- From: Robert Neff <rcn@fenix2.dol-esa.gov>
- Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1998 08:15:40 -0400
- To: "'w3c-wai-ig@w3.org'" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Without understanding the exact nature of the problem, the fault could this be organization that creates the PDF file. There are several ways to create a PDF file form a source document. The method used depends upon the complexity of the document and how it is "distilled" or converted to PDF. Most people don't know this and also don't print the document and do a page check to the master! I would at least suggest you contact the owners. As a person who has created many PDF documents, some of the problems made it through our quality assurance process. So we relied upon users to highlight the problem. Does the organization, have a testing or have a quality assurance program? In addition, I would ask them to ensure, the web server PDF MIME configuration is enabled. I have also (as well as users) had seen wingdings come in a text. I have seen this be a memory problem for the person converting the document as well as a user problem. If it is a user problem, I would highly recommend them to uninstall and reload with everything in the Windows 95 "Close Program" dialog box (Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL one time) except the explorer. Two cents...rob -----Original Message----- From: Kelly Ford [SMTP:kford@teleport.com] Sent: Thursday, August 20, 1998 12:58 AM To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org Subject: Re: PDF to HTML conversion This is not meant as a complaint, rather a point of clarification. While it is indeed true that Adobe offers assorted methods for converting .pdf files into text, folks should not consider this a reliable method of access in all settings. I've used these various options since they were released to the public and the results are quite mixed. You can usually get the text of the file in question, but the actual layout and presentation is sometimes another story. I used to routinely convert this little 8-page version of the New York Times and something that simple had some odd quirks. The headline for the first story ended up being in the file after the end of the second story as a simple example. Many complicated documents such as catalogs, statistical tables and investment documents are almost useless. Yes I am happy there is this option but in my view it doesn't work with reliability enough to be counted on.
Received on Friday, 21 August 1998 08:15:21 UTC