[duxuser] Re: PDF Files

  • From: "Deborah Barnes" <dbarnes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <duxuser@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2005 08:03:41 -0500

Re PDF files, the only problem I see with the below is that often, we get
files on disk from someone who has changed the original file (as in added or
deleted information) after they created the PDF file.  Often, we're unaware
of this until we see a print copy of the PDF file and see that the two files
are different.  So if the author has the original file, and it is the same
as the P
DF as far as information then that would be great.

-----Original Message-----
From: duxuser-bounce@freelists.
Subject: [duxuser] PDF Files


I certainly understand the frustration with PDF files.  But one thing to
bear in mind is that a PDF file is an output format, just as a printed page
is an output format.  PDF files were originally designed as an end product,
not as source files to be converted into some other format.

As Jamal Mazui's article in AccessWorld makes clear, standard PDF files that
are "formatted text and graphics" are typically produced from electronic
files that have originally been created in other applications such as
Microsoft Word.

Adobe is to be commended for attempting to devise the many new strategies
for making PDF files more accessible that are described in Mazui's article.
However, it seems to me that in many cases a better solution for producing
braille or some other accessible format would be to start with the original
electronic file rather than the generated PDF file.  Of course, this
approach would require the author be willing and available to supply the
original file.

There are cases where the author is unwilling to supply the original file in
order to protect a copyright or for other reasons.  However, my guess is
that there are many cases where an author who has made a PDF file available
for download from the Internet would have been comfortable also posting the
original electronic file had they realized that it might be more useful to
some readers.

SusanJ

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