Accessible PDFs
Portable Document Format files are commonly used to distribute information through the web when tight formatting is required, particularly for print. Current versions of Adobe Acrobat and Reader provide resources for authors who need to create accessible content, and for persons with motor and visual impairments who use that content. For example, Acrobat 6.0 and Reader 6.0 can synthesize text into speech without the need for a screen reader, and provide easier keyboard navigation and the ability to tag documents. More details can be found at Adobe Access.
In addition, Adobe provides resources for access to legacy PDFs that include:
- On-the-fly conversion of PDF files to accessible HTML. This is done by submitting a PDF document to Adobe's PDF Conversion page or by sending the PDF as an attachment to e-mail. In either case, the conversion is returned to the user and displayed on the browser or returned as an e-mail attachment, respectively.
- Use Acrobat 6 or install the the Acrobat Access plug-in for Acrobat 5.0 to save PDF files locally as RTF or Text files. The content can then be pasted into an HTML editor, and saved as an HTML document.
Links
How
to Create Accessible Adobe PDF Files
(http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_booklet.html)
Adobe
Acrobat Accessibility
(http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/solutionsacc.html)
