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Ensure accessibility of PDF documents #218

Open PatReynolds opened 3 years ago

PatReynolds commented 3 years ago

This relates to a FreeBMD2 story, that I cannot currently locate.

In relation to the Privacy Policy, I was asked to check the general accessibility of PDF documents, and in particular look at the web aim archive.

The WebAim archive only contains information on commercial products, not free-to-use ones, but the conculsion seems to be that with proper use of the tools, accessible markup is possible.

Google Docs can be downloaded as pdf (https://blog.chromium.org/2020/07/using-chrome-to-generate-more.html ), and tested using a NVDA (https://webaim.org/articles/nvda/).

PatReynolds commented 3 years ago

I may have been using NVDA incorrectly, but it doesn't seem to read pdfs produced from Google docs. I have tested with pdfs produced by others (tech not known) and works as expected.

A look at WebAIM archives show that only Adobe (has issues) and phantomPDF can edit pdf tags. Both are paid.

We need to review what we do with PDFs going forwards. There was supposed to be a Chrome tagger in version 85 (now on 95, and a search of chrome help only gets to the announcement.

PatReynolds commented 3 years ago

@AlOneill given this (and Denisse notes that making an accessible Adobe file is a lot of work) is it acceptable to provide a choice of download - .pdf or .txt ?

AlOneill commented 3 years ago

@PatReynolds If we are talking about a .txt document with no formatting (no structure or shape), then I would say no.

PatReynolds commented 3 years ago

Yes, no formattting (unless numbered paragraphs and their like count)

Looks like we will need to use PDF ... https://sourceforge.net/software/product/PhantomPDF/ is $139 (one-off) Not sure if it can be moved to a new computer https://webaim.org/techniques/foxit/phantompdf has the instructions

We can get adobe acrobat pro until 2026 for £45 https://www.charitydigitalexchange.org/product/6019/adobe-acrobat-pro-2020-windows, cannot be moved to a new computer. https://webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/acrobat has the instructions

DeniseColbert commented 3 years ago

When I suggested a text file, I was thinking of a .doc/.docx (Google Drive file link or a downloadable Word document). Sorry for not being clear. Would that not fit the bill?

AlOneill commented 3 years ago

I know nothing about the accessibility of Word documents other than the obvious — a user must have a suitable app to open it in! Beyond that, I would be surprised if it were any easier to make a Word document accessible than a PDF.

DeniseColbert commented 3 years ago

Good point! I will have a look and a think

PatReynolds commented 3 years ago

To consider just using html - to discuss at Documentation meeting

DeniseColbert commented 3 years ago

We could, but only for docs we've authored. We can warn about off-site docs where possible.

PatReynolds commented 3 years ago

@DeniseColbert to audit the public-facing websites and note which documents are currently PDF and need to be HTML.

DeniseColbert commented 3 years ago

FUG Website: