PDF: FRIEND OR FOE

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University Communications and Marketing PDF
Accessibility WorkshopMarch 16, 2006
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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Portable Document Format PDF
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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Portable Document Format FRIEND?
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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Portable Document Format OR FOE?
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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
WHY PDF?

• Portability
• Fidelity to layout and printed version
• Cross-platform compatibility
• Freeware accessibility

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
WHY NOT PDF?

• Accessibility
• Usability
• Accessibility and Usability
• See list items 1-3

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
So, what do you mean by accessibility?
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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
ACCESSIBILITY?

• Accessibility ? Usability
• Required by law
• Complete content (text and non-text) must be
  available to be read by a screen reader
• Not always comprehensible

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
ACCESSIBILITY?

• What the law requires.

USABILITY?
What your users deserve.
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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
GOAL COMPLIANT AND COMPREHENSIBLE

• All users should be able to access/read all
  content, including text, non-text, image and
  figure captions, etc.
• Documents should be accessible and readable
• Testing usability/readability is up to the author

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Right. How?
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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Four starting points

• Original source file
• Existing PDF
• Scanned document or image-only PDF
• Form

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Original source file

• Use paragraph styles
• Use bullets and list numbering
• Use the column feature to layout pages with more
  two or more columns
• Add descriptive and meaningful alternate text to
  graphics
• Use the Table features to create tables- Table
  of Contents generator, too!

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Original source file

• Select accessibility settings before conversion
  to PDF
• Open new PDF and check Document Properties
• Set document tab order
• Run Full Check on document in Acrobat
• Do your own Usability test

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Existing PDF

• Complete Document Properties
• Create links for document URLs
• Tag the documentMethod 1 Automated tag
  processMethod 2 Manual tag process
• Add descriptive and meaningful alternate text to
  graphics
• Set document tab order

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Existing PDF

• Run Full Check on document in Acrobat
• Check Reading Order and use TouchUp Tool, if
  necessary
• Set security attributes to allow access
• Run Full Check again
• Do your own Usability test

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Apply OCR to a scanned or image- only PDF

• With document opened in Acrobat, select Document
  gt Recognize Text Using OCR gt Start
• In Recognize Text dialog box, click Edit.
• Choose Formatted text and Graphics from PDF
  Output Style list box. Click OK on all.
• Once completed, find suspect characters.
• Tag document as with an existing PDF

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Fillable forms

• Add fillable form fields to document
• Add descriptions to fields as you create
• Set document tab order
• Check Document Properties
• Assess form for accessibility
• Do your own Usability test

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Remember

• Degree of difficulty depends on level of document
  and complexity of design
• Accessibility and usability require judgment
  calls and choices
• Users of assistive technology and portable
  devices assess for accessibility they will judge
  on usability
• Accessibility ? Usability
• Accessibility begins with the author (you).

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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Then, you can make friends with PDFs.
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PDF FRIEND OR FOE?
Resources

• Adobe Accessibility Web Site and Guide to
  Creating Accessible PDFhttp//www.adobe.com/acces
  sibility
• Planet PDFhttp//www.planetpdf.com
• UCM Accessibility Presentationhttp//www.kent.edu
  /ucm/SolutionsServices/MarketingWorkshops
• U.S. Government Section 508 Web
  Sitehttp//www.section508.gov