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

 

 

Alistair McNaught
Subject specialist (accessibility and inclusion)

 

T 0203 819 8210 M 07443984111 Skype alistair_techdis Twitter  @alistairm One Castlepark, Tower Hill, Bristol, BS2 0JA

jisc.ac.uk

 

 

From: Assistive Technology interest group [mailto:ASSISTIVE-TECHNOLOGY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf Of Alexander Stivaros
Sent: 12 September 2016 11:42
To: [log in to unmask]AC.UK
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:ASSISTIVE-TECHNOLOGY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf Of John Hodgson
Sent: 12 September 2016 11:24
To: [log in to unmask]AC.UK
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! J

 

Best wishes

 

John

 

 

 

John Hodgson

Technical Disability Adviser

Disability Services

University of Central Lancashire

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