RE: [SEC508] Accessible PDF generators

["Info @ Karlen Communications" <info@karlencommunications.com>]

If it is like the one for the Windows version, you need to go into the settings/options of the dialog and check the tags as well as using headings as Bookmarks. Once you do this it should be set until you repair, reinstall, or update with an SP.

 

Cheers, Karen

 

From: sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu [mailto:sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Gregg Vanderheiden
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 11:53 PM
To: blaplant@mindspring.com
Cc: Sean Hayes; Sec508; Andrew Kirkpatrick
Subject: Re: [SEC508] Accessible PDF generators

 

there IS a save as PDF in the latest MAC version of Word. 

Don't know if it saves tags but I would guess it would.  

 

Sean or Andrew can confirm 

 

g

 

 

On May 14, 2008, at 6:22 PM, Bill LaPlant wrote:

Sean -- Does MS Word 2008 for the Macintosh do the same?

-- 

William P. LaPlant, Jr.     4312 Birchlake Ct; Alexandria, VA 22309

Accessibility Engineer                          phone: 703-360-9184

--                 mailto:blaplant@computer.org                  --

I am  committed  to  Children  inheriting a  culture  of  unlimited possibilities;   Technology empowering miraculous lives.

Sean Hayes wrote:

FYI Word 2007 now provides its own "Save As" option to ISO standard PDF and supports tags.

 

Sean Hayes
Media Acessibility Strategist
Accessibility Business Unit
Microsoft

 

Office:  +44 118 909 5867, 

Mobile: +44 7875 091385

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From: sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu [sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Gregg Vanderheiden [gv@trace.wisc.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:24 PM
To: Sec508
Cc: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Subject: Re: [SEC508] Accessible PDF generators

One thing that is a common mistake.

 

If you create your document in Word and use the styles properly (e.g.  heading, lists etc)  then you can create a PDF from it and the TAGs are automatically created.   BUT ONLY IF YOU USE THE ADOBE MENU item.    If you create the PDF by using the PRINT command then NO TAGS are generated.    Most people use the PDF in the PRINT command - so they lose the benefit of the automatic TAG generator. 

 

I am copying Andrew at Adobe to ensure that I have this correct (things keep changing).

 

Perhaps he can provide a quick tutorial on how to do this right - or a pointer to one.

 

Gregg

 

 

 

On May 14, 2008, at 9:46 AM, Baquis, David wrote:

Karen asked me to forward this comment since she is having difficulty posting to the list.

David Baquis

 

From: Info @ Karlen Communications [mailto:info@karlencommunications.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 7:51 AM
To: 'Lars Ballieu Christensen'
Cc: 'sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu'
Subject: RE: [SEC508] Accessible PDF generators

 

This is difficult to answer. First a PDF can be tagged but this does not mean that it is accessible. Second, the tools that I know of that generate tagged PDF use various versions of the PDF specifications/references. Since tagging is improved with each version of Adobe Acrobat/each version of the PDF specs/references, you can see why it is difficult to pin something down.

Adobe Acrobat  and the Microsoft Save as PDF tool for Microsoft Office 2007 use the PDF 1.7 specs so Acrobat 8 level of tagging.

The latest version of Nuance tools use the PDF 1.6 specs so are at the Acrobat 7 level.

I am not sure what the latest version of Open Office uses for its underlying specs.

Acrobat is the only tool I know of for making tagged forms. This is done through Acrobat and to some extent LiveCycle Designer; however, you need to be careful using LiveCycle Designer.

The Save as PDF tool from Microsoft tends to generate better tagged PDF from the .doc or .docx format while Acrobat tends to generate better tags for the .doc format. Acrobat does not produce tagged PDF from Microsoft Publisher, while the Save as PDF tool does for Publisher 2007; Acrobat does generate tagged PDF from Outlook 2007 while the Save as PDF does not. Acrobat also produces tagged PDF from Outlook 2003.

InDesign and FrameMaker can produce tagged PDF, depending on the version. I’ve heard that the new Quark CS also can export to tagged PDF but have not found any documentation of this so far…none seems to be on their web site or in any “new features” documentation and I would have thought that it would be easy to find since this has long been a complaint of the software.

An accessible PDF depends on the source document being compiled of non-corrupted assets [in the case of desktop published documents], headings made with styles, tables being made properly, Alt Text on images and links, lists being converted as lists not individual paragraphs/again the use of styles, and the content flowing logically. Elements of documents that throw this off are text boxes in word processed documents, paragraph frames, Tabs used to create tables, no styles in the document, and in the case of desktop published documents, there are issues with links that are mouse activated but cannot be activated using the keyboard so must be repaired in the PDF document. Desktop published documents also tend to have more “images of text” rather than text. This means that content is not available to the end-user once it is tagged. You can only put so much into an Alt attribute.

I don’t know of any research or survey that looks at the various tools and compares them. It gets difficult since there are so many variables for documents. For example, I can use OnmiPage Pro to generate a tagged PDF but it does not generate tagged tables so these have to be done manually in the PDF document, as does adding Alt Text and links to the document. This adds to the repair cost and makes OmniPage a less than worthy tool to generate tagged PDF. The last I looked, Nuance’s PDF Creator did not generate tagged PDF but if they have added it, it will be at the PDF 1.6 spec level.

Even among the versions of Acrobat, version 8 has better OCR for scanned documents than 7 did and better table tagging.

I have some of the other tools but rely on Acrobat and now the Save as PDF tool for tagging the PDF, then I go in and see what repairs need to be made. Ultimately, the Tags Tree should accurately represent the visual structure of the document where you are adding the tags while the source documents should have generated fairly solid tags if the document was designed to be accessible in the source application. This would not include decorative elements which should be delegated as Artifacts. So many variables.

Cheers, Karen

 

 

From: sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu [mailto:sec508-admin@trace.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Lars Ballieu Christensen
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 12:56 AM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Cc: LISTSERV@jiscmail.ac.uk; disabilitylist@lists.etr.org; LISTSERV@listserv.buffalo.edu; LISTSERV@listserv.ucop.edu; LISTSERV@listserv.uga.edu; sec508@trace.wisc.edu
Subject: [SEC508] Accessible PDF generators

 

Dear all

I am looking for a list of PDF generators to produce accessible PDF in accordance with Adobes guidelines. Is anyone aware of such a list or a study that evaluates PDF generators for accessibility?

Kind regards

Lars

----

Lars Ballieu Christensen 
Rådgiver/Adviser, Sensus ApS

Specialister i tilgængelighed/Accessibility Consultants 
Tel: +45 48 22 10 03 – Mobil: +45 40 32 68 23 - Skype: Ballieu
Mail: lbc@sensus.dk – Web: www.sensus.dk & www.robobraille.org