[Athen] VoiceOver expert and PDF journal article

[Russell Solowoniuk]

Hi Bevi,

Thanks for that info, and yes, it's too bad Apple doesn't do a better job with PDF files.

Have a nice weekend,

Russell

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of chagnon at pubcom.com
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2022 5:14 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] VoiceOver expert and PDF journal article

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

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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From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto: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<mailto: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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