Chapter 18. PDFs and Accessibility


What is PDF accessibility, and why should it matter to you?

Accessible PDFs are PDF files that can be read by screen readersprograms designed to assist people who are vision and motion challenged. These special programs read aloud documents via controls a user activates with keystroke commands. Such controls may include character by character reading, pausing, stopping, and various audible controls. Accessible files are structured in such a way that the contents can be read by a screen reader in a logical reading order such as column by column reading as opposed to reading horizontally across pages.

You can't create accessible PDF files using Adobe Reader, but you can interpret and read them using various software programs designed for screen reading. So why do you need to know about accessibility if you're not using a screen reader?

Certain commands in Adobe Reader are designed for accessibility, but you may find them useful even if you're not physically challenged. For instance, you might want to give your eyes a break and listen to a document, rather than read it onscreen. These accessibility features offer you several ways to view and read PDFs: You can have documents read out loud; have them autoscroll; and reflow documents to fit the Document pane width, enlarging the text for better readability.

Use the draftLayout_accessible.pdf document, which you can download from www.peachpit.com/adobereader7, for all steps in this chapter.




    Adobe Reader 7 Revealed. Working Effectively with Acrobat PDF Files
    Adobe Reader 7 Revealed: Working Effectively with Acrobat PDF Files
    ISBN: 0321305310
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 168
    Authors: Ted Padova

    flylib.com © 2008-2017.
    If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net