Re: Inaccessibility of EN301-549 (PDF format) Standards for screen reader users

Turns out I know someone in ETSI so I am following up. It is indeed  
unfortunate if their spec is not accessible, so detailed technical  
explanationn like this is helpful

cheers

On Mon, 04 Jul 2022 09:57:38 +0200, Steve Green  
<steve.green@testpartners.co.uk> wrote:

> You are correct, Sailesh. There are accessibility issues throughout the  
> document, especially the inappropriate use of tables to control layout,  
> incorrect table cells marked as headers, missing "rowspan" attributes,  
> lists broken across pages etc.
>
> The table that starts on page 90 is horrible because it's got three  
> levels of column headings. It's not possible to tag it correctly in Word  
> and you can't even fix it with Acrobat's Table Editor because it doesn't  
> work if cells contain rotated text. You have to add the required  
> attributes to the Properties of each cell, but not many people know how  
> to do that.
>
> That said, I expect that screen reader users would still have a horrible  
> experience even if the table was tagged correctly. The effective column  
> header for some cells is the concatenation of the three rows of headers.  
> This is very long and it is announced before the data in each cell when  
> using table commands to navigate across a row.
>
> If anyone is thinking of complaining to ETSI, remember that each  
> individual must have their own license for the standard. It would be  
> rather embarrassing if you submitted a complaint and they pointed out  
> that you don't have a license.
>
> Steve Green
> Managing Director
> Test Partners Ltd
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sailesh Panchang <spanchang02@gmail.com>
> Sent: 03 July 2022 19:54
> To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> Subject: Inaccessibility of EN301-549 (PDF format) Standards for screen  
> reader users
>
> Hello Listers,
> I had highlighted the subject issue in 2019  but the issues still  
> persist. So I followed up again just a few weeks ago by writing to ETSI.
> For instance at present the data tables  in Annex A (A.1 and A.2) that  
> start on page 90 of version 3.2.1 (March 2021) do not convey  
> relationship between header cells and data cells.
> The tables are not tagged to convey the column-span property. It appears  
> the PDF is created by saving Word files as PDF and no further tagging is  
> done.
> So it is almost impossible to comprehend the table structure using a  
> screen reader.
> This problem would also be caught by testing with AT (if done) before  
> the PDF is published publicly.
> So it is important for users who depend on AT / accessibility features  
> to write to ESPsupport@etsi.org, convey their experience and urge ETSI  
> to make necessary changes.
> It is not good that the standards  themselves pose accessibility  
> problems.
> Thanks,
> Sailesh
>


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Received on Monday, 4 July 2022 16:20:47 UTC