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Thread: PDF viewers used by screen reader users
Number of posts in this thread: 4 (In chronological order)
From: Sailesh Panchang
Date: Fri, Oct 02 2020 8:18AM
Subject: PDF viewers used by screen reader users
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A long standing practice for me has been:
I prefer to download PDFs and read them using Adobe Reader.
I do this off links that open up a PDF in the browser too.
On Windows, this is the most effective way of getting to content /
navigating around in a tagged or even untagged doc that may or may
not include forms.
As 2020 draws to a close, I am wondering if there are other reliable
and effective PDF/UA viewers that work with screen readers on Windows
/mobile / Mac and would like to learn from the experience of SR
colleagues on the list.
Thanks very much,
Sailesh
From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Sat, Oct 03 2020 5:34AM
Subject: Re: PDF viewers used by screen reader users
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Chrome has a surprisingly decent PDF viewer by now. I have, for the
most part, stopped downloading web-based PDF files, just open them in
Chrome instead. I have not tried this on interactive PDFs though but
for static documents reading order, headings and so on are properly
exposed (to Jaws/NVDA).
On 10/2/20, Sailesh Panchang < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> A long standing practice for me has been:
> I prefer to download PDFs and read them using Adobe Reader.
> I do this off links that open up a PDF in the browser too.
> On Windows, this is the most effective way of getting to content /
> navigating around in a tagged or even untagged doc that may or may
> not include forms.
> As 2020 draws to a close, I am wondering if there are other reliable
> and effective PDF/UA viewers that work with screen readers on Windows
> /mobile / Mac and would like to learn from the experience of SR
> colleagues on the list.
>
> Thanks very much,
> Sailesh
> > > > >
--
Work hard. Have fun. Make history.
From: David Engebretson Jr.
Date: Sat, Oct 03 2020 1:08PM
Subject: Re: PDF viewers used by screen reader users
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Hi Birkir,
I'm happy to hear you are finding the presentation of PDF documents in
Chrome more accessible. Is this the Chrome PDF add-on you are using?
I ask because I find the latency from keypress to when the TTS engine starts
to talk (I'm using Eloquence) is significant enough that I have to use the
Adobe Reader application on my Windows 10 machine so I don't get frustrated
with the latency while viewing PDF's in Chrome.
Are you experiencing any latency?
Thanks for your thoughts!
David
From: Birkir R. Gunnarsson
Date: Sun, Oct 04 2020 7:08AM
Subject: Re: PDF viewers used by screen reader users
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Hi David
I'm just using the default PDF view in Chrome, no plug-ins.
I click the PDF, then at the top there is a dialog where you can
choose to zoom in, download etc. Then the file starts.
There's a bit of a delay I admit, it can get annoying for large files,
but typically I find that it is better than downloading the file and
opening it, though I don't have strong opinions. I just like being
able to click and read without taking extra steps, especially if I'm
not sure whether the PDF has anything interesting, e.g. a restaurant
menu.
On 10/3/20, David Engebretson Jr. < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hi Birkir,
>
> I'm happy to hear you are finding the presentation of PDF documents in
> Chrome more accessible. Is this the Chrome PDF add-on you are using?
>
> I ask because I find the latency from keypress to when the TTS engine
> starts
> to talk (I'm using Eloquence) is significant enough that I have to use the
> Adobe Reader application on my Windows 10 machine so I don't get frustrated
> with the latency while viewing PDF's in Chrome.
>
> Are you experiencing any latency?
>
> Thanks for your thoughts!
> David
>
>