41 I love & hate pdf :|

By nature, I likes PDF.. this is a greate way to ensure that data will show exacly the same accross medias. What I hate is the browser support, they freeze a lot of browsers. I d’ont know if it’s just me but It gets me crazy when I loose my 20 opened tabs in firefox just because I didn’t notice that the link am clicking on was a PDF, wich I usually “save as” to read later in a decent PDF reader. I don’t know if it’s caused by malformed PDF tags or a bad browser implentation but IMO it happens way to often.

posted at 11:50 pm on September 3, 2005 by h 3

42 Bad Font Fun

I received a PDF recently and thought I’d check it for accessibility. I saw that ‘Add Tags To Document’ wasn’t greyed out in the Accessibility menu. But when I tried the menu option, the following error came up. Anyone got any ideas about this?

“Acrobat [7.0 Standard] was unable to make this document accessible because of the following error:

Bad PDF; could not read page structure. (Bad PDF; error in processing fonts: bad font)¹

Please note that some pages of this document may have been changed. Because of this failure, you are advised to not save these changes.”

So I checked the Properties screen but couldn’t see any problems. There was a single font used – Courier. I also noted the company logo and a box of text on the page used Times New Roman. Trying to select the text revealed it was part of an image! No way to select, copy or read out the text there!

posted at 08:20 am on September 6, 2005 by Chris Hester

43 PDF job application forms

In my job we process PDF job application forms for a leading website and we have to include db related fields into the PDF. Strangely its cheaper than HTML however the results are messy, file size is erratic and navigation is cumbersome.

posted at 06:12 am on September 10, 2005 by Johan De Silva

44 Such a great article, but hard to print

Finally, on the fourth try, I’ve figured out printer settings so I can print this fine article without losing the right-hand end of each line. Could you help? I’m going to be recommending it to a couple hundred EPA colleagues, and we like to save paper. :^) Thanks!

posted at 09:48 am on September 14, 2005 by Karen Reshkin

45 PDF and record preservation

I agree with Joe’s statement that “Some documents really should be PDFs.” Specifically, some RECORDS (locked-down documents with long-term value) should be PDF because PDF is an ideal preservation format, mainly because it is flatter than other formats. Preservation of HTML files is made easier with PDF, because HTML files, with their multi-media multi-layered nature, make it difficult to determine the boundaries of the record and use standardized metadata for the different layers and media. The problem of preserving context and record relationships doesn’t go away with PDF, though.

posted at 02:40 pm on October 13, 2005 by Maureen Cusack

46 RNIB media briefing on accessible PDFs

I went to a media briefing on accessible PDFs hosted by the RNIB on Thursday 20th October 2005. One of the impressive demonstrations was the RNIB 2005 Financial Report, all done as an accessible PDF, including tables – which are regarded as being difficult to make accessible.

Hugh Huddy – from the RNIB – did the demonstration of navigation a Balance sheet in a PDF document using Adobe Acrobat and Jaws. He navigated the balance sheet, as far as I could tell, in exactly the same manner you would if it were done in HTML. He switched into a tables reading mode, and had access to all the information in the table along with the relevant headers for the cells. Also demonstrated was navigating using links and header structure.

Its not an ivory tower usability study, but a practical, and live, demonstration proving we are able to create accessible PDFs. I guess it proved PDFs – even complex ones – can be created to be accessible, and they can be accessible to screen readers.

posted at 01:47 pm on October 23, 2005 by Mike Davies

47 RNIB Media Briefing - Update

I’d just like to point out, with regards to Mike Davies comment above, that what he says is true about the outcome of the RNIBs briefing.

What he doesn’t mention is that, after much struggling, the RNIB team of experienced developers had to bring in external consultants to enable them to properly tag their PDF files, as they just couldn’t do it..!!

Does this really mean that PDFs are accessible? Surely that’s like saying a house without a roof will keep me dry in the rain, I just have to learn how to build a roof??

On a more positive note, i’d love to see some independent user testing to see just how accessible properly tagged PDFs are, and also how the process of tagging can be made easier.

My main issue with Joe’s article is that it’s now being touted around the UK public sector as validation for providing 90% of their web content in (un-tagged) PDFs, though no doubt Joe will be horrified to hear it.

posted at 10:32 am on October 25, 2005 by Lee McIvor

48 RNIB Media Briefing - Update

What he doesn’t mention is that, after much struggling, the RNIB team of experienced developers had to bring in external consultants to enable them to properly tag their PDF files, as they just couldn’t do it..!!

As I understood the comment, it wasn’t experienced developers that were having the problems, but their regular PDF publishers. Hugh opined that part of the problem was that either they were too afraid they would get it wrong, or too afraid to even try. Yes, the RNIB brought in some technical help.

As I understood this, this is no difference to bringing in an accessibility consultant to help in-house web developers make their websites accessible. That does indeed happen.

I’ve posted my notes on the event over at:
http://www.isolani.co.uk/blog/access/RnibAccessiblePdfMediaBriefing
As with all my live blogging attempts – mistakes are all mine.

posted at 12:11 pm on October 26, 2005 by Mike Davies

49 Role of Australia's HREOC

Coming in late here… just a clarification:

I have a current complaint lodged with the HREOC and asked if the HREOC has a role in prosecuting, and the response given was:

“HREOC is no longer a hearing commission, so we do not make determinations as to whether someone has been discriminated against or what the remedy should be. However, through our investigation and conciliation processes, HREOC may form a view as to whether or not there is an arguable case that discrimination may have occurred and we will express such a view to the parties, when appropriate.”

So the HREOC will no longer crack down on anyone. (Which is sad when there’s a genuine grievance and the only option is to pay lawyers. No wonder I am in this situation: businesses know the little people can’t fight back.)

posted at 07:17 am on October 29, 2005 by Vicki B

50 How do I create a zoom feature on my website?

I don’t know if this topic is related. I honestly could not look through all the threads. ButI was looking for some advice on how to create a zoom tool on a website, like alot clothing website have. To zoom in on the item. If anyone could help that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Mendy

posted at 11:12 pm on December 11, 2005 by Mendy Shmayonky

Discussion Closed

New comments are not being accepted, but you are welcome to explore what people said before we closed the door.

Got something to say?

Discuss this article. We reserve the right to delete flames, trolls, and wood nymphs.

Create a new account or sign in below if you’d like to leave a comment.

Forgot your password?

Subscribe to this article's comments: RSS (what’s this?)