I saw this in some messages I have archived and just looked through;
they're dated around 13 June.=20
Note the list from which this thread was lifted is restricted to members =
of
the International Association of Audio Information Services, previously
known as the National Association of Audio Reading Services, being the
umbrella for radijo reading services in the U.S.A and Canada.
=46rom: "Lynne Koral" <[log in to unmask]>
Hi, has anyone known about this?=20
Lynne Koral=20
=46rom: Daniel Shanis=20
Hi Lynne, I came across the following feature for=20
=20
OmniPage Pro 11
The World's most accurate OCR Software
=20
=46or the first time, you can convert PDF files into Microsoft Office =
files
(or any one of 20 other formats) that you can then edit. Not only is this
conversion fast and easy, it is accurate. OmniPage retains all the format
and layout of your original PDF image, even complex files with text,
graphics and columns. Bottom line? With OmniPage Pro 11, PDF files aren't
'read only' any more! No one else offers this type of easy conversion! =
And
that's not even touching on our new PDF Output capabilities.
=46rom: Brad Martin <[log in to unmask]>
Great information, Lynne. No, I didn't know that.
Omnipage is software which comes with many scanners, although I'm not =
sure
it's Omnipage Pro. I think they usually come with Omnipage Lite, and you
can buy Omnipage Pro. Would be worth checking into though.
Brad Martin
Site Manager
WHIL Radio Reading Service & Alabama Print Information Center
[log in to unmask]
http://www.alaprint.org
=46rom: "David B Andrews" <[log in to unmask]>
I haven't seen this, but if it acts as they say, it will be a good
thing. Some PDF files are actually images of the printed page, and
need some sort of OCR to extract the text. Some PDF's contain text,
most in fact, and Adobe's accessibility efforts, along with JFW and
Window-Eyes make them mostly usable. However, if the PDF's are
images, the accessibility stuff does us no good.
Dave
David Andrews
Chief Technology Officer
Minnesota State Services for the Blind
(651) 642-0513
=46rom: "Yaeger, Rebecca" <[log in to unmask]>
Brad, could it be possible for us non-technical people... could you =
please
do a little alphabet soup definition list of what things are... write it =
in
as basic of a language you can
Thanks
Becky Yaeger
WUIS/WIPA RIS
Springfield IL
=46rom: Brad Martin <[log in to unmask]>
Ok, let me translate the discussion:
PDF stands for Portable Document Format. A company called Adobe Systems
developed this format years ago, because companies wanted a way to share
files between different computers, and have those files look the same.
=46urthermore, not only did they want to share between different =
computers,
they wanted to share across multiple platforms--Windows, Macintosh, Unix,
etc. Thus, the PDF file was born.
But for a long time, PDF documents were virtually unreadable with speech
software, and thus they gained a very negative reputation in the blind
community. I'll admit, I hated them with a passion.
Recently, Adobe released a plug-in--an add-on piece of software--for its
Acrobat Reader, the program used to view PDF files. This plug-in allows
for access to many PDF files. Not all though, because, as Dave pointed
out, some are not actual text, but photographs of text. FOr such
documents, OCR software is needed to "guess" at what those photographs
look like, and get text out. OCR stands for Optical Character
Recognition. Basically, if someone scans in a document, you get an =
image;
whereas if you type in a document, the computer knows an A is an A is an
A. If you scan documents, sometimes the A looks like something else, and
you need software (OCR software) to make its best guess. Your eyes can
make subjective decisions about such things; our computers cannot.
Does that help?
Brad Martin
[log in to unmask]
=46rom: "Lynne Koral" <[log in to unmask]>
Thanks, Brad. I felt the same way until you and my friend Brett sent me
info
on the plug-in. Thanks again for all your knowledge and sharing.=20
Lynne Koral
=46rom: "David B Andrews" <[log in to unmask]>
I am looking into doing a comparative review of OmniPage Pro and
Text Bridge Pro, similar to what I did with Open Book, and Kurzweil
1000 in the February Braille Monitor.
Dave
=46rom: Brad Martin <[log in to unmask]>
To follow up, I used to hate PDF files, but I've found them to be a
liveable lot these days. With the accessibility plug-in, I was able to =
go
to Sprint PCS website and download the manual for my cell phone myself.
There were some glitches, but the vast majority of information was at my
fingertips, so I'm glad for the option. I'm all about having the choices
to make my own decisions about what works for me and what doesn't. For
the most part, this does, and I no longer hate PDF files the way I used
to.
Brad
--=20
Brad Martin
To send e-mail to the entire IAAIS e-group address your e-mail to
[log in to unmask]
Colin R. Howard
[log in to unmask]
"Microsoft - a triumph of marketing over reality"
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