Re: Acrobat PDF & Accessibility

Question:

If you have an accessible HTML version of a document, do we need to make the
PDF version of the document accessible too?  What if the PDF version is only
made available for printing purposes (and marked as such)?

In that case, I'd concentrate on making the HTML accessible and forget about
the PDF.

What does everyone else think?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Carol Foster" <c.foster@umassp.edu>
To: "William R Williams/R5/USDAFS" <wrwilliams@fs.fed.us>
Cc: <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2001 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: Acrobat PDF & Accessibility


> I agree with Jakob Nielsen, though some people really like PDF's.  I tend
to
> get annoyed when I click on a link and a PDF suddenly starts slowly
appearing
> without warning.
>
> I believe to meet WAI priority 1 checkpoints, an HTML version is required.
The
> new more accessible PDF's that can be created with Adobe 5.0 and the Make
> Accessible Plugin are definitely an improvement over the old ones for
screen
> readers, and if I understand this correctly, I believe that they alone
will
> satisfy Section 508 without an alternative, though an HTML version is
still
> recommended.
>
> As a web developer, I'm afraid that those of us who want to make our sites
as
> accessible as possible are now in the position of not only having to
create an
> HTML version, which can be easy or very time consuming (depending on what
we
> have to start with), but also to make sure the PDF is itself accessible,
which
> can also be easy or very time consuming, depending on how the PDF was
created,
> what hardware and software one has, and how well one knows the new PDF
tagging
> language and update facilities.
>
> Carol
>
> William R Williams/R5/USDAFS wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > It's been debated often, I suspect; yet, if my experience means
anything,
> > much disagreement exists about the "true" accessibility of pdfs on the
web.
> > Certainly, Adobe has promoted the application and worked diligently to
make
> > them accessible, but others - such as Jakob Nielsen - suggest avoiding
pdfs
> > for on-screen delivery.
> >
> > I know there are definite usability issues, but how does this group
stand
> > on the accessibility of PDFs?
> >
> > Thanks!
> > ======================
> > Bill Williams
> > Communication Technician
> > USDA Forest Service, Region 5
> > 707.562.9005
> > wrwilliams@fs.fed.us
> > ======================
>
> Carol Foster, Web Developer
> University of Massachusetts, President's Office
> http://www.umass-its.net/ipg
>
>

Received on Thursday, 20 December 2001 17:10:07 UTC