Hi all

I think the plug in you are referring to is to make version 4.0 pdf files
accessible as they cannot be opened to RTF or as tagged files without the
converter, whereas Acrobat 5.0 pdfs can be made to export to RTF and can be
tagged. however, and this is the big however - someone needs to go through
the documents and make sure the tags make sense. Also no automatic system
will meaningfully tag an image or diagram (this needs to be done manually).

 have not checked out the pdf to html converter but the same must be true in
that the alternative text will not be there for any images or diagrams.

hope this unravels some of the mystery.

marcus

Marcus Ormerod
SURFACE
Salford Research Focus on Accessible Environments
The University of Salford
Bridgewater Building
Salford
M7 1NU

www.inclusive-design.it

Tel:             0161 295 5405
Fax:            0161 295 5011
Textphone: 0161 295 3194

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Pauline McInnes
Sent: 03 March 2003 12:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: PDF files


Dear All,
I wonder if any of you know about this?  Our University website like most
has a
lot of PDF files on it.  We want to try and make these accessible to
disabled
students, but this is proving rather difficult.  Providing a URL for each
PDF
with a connection to the adobe site is not a good option as many of our PDFs
are
on restricted sites and so this wouldn't work.

However, there is a plug in for adobe writer called Make Accessible which
will
provide a tagged PDF file.  What we're not sure about is which screen
readers
would be able to access this information?  Our Computer team are a bit
concerned
that only the very latest screen readers could do this.  Does anyone have
any
information on this and how prevalent the browsers are can support this plug
in?

Many thanks
Pauline McInnes


Pauline McInnes
Development Officer (Disabilities)
Cardiff University
47 Park Place
Cardiff
CF10 3AT

Tel:  02920 870004