>, etc., but the designer
also has to sequence the tags in a logical reading order so that the
headline across the bottom of the 2-page spread is read first, then the deck
head, and then the body text - which is very different from the visual
reading order of the design.
Summary, that's how PDFs are used in the publishing and graphic design
industry.
Government agencies use them to lock down a report's data, or to make a PDF
version of a printed form. Tax forms have exacting visual design
requirements because they must be readable by scanners that expect each data
field to appear in a particular location on the page..
The business world uses them for similar purposes, and also for marketing
and advertising materials which are visually oriented like the magazine
spread.
I don't know of any mobile browser that renders a PDF differently than a
desktop browser. The only difference is that the magazine spread I described
above would be reduced to postage-stamp size on a mobile browser. Still
there and intact, but ridiculously tiny.
-Bevi Chagnon
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From: Olaf Drümmer
Date: Fri, Aug 30 2013 12:52AM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?
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Hi Birkir,
Am 29 Aug 2013 um 23:01 schrieb Birkir R. Gunnarsson < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >:
> How would you justify creating a PDF form over an HTML one?
the one main reason from my point of view - I can easily save a PDF form on my computer, and can review and update it at any time under my own full control, and I can easily keep it after submitting it.
Olaf
From: McMorland, Gabriel C
Date: Thu, Sep 05 2013 8:07AM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screenreaderusers?
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To me, it sounds like most people who are not using screen reading software do not need the tags. Is that true?
Thanks
From: Olaf Drümmer
Date: Thu, Sep 05 2013 11:35AM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screenreaderusers?
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Just as an example - download the free VIP PDF Reader:
http://www.szb.ch/en/press/press-releases/the-first-pdf-reader-for-visually-impaired-people.html
load a tagged PDF, and begin to see (pun intended)
Olaf
Am 5 Sep 2013 um 16:07 schrieb "McMorland, Gabriel C" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >:
> To me, it sounds like most people who are not using screen reading software do not need the tags. Is that true?
>
> Thanks
>
>
From: Duff Johnson
Date: Thu, Sep 05 2013 10:59AM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screenreaderusers?
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> To me, it sounds like most people who are not using screen reading software do not need the tags. Is that true?
I'm not sure why you've gathered this impression. In the previous email I explained that tags can power a variety of AT, not just screen readers. To re-iterate the question and answer...
>> Do tags affect how the PDF is displayed visually in a browser?
>
> Implementers of PDF viewers may use tags in any number of ways, including to influence visual display, drive navigation systems (such as zooming, or a joystick), move between form-field elements and more.
>
> Example: one could use tags to represent a three-column document in a single column of text. Existing tools such as pdfGoHTML and VIP Reader provide precisely this capability.
Duff.
From: McMorland, Gabriel C
Date: Fri, Sep 06 2013 8:47AM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside fromscreenreaderusers?
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You're very right, and I didn't express my previous question properly.
I'm planning some introductory accessibility workshops for faculty at our university. I'm going to explain the importance of OCR and tagging to make PDFs accessible.
I'd also like to tell faculty abouthow OCR and tagging benefit students who do not use assistive technology. OCR allows anyone to search text and copy and paste.
I'm still looking for ways that tagging benefits students who don't use AT. Most of these students will open PDFs in their web browser or in Adobe Reader. Many will probably read them on their mobil phone or tablet. Also, professors in this workshop are probably not using PDF forms.
Are there benefits to the students who don't use AT, and view PDF in browser or adobe reader? Or on a mobile phone or tablet?
Thanks again,
Gabe
From: Wyant, Jay (MNIT)
Date: Fri, Sep 06 2013 1:45PM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags asidefromscreenreaderusers?
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I would imagine proper tagging of an OCR document would increase searchability/Google rank, as well as readers' ability to find document headings and sections. For example, when you tag a scanned document, the document may visually look the same, but the tagging provides another layer of information that is of value to a wide range of users as well as tools such as search engines.
Jay
From: Duff Johnson
Date: Sat, Sep 07 2013 3:27AM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside fromscreenreaderusers?
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> I'm planning some introductory accessibility workshops for faculty at our university. I'm going to explain the importance of OCR and tagging to make PDFs accessible.
Excellent!
> I'm still looking for ways that tagging benefits students who don't use AT.
- A (properly) tagged PDF will deliver high-quality results when exported to accessible text
- Some who do not think of themselves as "AT users" nonetheless prefer to read a PDF in a "reflowed" fashion; i.e., all in the single column, with text fonts and text size they can control, etc.
- A properly tagged PDF form is easier to fill (the fields tab in the correct order, good tooltips are provided, etc)
- A properly tagged PDF would deliver considerably better results with search engines.. if such engines understand PDF tags
> Are there benefits to the students who don't use AT, and view PDF in browser or adobe reader? Or on a mobile phone or tablet?
Given current-generation mobile devices (that I am aware of) they won't get benefits from tagged PDF on phones. More's the pity.
Perhaps some students will take this state of affairs as a challenge
and will write the necessary software!
Duff.
From: Alastair Campbell
Date: Mon, Sep 09 2013 2:26AM
Subject: Re: Who benefits of PDF tags aside from screen reader users?
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Duff Johnson wrote:
> - Some who do not think of themselves as "AT users" nonetheless prefer to
> read a PDF in a "reflowed" fashion; i.e., all in the single column, with
> text fonts and text size they can control, etc.
>
Are there some rules for when this applies? I've found you can re-flow text
on our documents fine, but some (notably forms that started off in
InDesign) will simply refuse to reflow.
I've not had enough test-cases to see whether it's the form the layout
aspects that trigger the refusal, I was wondering if there's a simple
answer for that?
-Alastair