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Thread: Accessible PDF generator-library for web

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From:
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 2:46AM
Subject: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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Hello,

Does anyone know or recommend any PDF generator-library that could be
easily implemented on a website and could generate accessible (tagged) PDFs
from that website content?

---
Mikołaj Rotnicki

From: Duff Johnson
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 5:21AM
Subject: Re: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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> Does anyone know or recommend any PDF generator-library that could be
> easily implemented on a website and could generate accessible (tagged) PDFs
> from that website content?

You might want to look here...

https://www.pdfa.org/supporting-pdfua/

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 5:37AM
Subject: Re: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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On 13/12/2018 09:46, Mikołaj Rotnicki wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Does anyone know or recommend any PDF generator-library that could be
> easily implemented on a website and could generate accessible (tagged) PDFs
> from that website content?

I've not tried it yet myself, but it appears that Pandoc
https://pandoc.org/ is able to output PDF/A (see the manual, and
https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/3215#issuecomment-386866301). It
should be possible to convert the website's content/HTML to PDF/A with
this (I've only used Pandoc in a very limited way some months ago to
convert Markdown to HTML and Word, so don't have direct experience in
HTML to PDF conversion with it, but it should be straightforward enough).

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke

From: Brandon Keith Biggs
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 6:46AM
Subject: Re: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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Hello,
Pandoc sadly does not produce tagged PDFs. It uses pdflatex to produce pdfs
which does not do any kind of tagging.
Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;


On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 4:37 AM Patrick H. Lauke < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:

> On 13/12/2018 09:46, Mikołaj Rotnicki wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > Does anyone know or recommend any PDF generator-library that could be
> > easily implemented on a website and could generate accessible (tagged)
> PDFs
> > from that website content?
>
> I've not tried it yet myself, but it appears that Pandoc
> https://pandoc.org/ is able to output PDF/A (see the manual, and
> https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/3215#issuecomment-386866301). It
> should be possible to convert the website's content/HTML to PDF/A with
> this (I've only used Pandoc in a very limited way some months ago to
> convert Markdown to HTML and Word, so don't have direct experience in
> HTML to PDF conversion with it, but it should be straightforward enough).
>
> P
> --
> Patrick H. Lauke
>
> www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> > > > >

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 7:30AM
Subject: Re: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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As per the links I had in my email - switching to the ConTeXt writer
engine (rather than pdflatex) apparently allows generation of PDF/A

P


On 13/12/2018 13:46, Brandon Keith Biggs wrote:
> Hello,
> Pandoc sadly does not produce tagged PDFs. It uses pdflatex to produce pdfs
> which does not do any kind of tagging.
> Thanks,
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 4:37 AM Patrick H. Lauke < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> wrote:
>
>> On 13/12/2018 09:46, Mikołaj Rotnicki wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> Does anyone know or recommend any PDF generator-library that could be
>>> easily implemented on a website and could generate accessible (tagged)
>> PDFs
>>> from that website content?
>>
>> I've not tried it yet myself, but it appears that Pandoc
>> https://pandoc.org/ is able to output PDF/A (see the manual, and
>> https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/issues/3215#issuecomment-386866301). It
>> should be possible to convert the website's content/HTML to PDF/A with
>> this (I've only used Pandoc in a very limited way some months ago to
>> convert Markdown to HTML and Word, so don't have direct experience in
>> HTML to PDF conversion with it, but it should be straightforward enough).
>>
>> P
>> --
>> Patrick H. Lauke
>>
>> www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
>> http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
>> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
>> >> >> >> >>
> > > > >


--
Patrick H. Lauke

www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke

From: Philip Kiff
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 9:16AM
Subject: Re: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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On 2018-12-13 9:30 AM, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
> As per the links I had in my email - switching to the ConTeXt writer
> engine (rather than pdflatex) apparently allows generation of PDF/A

Just to be clear, there is a difference between PDF/A and PDF/UA.
PDF/A is an old, archive PDF format designed to be self-contained, and
that can be generated within the spec without any tagging.
PDF/UA is a newer, PDF "Universal Access" format, which requires correct
tagging as well as a number of other accessibility considerations.

I don't know about ConTeXt, but I see references to PDF/A not PDF/UA, so
it may be that it generates PDF/A without any tagging capabilities?

In the past, I have had challenges finding an open source PDF conversion
engine that is capable of producing a PDF/UA-compliant file, or even a
relatively well-formed, properly tagged PDF.

Phil.

From: Brandon Keith Biggs
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 9:25AM
Subject: Re: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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Hello,
ConTxt does not generate accessible PDFs in any configuration I have
managed to put it in.
Thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;


On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 8:17 AM Philip Kiff < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> On 2018-12-13 9:30 AM, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
> > As per the links I had in my email - switching to the ConTeXt writer
> > engine (rather than pdflatex) apparently allows generation of PDF/A
>
> Just to be clear, there is a difference between PDF/A and PDF/UA.
> PDF/A is an old, archive PDF format designed to be self-contained, and
> that can be generated within the spec without any tagging.
> PDF/UA is a newer, PDF "Universal Access" format, which requires correct
> tagging as well as a number of other accessibility considerations.
>
> I don't know about ConTeXt, but I see references to PDF/A not PDF/UA, so
> it may be that it generates PDF/A without any tagging capabilities?
>
> In the past, I have had challenges finding an open source PDF conversion
> engine that is capable of producing a PDF/UA-compliant file, or even a
> relatively well-formed, properly tagged PDF.
>
> Phil.
>
> > > > >

From: L Snider
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 9:42AM
Subject: Re: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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One thing to add. PDF/A is being used by archivists around the world to
archive PDFs, and other document types for long term preservation and
access. I was I think the only one looking into using PDF/UA to improve
usability, as far as I know. So it is still a format that is used, but as
Philip mentioned UA is the PDF flavour for accessibility. A new version of
PDF-UA, 2 instead of 1, is actively in the works.

Cheers

Lisa





On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 10:26 AM Brandon Keith Biggs <
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> Hello,
> ConTxt does not generate accessible PDFs in any configuration I have
> managed to put it in.
> Thanks,
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>;
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 8:17 AM Philip Kiff < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> > On 2018-12-13 9:30 AM, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
> > > As per the links I had in my email - switching to the ConTeXt writer
> > > engine (rather than pdflatex) apparently allows generation of PDF/A
> >
> > Just to be clear, there is a difference between PDF/A and PDF/UA.
> > PDF/A is an old, archive PDF format designed to be self-contained, and
> > that can be generated within the spec without any tagging.
> > PDF/UA is a newer, PDF "Universal Access" format, which requires correct
> > tagging as well as a number of other accessibility considerations.
> >
> > I don't know about ConTeXt, but I see references to PDF/A not PDF/UA, so
> > it may be that it generates PDF/A without any tagging capabilities?
> >
> > In the past, I have had challenges finding an open source PDF conversion
> > engine that is capable of producing a PDF/UA-compliant file, or even a
> > relatively well-formed, properly tagged PDF.
> >
> > Phil.
> >
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > >

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Thu, Dec 13 2018 9:48AM
Subject: Re: Accessible PDF generator-library for web
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On 13/12/2018 16:16, Philip Kiff wrote:
> Just to be clear, there is a difference between PDF/A and PDF/UA.
> PDF/A is an old, archive PDF format designed to be self-contained, and
> that can be generated within the spec without any tagging.
> PDF/UA is a newer, PDF "Universal Access" format, which requires correct
> tagging as well as a number of other accessibility considerations.

Ah, apologies for my own confusion here.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

www.splintered.co.uk | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
http://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | http://redux.deviantart.com
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke