Re: Acrobat PDF & Accessibility

Clearly it is always a concern in the use of different versions of content
that the versions are synchronised. But I think it is sufficiently understood
that there are many techniques available for making sure this happens.

cheers

Charles

On Thu, 27 Dec 2001, David Poehlman wrote:

  the danger I see in this is that the pdf will be updated and the html
  will not.  The two must some how be linked.  I think though that
  supplying an accessible version of a document is a good idea and has
  merit in the hard copy world.  Many documents that are printed in hard
  copy are marked up for braille before embossing and we would not want
  them in print.

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: "Charles McCathieNevile" <charles@w3.org>
  To: "Joel Ward" <ward_joel@bah.com>
  Cc: "WAI List" <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
  Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2001 12:33 AM
  Subject: Re: Acrobat PDF & Accessibility


  I think that is a very sensible approach.

  chaals

  On Thu, 20 Dec 2001, Joel Ward wrote:

    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
    >
    >


  --
  Charles McCathieNevile    http://www.w3.org/People/Charles  phone: +61
  409 134 136
  W3C Web Accessibility Initiative     http://www.w3.org/WAI    fax: +1
  617 258 5999
  Location: 21 Mitchell street FOOTSCRAY Vic 3011, Australia
  (or W3C INRIA, Route des Lucioles, BP 93, 06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex,
  France)



-- 
Charles McCathieNevile    http://www.w3.org/People/Charles  phone: +61 409 134 136
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative     http://www.w3.org/WAI    fax: +1 617 258 5999
Location: 21 Mitchell street FOOTSCRAY Vic 3011, Australia
(or W3C INRIA, Route des Lucioles, BP 93, 06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France)

Received on Monday, 31 December 2001 03:47:09 UTC