 |
 |
Hi John I think you final point “well formatted PDFs are often fine with most screen readers” is key. If a PDF file has been created appropriately so that is easy to navigate and content has been tagged correctly then it is accessible. But badly created PDFs are so common. Just try copying some text out of a few PDFs and you’ll find spaces missing between words (makes TTS unintelligible) and don’t get me on to fancy PDFs where content is only visible if you hover over if with a mouse…. So I would say that PDF on their own are only ok if they are correctly formatted for accessibility. Otherwise alternative formats should be made available if possible. A fall back for documents where alternative formats are not available (e.g. journal articles) would be to provide clear signposting to tools for users to convert them themselves (eg. Cloud-based OCR tools like SensusAccess and Claro). Best wishes Abi James ====================================== Dr Abi James Research Fellow Accessibility Team, WAIS, ECS University of Southampton 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] 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