Discussion about modifying PDF Technology Notes

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andrew Kirkpatrick <akirkpat@adobe.com>
Date: Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 12:41 PM
Subject: RE: PDF Technology Notes
To: Loretta Guarino Reid <lorettaguarino@google.com>


That's some of the best parts! :)


I'd say that we could do: (yellow is added, strikeouts are strikeouts)


Introduction



The Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format for representing
documents in a manner independent of the application software,
hardware, and operating system used to create them, as well as of the
output device on which they are to be displayed or printed. PDF files
specify the appearance of pages in a document in a reliable,
device-independent manner. The PDF specification was introduced by
Adobe Systems in 1993.



The origins of PDF and the Adobe® Acrobat® product family date to
early 1990. At that time, the PostScript® page description language
was a standard for the production of the printed page. PDF builds on
the PostScript page description language by layering a document
structure and interactive navigation features on PostScript’s
underlying imaging model, providing a convenient, efficient mechanism
for enabling documents to be reliably viewed and printed anywhere.



PDF is an International Standard



PDF is an International Standard: PDF 1.7 (ISO 32000-1).



On January 29, 2007, Adobe Systems Incorporated announced its
intention to release the full Portable Document Format (PDF 1.7)
specification to the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and
the Enterprise Content Management Association (AIIM), for the purpose
of publication by the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO). In January 2008, this ISO technical committee approved the
final revised documentation for PDF 1.7 as an international standard.



The PDF specification was first published at the same time the first
Acrobat products were introduced in 1993.



As the format evolved, specialized subsets of the full PDF
specification were developed to meet specific technical requirements.
These subsets became standards published by the International
Organization for Standards (ISO) or are in the process of
standardization. Of note for accessibility is PDF/UA.



PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) became an ISO Draft International
Standard (DIS) in November 2010 (ISO/DIS 14289-1). (See PDF/UA Wiki
(ISO DIS 14289 - 1).) The scope of PDF/UA is not meant to be a
techniques (how-to) specification, but rather a set of guidelines for
creating accessible PDF. The specification describes the required and
prohibited components and the conditions governing their inclusion in
or exclusion from a PDF file in order for the file to be available to
the widest possible audience, including those with disabilities. The
mechanisms for including the components in the PDF stream are left to
the discretion of the individual developer, PDF generator, or PDF
viewing agent. PDF/UA also specifies the rules governing the behavior
for a conforming reader.





Do you think that helps?



Thanks,

AWK



Andrew Kirkpatrick

Group Product Manager, Accessibility

Adobe Systems



akirkpat@adobe.com

http://twitter.com/awkawk

http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility


> -----Original Message-----

> From: Loretta Guarino Reid [mailto:lorettaguarino@google.com]

> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 4:38 PM

> To: Andrew Kirkpatrick; Mary Utt

> Cc: WCAG Editors

> Subject: PDF Technology Notes

>

> Andrew,

>

> Concerns have been raised about the PDF Technology Notes having much too much of a marketing feel, and having strayed pretty far from the goals of providing common user agent notes. We'll need to get them revised before we can release a public draft.

>

> Can we remove the Introduction (that is, the info up to PDF Accessibility Support), Mary, I see there are some conversion problems in this document, too (weird text at the beginning of headings). I don't know whether you can fix them or whether this is something that Michael needs to fix.

>

Received on Thursday, 14 April 2011 21:05:18 UTC