The biggest issue with PDF documents is when it is simply a scanned image of
a document. Many scanners supply this facility and so it is used as a
convenient means of sending out a easily readable, or most people, a safe
copy of a document. You will then need to use OCR of some sort to get at the
words.

In itself, PDF is fully accessible. I need to provide many documents at work
in PDF,  but do this with Adobe Acrobat and these are fully accessible and
protected.

I hope this is of some help.

Regards, John

Contact on : (Home) john_farley@btinternet.com
        or : (work) john.farley@wipro.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Bcab [mailto:bcab-bounces@lists.bcab.org.uk] On Behalf Of Kiran Kaja
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 8:16 PM
To: lists.godfrey-mckay@virginmedia.com; 'BCAB Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [BCAB] GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF PDF

Richard,

There is a comprehensive guide on accessing PDF documents with assistive
technology at http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/pdfs/accessing-pdf-sr.pdf.

This guide is an accessible PDF that you can read with your screen reader.

As it is the case with forms in most technologies, authors need to do
certain things to make them usable with screen readers. Some document
authors are good at doing this such as associating labels with form fields
and establishing a correct tab order but there are a lot of authors who do
not do these things.

Anyway, I hope the above document is of some help.

Regards,
Kiran
-----Original Message-----
From: Bcab [mailto:bcab-bounces@lists.bcab.org.uk] On Behalf Of Richard
Godfrey-McKay
Sent: 12 November 2012 19:59
To: 'BCAB Discussion List'
Subject: [BCAB] GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF PDF

Hi, I'm wondering what is the best place to find some authoritative guidance
or personal opinions on the use of PDf files either on or off the web.

I seem to remember that RNIB used to have some guidance on its site, but I
couldn't find it immediately tonight.

While some PDf files seem fairly usable, others aren't, and I should like to
understand the current position better.  Another point is that it would be
helpful to have some views on whether PDF forms are commonly made to an
acceptable accessibility standard.  I've seen some simple forms which look
OK, but I often find that more complicated material hasn't been set up in a
way that I can use easily.

I should really welcome views on this one please.

Richard

Richard Godfrey-McKay

Telephone: 01738-445 880

Mobile: 07791 452 593

--
To find out more about BCAB and the benefits that membership can bring,
please visit our website:
http://www.bcab.org.uk/

To manage your subscription to the BCAB mailing list, please visit our
website:
http://www.bcab.org.uk/bcab-discussion-list/

To discuss matters relating to the mailing list, please email
moderator@bcab.org.uk.

--
To find out more about BCAB and the benefits that membership can bring,
please visit our website:
http://www.bcab.org.uk/

To manage your subscription to the BCAB mailing list, please visit our
website:
http://www.bcab.org.uk/bcab-discussion-list/

To discuss matters relating to the mailing list, please email
moderator@bcab.org.uk.