[Athen] VoiceOver expert and PDF journal article

[chagnon at pubcom.com]

Apple's VoiceOver and Preview are not fully compliant PDF processors.

(A PDF Processor is hardware/software that can write, read, update or
otherwise process a PDF file.)

 

In other words, don't blame the PDF file format itself.

 

It's the manufacturer of these programs that has not followed the ISO
standards for either how to process a PDF file per the main PDF standard
(ISO 32000) or per the PDF/UA accessibility standard (ISO 14329).

 

Just like we have WCAG standards to define an accessible website, PDF/UA is
the complement for making PDFs accessible.

 

Shame on Apple for not providing this accessibility on the Mac platform. I
guess it just costs this trillion-dollar company too much money to read the
PDF/UA standard and build their programs to meet it.

 

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Bevi Chagnon  | Designer, Accessibility Technician |
<mailto:Chagnon at PubCom.com> Chagnon at PubCom.com 

- - -

PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing

consulting . training . development . design . sec. 508 services

Upcoming classes at  <http://www.pubcom.com/classes> www.PubCom.com/classes 

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<https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_07-20/alt-text_part-1.shtml> Simple Guide
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From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf
Of Russell Solowoniuk
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2022 5:47 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] VoiceOver expert and PDF journal article

 

Hi Mark,

 

It's been my experience with VoiceOver, on macOS, that PDFs do not read well
at all. By default PDFs open in Preview, the Mac's Adobe Reader equivalent.
You can use Adobe Reader for Mac, but I don't think the experience is much
better. I've never been able to navigate in a PDF on the Mac by headings, or
even been able to read a PDF smoothly. I'd have to try navigate a table in a
PDF on the Mac to see if it works well, but I have a suspicion that it
won't.

 

I don't consider myself a VoiceOver expert, so perhaps someone with more
experience using PDFs on the Mac can comment further.

 

Thanks,

 

Russell

 

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu
<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of Mark
Weiler
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2022 11:56 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu
<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: [Athen] VoiceOver expert and PDF journal article

 


EXTERNAL:  Use caution.
<https://myportal.macewan.ca/help.html#external-email> 

 

Is there a VoiceOver expert that could meet via Zoom and share your screen
and sound as you step through an example of a PDF-based journal article with
me? 

Checking out things like headings, tables, lists, and reading order.

 

Mark Weiler, PhD (he & him)

JAWS certified and Web Accessibility Specialist 

Web & User Experience Librarian

Wilfrid Laurier University

Waterloo, Ontario 

 

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