Discussion: How Deep do you Dive?

[yn]

I'm curious what others do in their remediation development.

Prep the Word document! Clarify the styles, define links, set the meta properly, change that weird thing to inline, and don't forget the colors! Finally, when all checks are marked, export to PDF and review. Tweak the Tag Structure, define table headers, oops! Forgot about the bookmarks and initial display! Done! Check, check, and check, and we're good. Secondary review is always good, so let's run it through PAC. Wait. 400+ errors?!? Link annotations? Improper use of an inline item? Artifact table strokes are tagged as paragraphs? What tha....!

I still consider myself quite new to this compliance world, though I've learned so much in the last year or so. My workflow is much more efficient and labor has been cut in half. At least. Still though, I constantly hit brick walls. Hard, cold, and mocking brick walls. I think I know enough at this point to figure out how to troubleshoot (in spite of years' worth of potentially obsolete online search results referring to old Acrobat versions and solutions [manually writing IDs to each table cell in x,y coordinates??]); but I do not yet know what is redundant, required (beyond the typical check tools), or where to go to learn such things to see beyond my personal horizon. I feel like there are those out there that do know those unknowns, but designers/developers like me only catch glimpses of that knowledge when it's shared in chat and forum groups through obscure questions posted here. By the way, "here" to me is this forum and seems like it should be a very active hub of information and dialogue, what with how many contracts I see now requiring 508 standards. But it is a very quiet forum. Where else is there, as this seems like the default support stop? That's off topic.

Right now, I run checks through my source, when available. I try to apply all the obvious rules that I can think of and I'm constantly on the lookout for elements or workflow that may lead to issues down the road, after PDF export. Sometimes I catch things at this stage, sometimes I don't see it until the PDF. That's organic and that's OK. After, I run the PDF Accessibility check and work to adjust as necessary things that I could not do in my source and then confirm specifics unique to the PDF such as tagging issues or what have you. From there, everything is green---at least for what Acrobat says. But PAC.... my bane, PAC. Easily I find hundreds of errors and warnings here. Typically, I chase them all. There is a lovely site, taggedPDF.com, that details 95% (ish) of the issues I find, complete with context descriptions and solutions. Great site. Older version, but great site nonetheless. So how deep do I go? Is chasing each and every item flagged in third-party checks appropriate? Is a tool like this created by an obsessive compulsive programmer that would redline copy using the Oxford Comma has incorrect, all to temp me, the naive remediator who already has fits of obsessive compulsion when reviewing documents? Why would Acrobat not give me a friendly heads-up on at least a few hundred of these issues? Does Acrobat not consider these items of concern? Who else is combing through content at this level? Where are my rules and guidelines beyond hypothetical assumption of the end user and worst case possibilities that a compliance officer reviewing my submission is, too, obsessively worshiping at the altar of obscure-hundred-error tools? Is it "this is this, and that is that," or is it, as I more often find, "This could be this; then again, this could also be that---in the right context. Still though, that IS that. Unless it is also this!!!"

This quite literally keeps me up at night.

So. Of you I ask: What do you do, and how did you figure out where those lines are? I assume it was not all from these ghostly Adobe Forums.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

- noel.

*EDIT*

Because coma is not comma. Though sometimes they may be interchangeable, depending on how long the document is.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

yn  wrote

*EDIT*

Because coma is not comma. Though sometimes they may be interchangeable, depending on how long the document is.

It's Friday afternoon where I am.

I'm getting close the coma stage of things.

Now where did I leave my beer?

[maxwithdax]

Noel,

I was and still am a lot like you. The need for clean tag structures and green check marks keeps me up at night. Seriously. But, it wasn’t until I took a JAWS screen reader class lead by a great blind guy named Z, that the answer to the question “How much is too much?” became clear. You remediate to be first, compliant; second, create a logical user experience; and third, to present data in the most complete way possible.

Compliance items like tag structures, alt-text, languages, TD, TR etc. etc. all need to follow WCAG and PDF/UA to ensure the user experience makes sense. P.O.U.R. Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust.

Ask yourself:

• Does all the text read in the right order and as you would expect (nothing artifacted or skipped that should have been voiced)?
• Can they navigate from header to header?
• Can they pull up the list of key items like:
  • Headings
  • Lists
  • Graphics
  • Forms
• Are those items voiced properly and have all the interactivity required?

Cleaning empty <P> tags and consolidating <Sections> literally gives me zen. I mean it. Seeing an unorganized and cluttered tag tree is the stuff of nightmares for me. But most of the time I have a pile of pdfs to review and approve. The truly accessible PDF is one that allows the AT user to have very, very close to the same information as the sighted user. The guidelines and rules are there to give us boundaries and paths to follow. But, in the end, it is the usability that makes the document accessible.

When I was able to get JAWS and walk through the document to test for usability I found that I could spend less time chasing the stuff no one sees and focus on the things that matter to the user experience. I still need those green check marks and I am still checking for colorblind compliance. But I am focused on the user experience much more than before. The rules are the means by which I can create the same user experience. They drive the process. Remember, no one is going to not get sued for an empty <P> tag. But if you turn a table into a jpeg and slap some alt-text on it and call it good, you are asking for trouble.

Thanks for helping me write my next blog post! LOL.

-Dax

[daves12101148]

Hi Noel.

In answer to the "off topic" part of your post, here are a couple of lists I found...

Digital Accessibility Newsletters Roundup

https://www.digitala11y.com/digital-accessibility-newsletters-roundup/

Accessibility Forums Roundup

https://www.digitala11y.com/accessibility-forums-roundup/

I haven't chased down all the links yet, but some could be useful.

Dave

[a_C_student]

Hi Noel, thank you for your very kind words regarding my site taggedpdf.com. You made my day.

[yn]

I will be frank with you. I probably spend more time on your site than I do with my own family.

I can't say how invaluable it has been for us here to be able to search down all these obscure errors our PAC checks throw at us. Before discovering those videos we were stomping around like cavemen trying to conceptualize "fire." I wake up sometimes shouting, "properties.... enumerated dictionary.... Object.... new.... Content (with an "S")... STRING NOT NAME!" lol

So thank YOU for taking the time to create the site. It is a great tool.

- noel

[maxwithdax]

a C student Roko's Realm always makes me smile. I even have one of them printed here by my desk! I have to say that your videos have helped me troubleshoot Pac3 more times than I will admit to anyone. I have so many people asking me how to fix this or that and as the "subject matter expert" at your workplace who do I go to for answers? For me it is tagged PDF. BTW. that offer to buy you lunch is always good. I am just around the corner from you!

-Dax