Adobe Acrobat - PDF - Accessibility

["John Brandt" <jbrandt@gwi.net>]

For those of you who may not have heard...Adobe has introduced a new web
site to assist users of Adobe Acrobat in making the product accessible to
individuals using AT. Acrobat's PDF files are unreadable by text readers
making them unusable by many folks with visual disabilities. Adobe has
offered a free service where they will convert any PDF file into a HTML file
by providing the URL to their on-line converting engine.

http://access.adobe.com

The company has apparently "heard the call" and created a new site at
access.adobe.com that provides some background information, a "white paper"
on the topic, and access to the free converter engine. According to the web
site, Adobe pledges to work toward making Acrobat more accessible in future
revisions.

Many government agencies and institutions use PDF files on their web site. I
suggest to Adobe that they make these users aware of the new site and also
to provide non-Acrobat alternatives on their sites.

I'd be interested in hearing comments/discussion from the rest of the List
on this topic.

John Brandt
jeb's webs
technology and learning consultant
Augusta, Maine USA
jbrandt@gwi.net <mailto:jbrandt@gwi.net>
http://www.powerlink.net/jbrandt