E-mail List Archives
Thread: PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)
From: Wayne Dick
Date: Tue, Dec 01 2009 5:00PM
Subject: PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
No previous message | Next message →
My question is this: Suppose I'm reading
well structured tagged PDF. How can I
change the Font style, the letter, word
and line spacing, and font sizing at the
document element level (tag level). The
modifications are really necessary for
moderate low vision.
I am looking for help to make PDF
postings more readable to me, and people
like me with moderate low vision. That
disability group consists of
individuals with visual acuity of
(20/70-20/160). It is protect by 504,
508 and the ADA.
Most of us don't use screen readers
unless it is the only option, and the
page modifications provided by zoom
technologies are to disruptive to the
page flow. The best accommodation is a
restructured typography that may or may
not be accompanied by text-to-speech.
Does anyone know how this disability
group can be served with PDF? These
changes are easily obtained with doc,
docx, rtf and odt as well as HTML and
other w3c markup languages.
I don't need advice about which
assistive technologies to use. I'm a
computer science professor and I've
tried every major assistive technology.
I haven't one that is deterministic
and will give me the typographic changes
I need for effective reading PDF.
Please contact me with any techniques
(that don't involve AI).
You may contact me directly
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = or reply on the list.
Wayne Dick
From: Tony DeYoung - AUC
Date: Tue, Dec 01 2009 5:05PM
Subject: Re: PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
← Previous message | Next message →
I would suggest posting your question to the Acrobat Users Community forum on Accessibility
http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewforum.php?id=18
There is also an eSeminar on Accessibility in PDFs next Wed Dec 9, where you can ask questions via online chat to the presenter
http://www.acrobatusers.com/events/2047/tech-talk-making-pdf-files-comply-section-508
On Dec 2, 2009, at 3:55 PM, Wayne Dick wrote:
My question is this: Suppose I'm reading
well structured tagged PDF. How can I
change the Font style, the letter, word
and line spacing, and font sizing at the
document element level (tag level). The
modifications are really necessary for
moderate low vision.
I am looking for help to make PDF
postings more readable to me, and people
like me with moderate low vision. That
disability group consists of
individuals with visual acuity of
(20/70-20/160). It is protect by 504,
508 and the ADA.
Most of us don't use screen readers
unless it is the only option, and the
page modifications provided by zoom
technologies are to disruptive to the
page flow. The best accommodation is a
restructured typography that may or may
not be accompanied by text-to-speech.
Does anyone know how this disability
group can be served with PDF? These
changes are easily obtained with doc,
docx, rtf and odt as well as HTML and
other w3c markup languages.
I don't need advice about which
assistive technologies to use. I'm a
computer science professor and I've
tried every major assistive technology.
I haven't one that is deterministic
and will give me the typographic changes
I need for effective reading PDF.
Please contact me with any techniques
(that don't involve AI).
You may contact me directly
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = or reply on the list.
Wayne Dick
From: Keith Parks
Date: Tue, Dec 01 2009 5:30PM
Subject: Re: PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
← Previous message | Next message →
On Dec 2, 2009, at 3:55 PM, Wayne Dick wrote:
> My question is this: Suppose I'm reading
> well structured tagged PDF. How can I
> change the Font style, the letter, word
> and line spacing, and font sizing at the
> document element level (tag level). The
> modifications are really necessary for
> moderate low vision.
>
I doubt you'll be able to alter those things in the PDF, given what
I've seen of how PDFs structure content within the page.
If you are using Acrobat, an workaround might be to do a "Save as" or
"Export" to html. If it's a well-structured PDF, this might yield a
similarly structured html file. You could then either zoom the font
size in your browser, or apply your own style sheet for more detailed
control over type display.
The extra work could be a pain, but the result could be worth it.
******************************
Keith Parks
Graphic Designer/Web Designer
Student Affairs Communications Services
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7444
(619) 594-1046
mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/communications
http://kparks.deviantart.com/gallery
----------------------------------------------------------
Yes We Can!*
*should not be interpreted to mean that we necessarily will
From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Tue, Dec 01 2009 6:40PM
Subject: Re: PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
← Previous message | Next message →
> My question is this: Suppose I'm reading
> well structured tagged PDF. How can I
> change the Font style, the letter, word
> and line spacing, and font sizing at the
> document element level (tag level). The
> modifications are really necessary for
> moderate low vision.
Wayne, what do you mean by "font sizing at the document element level (tag level)"?
What you can do, it use ctrl+plus to zoom in on the document, and if you hit ctrl+4 you will enable reflow so that you won't need to scroll horizontally to view the zoomed text. The reflow assumes that you have a tagged PDF document, although the zooming does not.
For the font style and spacing, you can't currently change that in PDF documents.
If you are using Acrobat, an workaround might be to do a "Save as" or
"Export" to html. If it's a well-structured PDF, this might yield a
similarly structured html file. You could then either zoom the font
size in your browser, or apply your own style sheet for more detailed
control over type display.
In acrobat you can save as Word, RTF, HTML, or text, and users with Reader can save to text. With just text you will lose any beneficial visual formatting for headings as well as the semantics like list, headings, and table structures that should be present in a well-tagged PDF file, so there are some trade offs.
AWK
From: Wayne Dick
Date: Wed, Dec 02 2009 12:45AM
Subject: Re: PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
← Previous message | Next message →
Thank You Andrew and Tony,
I'll take this over to the Adobe
Accessibility discussion board.
To answer the question of zoom at the
element level, space is the biggest
priority in large print typography.
When you live in the small print world
you can afford extra large headings and
other reading cues. We need other
markers: borders, color differences for
those who can see color etc. When you
live in a large print world, size is a
poor marker for element type. The large
print reader still needs the document
semantics of tags, they just need other
markers.
This means the paragraph / normal text
font must be larger, but other text
elements will not be much bigger or
smaller. If we can restyle content at
the element level we can use other style
modifications to visual document navigation.
Example: I have my students turn in
their assignments in Word compatible
formats. They must use appropriate
style markup: normal, heading 1, .... I
read their papers into my template and I
can grade in my own optimized visual
mode. Save the same Word format file in
PDF, it will be well structured, but I
may not be able to get a faithful
reconstruction.
I just think Adobe has done such a great
job with tags and mark up, that there
must be a way to program this last step.
Anyway that is my hope.
Wayne
From: Karlen Communications
Date: Wed, Dec 02 2009 4:25AM
Subject: Re: PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
← Previous message | Next message →
On the other hand, saving as accessible text gives you Alt Text for images
which the other flavours of format don't or are not consistent with. This is
one of the reasons I always caption images as well as providing Alt
text...if a document is saved as DOC or RTF people have access to image
descriptions/captions.
Cheers, Karen
-----Original Message-----
From: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
[mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ] On Behalf Of Andrew
Kirkpatrick
Sent: December-01-09 8:39 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
> My question is this: Suppose I'm reading
> well structured tagged PDF. How can I
> change the Font style, the letter, word
> and line spacing, and font sizing at the
> document element level (tag level). The
> modifications are really necessary for
> moderate low vision.
Wayne, what do you mean by "font sizing at the document element level (tag
level)"?
What you can do, it use ctrl+plus to zoom in on the document, and if you hit
ctrl+4 you will enable reflow so that you won't need to scroll horizontally
to view the zoomed text. The reflow assumes that you have a tagged PDF
document, although the zooming does not.
For the font style and spacing, you can't currently change that in PDF
documents.
If you are using Acrobat, an workaround might be to do a "Save as" or
"Export" to html. If it's a well-structured PDF, this might yield a
similarly structured html file. You could then either zoom the font
size in your browser, or apply your own style sheet for more detailed
control over type display.
In acrobat you can save as Word, RTF, HTML, or text, and users with Reader
can save to text. With just text you will lose any beneficial visual
formatting for headings as well as the semantics like list, headings, and
table structures that should be present in a well-tagged PDF file, so there
are some trade offs.
AWK
From: Owens, Parker
Date: Wed, Dec 02 2009 12:55PM
Subject: Re: PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
← Previous message | No next message
We always use acrobat to pop the text out of the PDF and into text format so we can tweak it as necessary. We run OCR if we have to. There really isn't a one stop solution for everyone, because some people need dark backgrounds or cream colored, others like white, etc.
Another option is to use a program like Read and Write Gold which will actually pop the text out of the PDF and into a box on top of the PDF that you can read. It can also highlight the words and read it out loud, but it works muted, also.
Parker Owens
Office of Services for Individuals with Disabilities
Eastern Kentucky University
361 SSB
521 Lancaster Avenue
Richmond, KY 40475
Phone: (859) 622-2743
http://www.disabilities.eku.edu
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
This e-mail transmission, including any attachments, is private and confidential and contains information intended to be conveyed only to designated recipient(s). If you are not a designated or intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of any of the information contained in this transmission is strictly PROHIBITED and may be unlawful. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify me by e-mail, telephone or return mail at the address above. Thank you.
-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne Dick [mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ]
Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 2009 6:55 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] PDF Readability for people with Moderate Low Vision
My question is this: Suppose I'm reading
well structured tagged PDF. How can I
change the Font style, the letter, word
and line spacing, and font sizing at the
document element level (tag level). The
modifications are really necessary for
moderate low vision.
I am looking for help to make PDF
postings more readable to me, and people
like me with moderate low vision. That
disability group consists of
individuals with visual acuity of
(20/70-20/160). It is protect by 504,
508 and the ADA.
Most of us don't use screen readers
unless it is the only option, and the
page modifications provided by zoom
technologies are to disruptive to the
page flow. The best accommodation is a
restructured typography that may or may
not be accompanied by text-to-speech.
Does anyone know how this disability
group can be served with PDF? These
changes are easily obtained with doc,
docx, rtf and odt as well as HTML and
other w3c markup languages.
I don't need advice about which
assistive technologies to use. I'm a
computer science professor and I've
tried every major assistive technology.
I haven't one that is deterministic
and will give me the typographic changes
I need for effective reading PDF.
Please contact me with any techniques
(that don't involve AI).
You may contact me directly
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = or reply on the list.
Wayne Dick