Accessibility: Skipping acronyms that follow the proper name so letters are not read

Report · May 11, 2023

I have an document with a considerable amount of proper names followed by the Acronym in parentheses. I want make the Voice Reader skip them.

I tried creating a tag from selection/Properties/Object Properties: Content: filling in Expansion text, then tried Tag: filling in Alternate text, then Actual text using tag types:

There is no Artifact option...

I even tried phonetically spelling the Acronym which worked BUT it still read the letters.

Please advise, Thank you!

FYI: For Acronyms that do not have the proper name preceding by following the instructions I saved from an older version of Chad Chelius' Advanced Accessible PDFs (BTW, I could no longer find this segment in the newly released version, but luckily I saved some screenshots 🙂

Report · May 15, 2023

If I understand correctly, you want people to hear "gee-tack" not "G T A C," correct?

There are so many variables in how the end users will hear this:

Depends on which screen reader software they are using.
Maybe it's not a full-featured screen reader but instead is a simpler text-to-speech synthesizer.
And the user's personal settings control much of the voicing.

We can't control these items.

Most users, yes, they'll be able to figure out what exactly you mean. Some screen readers might voice it as gee-tack without you doing anything, others letter by letter, and still others who-knows-what will be announced.

The user should be able to delve deeper and correct the voicing on their own, so it really isn't that critical for you to pay attention to most acronyms. It's an annoyance to some end users, not a full-stop barrier to accessibility. There are so many more accessibility barriers you should focus on that will have greater impact.

Our shop would recommend putting expansion text on the first use of GTAC, and then leave the remaining instances of the acronym as is.

Hope this helps!

View solution in original post

Report · May 12, 2023

Hi @Linda.R.Smith,

First, I'm confused about what you're attempting to do so let me ask a couple of questions.

Why do you want to artifact the acronyms? That could be considered a violation of the overall guiding principles of accessibility, especially for "perceivable" content.

Why hide "GTAC" from those who are using screen readers (which is the group most likely affected by this)? The acronym is considered "real content" by the standards and should be equally available to everyone. If a sighted user can read "Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC)", why shouldn't a blind user be able to read it, too?

FYI, there is no Artifact tag in the PDF/UA-1 specification. Artifact is an attribute on an existing tag, but not an independent tag itself. So to artifact just a few letters within a larger paragraph of text, you need to select those letters and tag them with a character-level tag, such as . And then you can artifact the tag and its content ... the letters.

Report · May 13, 2023

@Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

Thank you for your repsonse and thank you for your clarification and expertis. While working on this project, I realized I should have asked:

Is there a way to phonetically voice some of the acronyms that are not read as "letters"?

For example, "GTAC" is pronounced "Geetack", not "G-T-A-C"

I have been working with tagging the letters with but the letters where still are individually spoken.

Today, it finnally work using , selecting Properties/typing the phonetic word in Tag: Alternate text, leaving Content/Expansion text blank. (when previously attempting this, I must've mixed up tag/content tabs then tried anything to get this to work, taking me further away from the solution).

Do you feel this is acceptible or complies with what is acceptiable in the accessability standards?

We write out the proper name followed by the acronym for GTAC, is there a way voice the acronym pronounced properly instead of voicing the letters.

I feel if replacing the proper name in place of the acronym it gets confusing when the word geospatial with the name followed by the word geospatial which can appear many times, for example:

Actual text: GTAC geospatial training helps

is interpreted G-T-A-C geospatial training helps...

"Geospatial" Applications Center "geospatial" training helps... (is redundant and long)

Preferred voice: "Geetack geospatial training helps..."

It would be beneficial as the Center uses other acronyms that are pronounced differently than speaking thier individual letters.

Thank you

Report · May 15, 2023

I know you said you set alt-text and that is fine, the end result is the same, however, the proper field would have been the "Actual Text" field to say it phonetically as you wish. Not a big deal.

However, if someone wanted to inspect that word using assistive technology letter by letter they would hear your modification and not the actual letters on the page. There are 3rd party tools that allow you to fix those all in one shot document-wide. However, without them, it is a manual process for each instance.

Report · May 15, 2023

Thank you Dax

Yes, I feel I am way over my head on this. Currently we do not have a budget for 3rd party software such as the proper Vioce checking software let alone 3rd. Party tools. I'm reminded of the "80-20" rule.

My company does have access to LinkedIn Learning. I don't recall seeing one that uses the"Actual Text" field when and why one should use it or both.

Report · May 15, 2023

There is an attribute you can add to the tag that is designed to do exactly what you want: It's the Expansion attribute (sometimes called the Expansion tag).

Create the tag around the letters.
Right-click / Properties.
Select the first tag at the top, "Content".
Fill in the Expansion Text field. For acronyms, we find that simply writing it out with spaces between the letters works well. Example: "G T A C."

But Dax reminds us of a great point: once you add Alt Text or Actual Text, they tend to hijack the underlying text. That is, Alt and Actual text prevent users from ever getting to the real text underneath.

We rarely worry about Expansion text, especially on acronyms. My blind family members and friends remind me, "Bevi, I'm blind, not stupid." When they hear a butchered acronym, they'll use their tools to back up and voice it letter by letter, and then be on their way. Takes them a split second to do this.

Think about all the times a screen reader hears "us" rather than U.S.

Sometimes we can get caught up in over-engineering things...with good intentions but with little actual benefit to the end user.

Report · May 15, 2023

Thank you Bev,

So your saying audiences who use assisted technology will understand and make corrections using thier software if need be?

Report · May 15, 2023