Loretta,

It would be good if the authoring tools prompted to put in the ALT tags,
so that if the PDF were converted to HTML, the ALT tags would then
reappear for use by access technology (AT).  Likewise headings should
be marked as such, so that they reappear with heading tags; and so on.

Note that screen readers are not the only way to access text stored
in a computer.  The screen reader interprets what has been put on
the screen by an application.  However there is a more direct
approach, used by some browsers and also by Cloudworld's WordAloud
assistive reader, where the text to be displayed is taken directly
from the document, and the user can navigate the text structure directly.
In such cases there is no application between the document and the AT,
there is no interpretation of the application's view of the document,
and there is no requirement for the user to understand the application
or the screen reader's interpretation of the application's display.

For a blind user with a screen reader:
1. understanding the application is difficult since the application
is working in the visual domain with a graphical user interface;
2. the application has to be controlled as well as the screen reader;
3. the application may rely on functions provided by the operation
system (e.g. Windows) which have to be understood by the user;
4. appropriate interpretion of the image on the screen can be tricky,
e.g. whether there are columns;
5. the screen reader may have to be told what to look at on the screen
so it only reads out relevant information.

Thus with the screen reader approach you have a chain:
 User -> Screen Reader -> Image on screen -> Application -> Document

With the 'direct' approach you have:
 User -> Assistive Reader -> Document

It would be great if PDF could be converted into HTML suitable for
use by such assistive readers.

Cheers from Chiswick,

John

P.S. For WordAloud see www.wordaloud.co.uk
--
In message <[log in to unmask]>
Loretta Guarino Reid writes:

>John,
>
>  The ultimate solution is for authoring tools to generate accessible
> PDF (just as they should generate accessible HTML or XML). The document
> at http://access/adobe/com/AccessGuide.pdf describes the current paths
> for generating accessible PDF files. I trust the list of authoring
> tools will grow over time.
>
>  And I concede that hand-tweaking PDF files is potentially a lot of
> work, and, worse yet, work that has to be repeated if the PDF file is
> regenerated. But some things, like adding Alt tags, aren't hard.
>
>  On the plus side, Acrobat 5 does a much better job of presenting the
> information in legacy PDF files to the screen reader. It will handle
> multiple columns, links in documents, and form fields, for instance.
> So I'm hopeful that more files will be effectively accessible, even
> if they aren't completely accessible.
>
>       Loretta

[John had written]

>> P.S.  I'm worried when Kelly says that "the accessible PDF
>> is still going to take a lot of work on the part of the person
>> creating the source document."  If that is true, PDF is a lost
>> cause for accessibility.  It is hard enough getting people to
>> make their web sites accessible.

--
Access the word, access the world! -- Try our WordAloud software!!

John Nissen, Cloudworld Ltd., Chiswick, London, UK
Tel:   +44 (0) 845 458 3944 (local rate in the UK)
Fax:   +44 (0) 20 8742 8715
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web:   http://www.cloudworld.co.uk and http://www.wordaloud.co.uk