Mack came along before that and apple 2e was there.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Terri Hedgpeth" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: How to Create Accessible Adobe PDF Files


Jim, Are you serious when you say
"GUIs showed up in
commercial form in the late 70s (late 60s in research labs), but it
wasn't until the early 90s that most of the blind community caught on,
saw what was happening, and did anything about it."

The first consumer version of GUI that was widely known was Window 3X.  I
remember blind persons speaking out on the lack of access right from the
start, even though DOS was the prevalent Operating System at the time. We
can't look into the crystal ball and predict what will prevale tomorrow.

Back to PDF. When dealing with simple docs like a news letter or a brief
essay the conversion process is doable. But for researchers and others who
read professional journals with data tables and the like, PDF docs are not
accessible. I personally feel that Adobe has only done the bare minimal to
keep blind consumers off their backs no more no less. So, I can not condone
praising Adobe for their so called efforts.



_________________________________
Terri Hedgpeth
Student Support Specialist Sr.
Disability Resources for Students
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-3202
(480) 965-1232 (v)
(480) 965-0441 (fax)



-----Original Message-----
From: pub Marlys [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 10:12 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: How to Create Accessible Adobe PDF Files


Another item of interest regarding PDFs (copied from the page):

"DocMorph's Reading Room also now provides an important service that allows
you to submit either scanned images of printed material or text files.
DocMorph will return a web page that uses synthesized voice to read the
material out loud.  It is expected that this new feature will bring not only
biomedical literature, but many kinds of printed and electronic information
to people who would otherwise not have access to it."

<A HREF="http://docmorph.nlm.nih.gov/docmorph/">
http://docmorph.nlm.nih.gov/docmorph/</A>

Marlys