RE: HTML5 DL Element vs. WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria

The JAWS selection feature is often able to select visible text in the
document view of the PDF.  When this is working it allows the user to
switch to the tags pane (F6) and tag the selected text and assign a role
such as H1, H2, etc. to the text.  Also from the tags pane it's possible
to assign alt text for images if you know what the images are -- the tags
pane as pretty good but not perfect keyboard access.  So, as Ramon says,
if the user is aware of what is in the document then the user could do
some remediation.  Text selection with the keyboard is very possible in
the document area.  The keyboard user can switch back and forth with F6
and then use keyboard commands such as copy and paste to re-order content
in the tags panel so it makes sense in a proper reading order.  The JAWS
selection feature however is not always reliable in the document area.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: Ramón Corominas [mailto:listas@ramoncorominas.com]
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 6:23 PM
To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org Group
Subject: Re: HTML5 DL Element vs. WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria

Duff wrote:

> First, because we don't yet have software that can do a great tagging
job auto-magically.

Agreed, but this is the same for sighted users and for blind users...


> Second, because the process of fixing accessibility features in PDF is
> akin to
 > the process of writing alternative text. In other words, it's damned  >
hard to do unless you can fully perceive the thing you are describing.

As far as I know there are no tools to create PDF files in an accessible
way, but they do exist many tools to create web pages in an accessible
way, including Notepad. While the problems regarding the "perception"
are exactly the same, the accessibility of the tool is the key factor.

I think you are asuuming that the blind user doesn't know in advance what
the content is. Maybe the user is just repairing a PDF created from a Word
document that he has created, in which the user has included images which
he knows, tables with structures and data that he already knows, headings
for content that he has created...

Indeed, you are asumming that the user is a blind user, but he can have
any other disability that implies using a keyboard or a voice recognition
system, for example.

Regards,
Ramón.

Received on Friday, 14 February 2014 23:44:59 UTC