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Thread: Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt

Number of posts in this thread: 6 (In chronological order)

From: Adam Kosakowski
Date: Tue, Feb 18 2020 8:47AM
Subject: Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
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Hello all!

PDF remediation is a nightmare and HTML is just more accessible in general. So, when we have a Word document, why don't we save as a Web Page (HTML) instead of a PDF when we're looking to create an accessible "official documents?" Is anyone recommending that companies to this when they consult with them? I know there are some differences when saving as HTML, like the loss of columns; and I'm still exploring these, but before I jump down this rabbit hole, I really wanted to see if anyone else was encouraging their document creators to save as Web Pages.

Any thoughts?

Best,
Adam Kosakowski
Assistive Technology Specialist
NEAT Center at Oak Hill

This electronic mail (including any attachments) may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and/or otherwise protected under applicable law from disclosure to anyone other than its intended recipient(s). Any dissemination or use of this electronic mail or its contents (including any attachments) by persons other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender or Oak Hill by Email at = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = or call 860-769-3880 immediately and then delete the original message (including any attachments) in its entirety. We take steps to protect against viruses and other malicious code but advise you to carry out your own checks and precautions as we accept no liability for any which remain. We may monitor electronic mail sent to and from our server(s) to ensure regulatory compliance to protect our clients and business.

From: Steve Green
Date: Tue, Feb 18 2020 8:54AM
Subject: Re: Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
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No, don't do that!!! The resulting html is absolutely disgusting garbage and is not fixable in a sensible timeframe.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of Adam Kosakowski via WebAIM-Forum
Sent: 18 February 2020 15:47
To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
Cc: Adam Kosakowski < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: [WebAIM] Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt

Hello all!

PDF remediation is a nightmare and HTML is just more accessible in general. So, when we have a Word document, why don't we save as a Web Page (HTML) instead of a PDF when we're looking to create an accessible "official documents?" Is anyone recommending that companies to this when they consult with them? I know there are some differences when saving as HTML, like the loss of columns; and I'm still exploring these, but before I jump down this rabbit hole, I really wanted to see if anyone else was encouraging their document creators to save as Web Pages.

Any thoughts?

Best,
Adam Kosakowski
Assistive Technology Specialist
NEAT Center at Oak Hill

This electronic mail (including any attachments) may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and/or otherwise protected under applicable law from disclosure to anyone other than its intended recipient(s). Any dissemination or use of this electronic mail or its contents (including any attachments) by persons other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender or Oak Hill by Email at = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = or call 860-769-3880 immediately and then delete the original message (including any attachments) in its entirety. We take steps to protect against viruses and other malicious code but advise you to carry out your own checks and precautions as we accept no liability for any which remain. We may monitor electronic mail sent to and from our server(s) to ensure regulatory compliance to protect our clients and business.

From: glen walker
Date: Tue, Feb 18 2020 12:08PM
Subject: Re: Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
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Ignoring how Word saves as HTML for the moment, the general concept that
HTML is more accessible than PDF is true. If you can provide an HTML
version of a document instead of PDF or Word, that would be ideal.

Saving as HTML from Word might give you a starting point, but as Steve
said, the HTML that Word generates is usually not great.

On Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 8:54 AM Steve Green < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:

> No, don't do that!!! The resulting html is absolutely disgusting garbage
> and is not fixable in a sensible timeframe.
>
> Steve Green
> Managing Director
> Test Partners Ltd
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of
> Adam Kosakowski via WebAIM-Forum
> Sent: 18 February 2020 15:47
> To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> Cc: Adam Kosakowski < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Subject: [WebAIM] Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
>
> Hello all!
>
> PDF remediation is a nightmare and HTML is just more accessible in
> general. So, when we have a Word document, why don't we save as a Web Page
> (HTML) instead of a PDF when we're looking to create an accessible
> "official documents?" Is anyone recommending that companies to this when
> they consult with them? I know there are some differences when saving as
> HTML, like the loss of columns; and I'm still exploring these, but before I
> jump down this rabbit hole, I really wanted to see if anyone else was
> encouraging their document creators to save as Web Pages.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Best,
> Adam Kosakowski
> Assistive Technology Specialist
> NEAT Center at Oak Hill
>
>
> This electronic mail (including any attachments) may contain information
> that is privileged, confidential, and/or otherwise protected under
> applicable law from disclosure to anyone other than its intended
> recipient(s). Any dissemination or use of this electronic mail or its
> contents (including any attachments) by persons other than the intended
> recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in
> error, please notify the sender or Oak Hill by Email at
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = or call 860-769-3880 immediately and then delete the
> original message (including any attachments) in its entirety. We take steps
> to protect against viruses and other malicious code but advise you to carry
> out your own checks and precautions as we accept no liability for any which
> remain. We may monitor electronic mail sent to and from our server(s) to
> ensure regulatory compliance to protect our clients and business.
> > > at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > > >

From: Jason Kiss
Date: Tue, Feb 18 2020 1:00PM
Subject: Re: Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
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I've got no affiliation with it, but the Document Accessibility Toolbar (DAT) for Word (Windows only) from Vision Australia produces very clean HTML from well-structured Word docs: https://www.visionaustralia.org/services/digital-access/document-accessibility-toolbar <https://www.visionaustralia.org/services/digital-access/document-accessibility-toolbar>

It's got other useful features, too, but the Word-to-HTML conversion is great.

