Excellent, thanks for this Abi, I shall pass this information on to the team.
And PAVE – thanks Kellie, I’ll give this a try, never used it before, but it looks easy enough.
Many many thanks
John
From: Assistive Technology interest group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Abi James
Sent: 12 September 2016 14:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Word or PDF
Good suggestion Kellie! I would agree that PAVE is worth looking at and produces good PDFs. It is easier to use that the Adobe PDF tagging tools although both require an understanding of tagging in PDFs.
Just one extra caveat on PDFs though regarding materials containing equations and maths symbols. At the moment there is very limited support for making maths notations accessible in PDFs. The only option is to use alt-tags as if it is an image. Notation within the text, even simple sub/super scripts, are often read incorrectly and in the wrong order.
As most LaTeX users share files as PDFs this causes a lot of problems! Then the best formats are
- HTML with LaTeX or MathML equations
- Word document or PowerPoint file with Mathtype or MS Equations
- The original Latex files (for users who know it or can convert it to other file formats)
Regards
Abi
From: Assistive Technology interest group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kellie Mote
Sent: 12 September 2016 13:13
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Word or PDF
If you are using PDFs, then PAVE, a free tool from the ICT Accessibility Lab in Zurich may be worth checking out. I haven't used it myself, but it claims to make existing PDFs screenreader-accessible. http://www.pave-pdf.org/index.en.html
Generally, I recommend content is made available online in HTML or Word, but as Alistair says, there may be times when PDFs are appropriate.
Kellie
On 12 September 2016 at 13:02, Alistair McNaught <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Just to chip in here, the accessibility benefits of Word versus PDF can vary depending on what your particular need might be.
An accessible PDF (see Abi's previous posting) can be a better tool for people requiring higher magnification because Word only magnifies with reflow to 500%. Adobe Acrobat can go well over 1000% magnification with reflow. Similarly, the auto scroll facility in Adobe reader can be a real benefit, particularly to people using high magnification where they have many screens to scroll through.
So an accessible PDF can be more accessible than an accessible Word document but a poorly accessible PDF is considerably worse than a poorly accessible Word document!
Alistair
[Jisc]<http://www.jisc.ac.uk/>
Alistair McNaught
Subject specialist (accessibility and inclusion)
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From: Assistive Technology interest group [mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On Behalf Of Alexander Stivaros
Sent: 12 September 2016 11:42
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Word or PDF
Hi
Screen readers can sometimes struggle with PDFs.
The new version of textGold which is due to be on-line shortly has provision for reading PDFs.
So format wise, Word or PDF is fine.
Webpage/E-learning platform wise – no text overlaying images (difficult for screen readers to make out).
Txt clearly formatted, try to avoid using columns, left aligned text.
Hope that’s useful!
Many Thanks
Alex
AT Specialist
Manchester Metropolitan University
From: Assistive Technology interest group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Hodgson
Sent: 12 September 2016 11:24
To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Word or PDF
Hi Everyone,
I’ve been asked if there’s a preferred format for documentation on our webpages/eLearn platform. More to the point, I’ve been asked if we should stick to Word or PDF.
Or carry on as we have been, and release which ever suits the situation. For example: A PDF of a journal, should stay as a PDF and a learning outcomes document produced in Word, should just stay, as a word document.
So, my question is, does anyone have any preference? PDF or Word?
As a rule we usually say that documentation which is available as PDF should be provided as Word format also. But we’ve found that this is rarely adhered to and often when it is, it runs the risk of there being two different versions of the same text when one is updated.
With regards to important forms. …these are provided as Word and PDF.
Initially my thoughts are to say that we should stick to Word documents, as navigating through them is often a little less clunky than with PDFs. But, as far as I can tell, whilst some blind users have difficulty with PDFs, I know that well formatted PDFs are often fine with most screen readers.
All comments welcome! ☺
Best wishes
John
John Hodgson
Technical Disability Adviser
Disability Services
University of Central Lancashire
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