PDF News and Tips
October, 2005

Section 508 Policy: PDF Navigation

When we bring up the question of navigation features in deliverable PDF files, we often get this reaction: "Huh? Section 508 doesn't talk about navigation."

While the word doesn't appear, it only makes sense to read 1194.22(d) as requiring navigation features to be present in the document. The text reads: "Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet." That language should be interpreted to mean that documents should be readily navigable without reference to inaccessible methods.

This isn't much of a stretch. How "accessible" would a 200 page document be if you had to read it one line at a time, with no other clues to the content?

As we've said before, usability is the stuff of real- world compliance. Purely formal compliance - which might give a pass to long documents without navigation features - simply isn't good enough. Here are some of the ways you can implement accessible navigation in PDF.

BOOKMARKS may be operated from the keyboard in Adobe Reader, and any screen- reader (even JAWS 5.0) is capable of reading and using PDF Bookmarks. ADVANTAGE: Bookmarks are useful to ALL users, not merely the disabled. Bookmarks are especially useful because unlike a Table of Contents, they are always available from any point in the document. DISADVANTAGE: There are no disadvantages to Bookmarks. Pretty much every PDF file intended for deployment online should include Bookmarks.

LINKS may be added to text or graphics, and can deliver navigation within the PDF file or outside of it (web links). ADVANTAGES: Links may be embedded in the content for context-sensitive navigation. DISADVANTAGES: Links are less useful for Table of Contents navigation within a PDF, because you have to visit that page to use them, and some screen-readers (including the latest JAWS 7.0) cannot read the PDF-standard Table of Contents tags.

HEADINGS are a vital navigation tool for screen-reader users, as there are many ways to access headings by level. ADVANTAGES: Headings allow navigation direct to the desired content, instead of only navigation to a page. In combination with Bookmarks, multilevel Heading tags are highly effective for accessible navigation of very long and/or very complex documents. DISADVANTAGES: Requires either exceptionally consistent documents or human validation to ensure quality Headings are present.

Document Solutions On the Move

September and October 2005 were busy months in the Document Solutions calendar!

Out in Oakland, DSI's production staff has been busy processing dozens of Federal Employee Health Benefits Brochures from across the country. In 2005, the Office of Personnel Management began requiring all participating Health Plans not only to submit their brochures as Section 508-certified PDF files, but to also obtain a 3rd party certificate as guarantee. For thousands of government contractors who produce documentation as part of their deliverable, this may be the future.

Carl Young's PDF Conference, held in Washington DC on September 26-27, was a great success, with many attendees from inside and outside government, lots of vendors displaying their wares, and bold- (seeming) new initiatives in customer outreach from Adobe Systems.

DSI CEO Duff Johnson gave a presentation entitled: "PDF Content: Strategies for Section 508 Compliance". As those who were in attendance know, Duff got a little carried away (to his chagrin), and only presented about half his slides before being unceremoniously rushed over to join the panel at the PDF Power Panel session that closes the show.

For those who were there, and for those who were not, you can find Duff's presentation - in it's entirety - here.

Duff also attended the IDEAS show, meeting with many vendors and customers in the accessibility space. It is clear that interest in - and concern about - accessible PDF is growing, with content managers finally coming to grips with the challenge of compliance.

In October, Duff chaired the latest meeting of AIIM's PDF/Universal Accessibility Standards Committee. The Committee accomplished many things in the October 3-4 meeting, adopting candidate success criteria for Accessible PDF, and establishing and assigning specific work assignments to Committee members for development of areas of the specification. The Committee operates a Listserv, and is open to all serious participants on a volunteer basis. Interested parties are encouraged to contact Duff Johnson or Renee Georges at AIIM to join the Committee. Our next 2-hour teleconference meeting is on October 28th at 2:00 PM EST / 11:00 AM PST. The latest Committee documents will be posted to the AIIM website prior to the meeting.

There are lots of changes coming in the PDF industry as well. Most notably, Microsoft has announced support for PDF in the next version of Office.

When to correct OCR errors

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No-one likes to talk about OCR errors. OCR software tends to shake out the type where errors are accepted and the type where you can actually do something about it.

Why would you care? After all, all anyone really wants from OCR software is an Easy Button. The idea of actually plowing through the text to correct the errors just doesn't make it past the laughing stage for almost anyone who values their time - right? There are more than a few instances, however, when you'll really want to think a little harder about whether you can get away without getting your hands dirty with OCR correction.

First, there are the pages themselves:

• Poor quality scans
• Damaged, illegible, or heavily marked-up pages
• Shading or juxtaposition of text and images
• Text set very close to graphics or other text
• Pages containing small (under 9 point) text, especially italics
• Bizarre fonts and ligatures
• If bitonal scans under 300 dpi, if color, scans under 200 dpi

These characteristics create challenges for the OCR engine, which basically translates into errors. Some engines are better than others at different challenges.

But there are other, more practical reasons to consider manually-assisted OCR zoning and correction.

• When counting or hitting specific search-terms is mission critical to the success of the project.
• When the product must be accessible to disabled users (ie, must comply with Section 508 or other applicable standard), fully corrected OCR is MANDATED.
• When accounting for illegible (ie, missing) text must be performed within the text itself.
• When the text is intended for extraction to Word, InDesign or another authoring program.

At the end of the day, it's really all about tolerance for error. As noted, you don't really have an option for accessibility purposes, as there's no way to characterize scrambled OCR results as remotely accessible. For simple search applications, most users are right to choose - and get - OCR errors galore. Life goes on. However, there are enough exceptions to this general rule to ensure that every responsible document manager should know the difference.