> On 19/02/2020, at 8:08 AM, glen walker < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>
> Ignoring how Word saves as HTML for the moment, the general concept that
> HTML is more accessible than PDF is true. If you can provide an HTML
> version of a document instead of PDF or Word, that would be ideal.
>
> Saving as HTML from Word might give you a starting point, but as Steve
> said, the HTML that Word generates is usually not great.
>
> On Tue, Feb 18, 2020 at 8:54 AM Steve Green < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> wrote:
>
>> No, don't do that!!! The resulting html is absolutely disgusting garbage
>> and is not fixable in a sensible timeframe.
>>
>> Steve Green
>> Managing Director
>> Test Partners Ltd
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of
>> Adam Kosakowski via WebAIM-Forum
>> Sent: 18 February 2020 15:47
>> To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
>> Cc: Adam Kosakowski < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>> Subject: [WebAIM] Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
>>
>> Hello all!
>>
>> PDF remediation is a nightmare and HTML is just more accessible in
>> general. So, when we have a Word document, why don't we save as a Web Page
>> (HTML) instead of a PDF when we're looking to create an accessible
>> "official documents?" Is anyone recommending that companies to this when
>> they consult with them? I know there are some differences when saving as
>> HTML, like the loss of columns; and I'm still exploring these, but before I
>> jump down this rabbit hole, I really wanted to see if anyone else was
>> encouraging their document creators to save as Web Pages.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>>
>> Best,
>> Adam Kosakowski
>> Assistive Technology Specialist
>> NEAT Center at Oak Hill
>>
>>
>> This electronic mail (including any attachments) may contain information
>> that is privileged, confidential, and/or otherwise protected under
>> applicable law from disclosure to anyone other than its intended
>> recipient(s). Any dissemination or use of this electronic mail or its
>> contents (including any attachments) by persons other than the intended
>> recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in
>> error, please notify the sender or Oak Hill by Email at
>> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = or call 860-769-3880 immediately and then delete the
>> original message (including any attachments) in its entirety. We take steps
>> to protect against viruses and other malicious code but advise you to carry
>> out your own checks and precautions as we accept no liability for any which
>> remain. We may monitor electronic mail sent to and from our server(s) to
>> ensure regulatory compliance to protect our clients and business.
>> >> >> at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
>> >> >> >> >> >>
> > > >

From: Duff Johnson
Date: Tue, Feb 18 2020 1:05PM
Subject: Re: Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
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> Ignoring how Word saves as HTML for the moment, the general concept that
> HTML is more accessible than PDF is true.

Of course, the PDF guy has to say something hereâ¦ :-)

The only reason this statement is true - today - has nothing to do with PDF itself and everything to do with (in the following order):

(a) The use of software incapable of producing properly tagged PDF, and
(b) authors who don't know how to achieve accessible results irrespective of format, and
(c) inadequate support for tagged PDF in consumer software (browsers, viewers and AT)

(a) and (c) are something end users can affect themselvesâ¦ by loudly complaining to software vendors!
(b) is certainly harder in PDF than in HTML. More possibilities = more ways to screw up.

From the format point of view, PDF may be as accessible as HTML; even more so in some cases, as an accessible PDF retains the full context of its author's original intent, whereas HTML's presentation is typically at the mercy of CSS, servers, bandwidth, browser, settings, etc.

> If you can provide an HTML
> version of a document instead of PDF or Word, that would be ideal.

Sureâ¦ if you don't need PDF capabilities such as reliability, self-containment, color-management, annotations, redaction, encryption, digital signatures etc, etc, etc.â¦ don't use PDF! :-)

Duff.

From: Christine Hogenkamp
Date: Wed, Feb 19 2020 12:29PM
Subject: Re: Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
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Why change it from a Word doc at all? My understanding is that Word docs
when used without fancy styles (ie plain text) are considered accessible
and readable by AT like a screenreader. Is this not the case? Or you could
just make a very plain .txt file?

--
*Christine Hogenkamp*
Front-end Developer

CONTEXT CREATIVE
317 ADELAIDE ST. W., #500 | TORONTO, ON CANADA | M5V 1P9
<https://maps.google.com/?q=317+ADELAIDE+ST.+W.,+%23500%C2%A0+%7C%C2%A0+TORONTO,+ON+CANADA%C2%A0+%7C%C2%A0+M5V+1P9&entry=gmail&source=g>

>
> >> From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of
> >> Adam Kosakowski via WebAIM-Forum
> >> Sent: 18 February 2020 15:47
> >> To: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
> >> Cc: Adam Kosakowski < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> >> Subject: [WebAIM] Saving as Web Page (HTML) instead of PDF-unencrypt
> >>
> >> Hello all!
> >>
> >> PDF remediation is a nightmare and HTML is just more accessible in
> >> general. So, when we have a Word document, why don't we save as a Web
> Page
> >> (HTML) instead of a PDF when we're looking to create an accessible
> >> "official documents?" Is anyone recommending that companies to this when
> >> they consult with them? I know there are some differences when saving as
> >> HTML, like the loss of columns; and I'm still exploring these, but
> before I
> >> jump down this rabbit hole, I really wanted to see if anyone else was
> >> encouraging their document creators to save as Web Pages.
> >>
> >> Any thoughts?
> >>
> >> Best,
> >> Adam Kosakowski
> >> Assistive Technology Specialist
> >> NEAT Center at Oak Hill
>