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cmvarga5
cmvarga5
Known Participant
September 21, 2022
Question

Reading Order of Anchored Text in Layer Panel

  • September 21, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 375 views

I am so confused as to what the order should be. Sometimes when I anchor in order, the second word I tag will be at the bottom and the first word I tag will be at the top. Other times, it will be the other way around!

 

What should be the correct order in the Layers panel? I know the order in Layers should be from bottom up...but what about anchored text? Should they be bottom-up or top-to-bottom?

 

Example (let's pretend there are checkboxes anchored to Yes and No):
1. This is my Question: Yes  No

 

If I anchor Yes and No to 'This is my Question', in the Layers panel, should 'Yes' be at the top or 'No' at the top? Will it read 'Yes' first and 'No' second? Or will it read 'No' first?

 

Please clarify! Thank you!

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2 replies

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Legend
September 22, 2022

Also, this blog might give some explanation about PDF reading orders and how they're controlled.

https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_08-18_ReadingOrder/reading-orders.shtml

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
    cmvarga5
    cmvarga5Author
    Known Participant
    September 27, 2022

    My concern for doing it all in one text box is that for accessibility...the way I need it laid out is that I cannot use multiple tabs or else the reader will read when the text is tabbed over. Hence, why I have Yes and No in it's own separate text box, with the checkboxes anchored to each one.

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Legend
    September 29, 2022

    @cmvarga5, I don't understand your point in this last post. It doesn't make sense and is counter to what's needed for accessible PDFs, let alone accessible PDF forms.

     

    There are no tabs in my sample, and its construction ensures that the user is less likely to tab over and miss some content.

     

    |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Legend
    September 22, 2022

    Why anchor "yes" and "no" separately into the body text?

    A better way is to make the entire unit of text one paragraph, and THEN anchor the checkboxes into the body text. Then, the radio boxes will be voiced in the correct order as they appear/are anchored within the text paragraph.

     

    1. This is my Question:    □ Yes    □ No ¶

     

    In InDesign, it looks like this: note where the paragraph returns ¶ and manual line break are placed.

     

    Acrobat's Tag Tree:

     

    Acrobat's Architecture Order panel:

     

    Hope this helps. I've attached the source InDesign file and PDF.

     

    |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
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