Re: Should PDF documents have headers and footers on every page?

I have compared what PDF/UA with WCAG say about headers and footers and
have written up a small report and recommendations on how I think we should
proceed with Headers and Footers in PDF documents.

http://davidmacd.com/blog/pdf-headers-footers.html

I think PDF14 requires an update quickly. I could take an action item to
propose the rewrite.


Cheers,

David MacDonald



*Can**Adapt* *Solutions Inc.*

Tel:  613.235.4902

LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmacdonald100>

www.Can-Adapt.com



*  Adapting the web to all users*
*            Including those with disabilities*

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On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 9:54 PM, Jonathan Avila <jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com>
wrote:

>  David, there are some good but very specific reasons to not artifact
> header and footer information.  Otherwise running headers and footer should
> be made pagination artifacts and the Page Labels feature should be used to
> add Page numbering including section information to identify pages and
> sections to assistive technology.  The page label feature is pretty
> powerful and allows flexibility for different number schemes such as Roman
> numbers and custom label prefixes.
>
>
>
> Some instances of header and footer information that might be useful
> include classification information on classified documents, copyright
> information, form numbers, or other content that is not located elsewhere
> in the document.  In general I recommend marking that content as
> non-artifact content on the first and last page so it does not break up the
> reading order of content.
>
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
>
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>
> --
> Jonathan Avila
> Chief Accessibility Officer
> SSB BART Group
> jon.avila@ssbbartgroup.com
>
>
>
> 703-637-8957 (o)
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>
> *From:* David MacDonald [mailto:david100@sympatico.ca]
> *Sent:* Monday, May 18, 2015 2:50 PM
> *To:* WCAG
> *Subject:* Should PDF documents have headers and footers on every page?
>
>
>
>
> We have a technique for Creating PDF headers and footers, usually inserted
> using the source program such as MS Word Headers and Footers. See PDF14.
>
>  http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/PDF14.html
> This causes the screen reader to announce these Headers and footers at the
> top and bottom of every page. Sometimes the interrupt reading halfway
> through a sentence that continues on the following page. I can imagine this
> is quite annoying for screen reader users tp have to listen through a
> header and a footer between every page.
>
> Visually we just skip over it... Usually most of the information found in
> the header and footer is available on the home page of the document or some
> other prominent place.
>
> What is useful is page numbers. However, if the author syncs the page
> numbering of the PDF with the document large numbers using PDF17, it makes
> me wonder if we should advise the author to mark headers and footers as
> artifacts instead...
>
> An organization that teaches PDF, which is fairly well known, and has done
> work for Adobe teaches to turn these headers and footers into artifacts so
> they will be ignored by a screen reader.
>
> I propose we place a note on PDF14 saying something like this:
>
>  "If the page numbering has been synchronized as in PDF17 and other header
> and footer information is available in a prominent place in the document
> such as a heading or home page, then headers and footers are not necessary
> and can be marked up as artifacts..."
>
> Cheers,
>
> David MacDonald
>
>
>
> *CanAdapt* *Solutions Inc.*
>
> Tel:  613.235.4902
>
> LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmacdonald100>
>
> www.Can-Adapt.com
>
>
>
> *  Adapting the web to all users*
>
> *            Including those with disabilities*
>
>
>
> If you are not the intended recipient, please review our privacy policy
> <http://www.davidmacd.com/disclaimer.html>
>