RE: Accessing PDFs

Jon,

Thanks for your opinion. I think that, whether a more productive way exists 
or not, PDFs are extremely popular. And to have the ability to fill out a 
form that only sighted people used to be able to fill out, AND be able to 
print it and have it match what the sighted person's form looks like is 
huge to me.

I think you would be surprised to hear the number of calls and e-mails we 
gets from our customers thanking us for assisting in making PDFs 
accessible. It seems to me that, whether we like PDFs or not is irrelevant 
to the fact that people now have access to them.

Aaron

At 03:04 PM 10/25/2002 +0100, Jon Hanna wrote:
>The idea though is to move forwards, moving has little virtue in itself.
>
>PDFs have moved forwards, but still lag behind HTML even before you consider
>accessibility issues.
>
>The inaccessible PDFs at least have a certain honesty. PDFs modus operandi
>still seems predicated on the assumption that the only thing someone might
>want to do with them is to print them on paper. They are poor for anyone to
>read online, no matter what physical abilities they may or may not possess.
>The "Portable" in their name is only in comparison to trying to roll up a
>print out and stick it down a telephone.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-ig-request@w3.org]On
> > Behalf Of Aaron Smith
> > Sent: 25 October 2002 14:05
> > To: David Poehlman; kestrell; Access Systems
> > Cc: RUST Randal; w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> > Subject: Re: Accessing PDFs
> >
> >
> > So, in other words, we should never embrace new technology because older
> > technology already exists? In my opinion, that's a stifling point of view
> > that will never assist in advancing the accessibility market.
> > That line of
> > thinking is part of the reason that accessibility isn't more mainstream.
> > If, instead of pushing the envelope, we sit back and say, "The heck with
> > it. I'll just use what I already have," then we might as well give up.
> >
> > What's the point of moving from Windows 9X to XP, IE 5 to IE 6,
> > Office 2000
> > to Office XP? Because the latter products have more/better accessibility
> > built in, as well as more general features. Same thing with PDFs.
> > Originally, there were not accessible at all. Now they are accessible.
> > Maybe not 100% of them 100% of the time, but to say, "It's not
> > perfect, so
> > let's not use it" violates the whole direction of accessibility advocacy.
> >
> > At 12:21 PM 10/24/2002 -0400, David Poehlman wrote:
> >
> > >the problem with this logic is that it totally misses the mark when
> > >those documents can just as well be much more accessible by not being in
> > >pdf.
> > >
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "Aaron Smith" <aaron@gwmicro.com>
> > >To: "kestrell" <aeryadne@theworld.com>; "Access Systems"
> > ><accessys@smart.net>
> > >Cc: "RUST Randal" <RRust@COVANSYS.com>; <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
> > >Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 9:02 AM
> > >Subject: Re: Accessing PDFs
> > >
> > >
> > >The point is that we had to start somewhere. I know for a fact that the
> > >IRS
> > >are working on accessible PDFs, as are other government agencies. The
> > >more
> > >we spread the information that there is a way to make PDFs accessible,
> > >the
> > >better the chances that those practices will become mainstream.
> > >
> > >At 07:29 AM 10/24/2002 -0400, kestrell wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > >It is also worth noting where the quote accessible unquote pdf docs
> > >are:
> > > >Of course the screen reader manuals are accessible, because any company
> > > >who produced a pdf doc that had any relation to screen readers and did
> > >not
> > > >assure it was accessible would be crazy, though there are a lot of
> > >crazy
> > > >company decisions out there. Places to check for accessible pdf docs
> > >would
> > > >be government web sites, such as the IRS web site, or materials online
> > >at
> > > >university libraries, or just about any eBook sold in the pdf format.
> > >The
> > > >rate of inaccessibility just sky-rocketed to about eighty percent
> > >there.
> > > >
> > > >kestrell
> > >
> > >--
> > >To insure that you receive proper support, please include all
> > >past correspondence (where applicable), and any relevant
> > >information pertinent to your situation when submitting a
> > >problem report to the GW Micro Technical Support Team.
> > >
> > >Aaron Smith
> > >GW Micro
> > >Phone: 260/489-3671
> > >Fax: 260/489-2608
> > >WWW: http://www.gwmicro.com
> > >FTP: ftp://ftp.gwmicro.com
> > >Technical Support & Web Development
> >
> > --
> > To insure that you receive proper support, please include all
> > past correspondence (where applicable), and any relevant
> > information pertinent to your situation when submitting a
> > problem report to the GW Micro Technical Support Team.
> >
> > Aaron Smith
> > GW Micro
> > Phone: 260/489-3671
> > Fax: 260/489-2608
> > WWW: http://www.gwmicro.com
> > FTP: ftp://ftp.gwmicro.com
> > Technical Support & Web Development
> >
> >

--
To insure that you receive proper support, please include all
past correspondence (where applicable), and any relevant
information pertinent to your situation when submitting a
problem report to the GW Micro Technical Support Team.

Aaron Smith
GW Micro
Phone: 260/489-3671
Fax: 260/489-2608
WWW: http://www.gwmicro.com
FTP: ftp://ftp.gwmicro.com
Technical Support & Web Development