The December 2011 ANPRM asserts it is straightforward to apply the WCAG 2.0 Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements to all electronic content. NetCentric’s Duff Johnson, chair of the US Committee for PDF/UA, contests this claim, provides examples to show PDF/UA’s importance when considering PDF accessibility and argues for specific regulatory language that makes it clear to developers and evaluators alike that PDF accessibility must be assessed in specific technical terms.
The twice-annual PDF Standards Week for the winter of 2011-2012 was hosted by Microsoft in their Bravern facility in Bellevue, Washington during the first week of December, 2011. Present to conduct the meetings were delegates from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, the UK and the US. This article summarizes developments in Bellevue.
The PDF/A Competence Center is now part of a larger organization dedicated to promoting International Standards for PDF. As the PDF Association, numerous world-leading companies and experts in PDF technology will exchange information and experiences about all PDF standards, including PDF/A, PDF/VT, PDF/UA and more.
Das PDF/A Competence Center ist ab sofort ein Teil der PDF Association. Ziel der PDF Association ist, PDF-Anwendungen für digitale Dokumente zu fördern, die auf offenen Standards basieren. Ihm gehören zahlreiche weltweit führende Unternehmen und Experten an, die ihre Informationen und Erfahrungen rund um PDF-Standards, inklusive PDF/A, PDF/VT, PDF/UA austauschen.
PDF developers know that Adobe turned over PDF to ISO in 2008 with the publication of ISO 32000-1, the ISO-ized version of PDF 1.7. Even so, it has come to our attention that questions remain about the release of patents associated with PDF. Did Adobe hold something back when it came to linearization? Would 3rd party developers be at risk of a patent-infringement lawsuit if they implemented linearization features (reading or writing) in their software? The answer, in a word, is no; there’s nothing to worry about. We asked Adobe’s Matthew Hardy to offer some Adobe-official word on the matter.
The Isartor test suite is available from pdfa.org free of charge. It can be used to check PDF validation software and software vendors can use it to “certify” that their products conform in full or in part to the Isartor test suite. A detailed list of test results must be made available as part of the declaration.
More than 3,000 librarians from all provinces will exchange experiences and learn about new trends and developments in librarianship, including PDF/A, which has established itself gradually as the preferred archival format. PDF/A, the ISO 19005 standard for long-term archiving in PDF format, is increasingly used in libraries, both for digital documents and legacy content conversion. The PDF/A Competence Center will host a booth (booth 14 b) where visitors can learn about legacy content conversion, the metadata contained in the PDF/A standard and other relevant topics, as well as information about PDF/A-2.
Duff Johnson considers the Beyond the PDF workshop and suggests PDF/E as a means of developing real-world solutions for science publishing.
Duff Johnson reviews a recent report on PDF content accessibility produced by the Australian federal government. The Report accurately characterizes the current state of affairs for Assistive Technology (AT) users attempting to interact with PDF content. However, it does not clearly identify the reasons why most AT users have a poor experience with PDF. Additionally, the Report provides no comparison of PDF accessibility, functionality, remediation complexity or cost with alternative formats. As a result, several of the Report’s key conclusions are unsupported by the data presented.
The PDF/A Competence Center, the professional association of the PDF/A community, expects great progress in PDF/A adoption over the next two years. The Centers new Board reflects increasing international focus, with Germanys Olaf Drümmer as the new chairman of the Board, new vice chair Duff Johnson from the United States and new Board member Stewart Rogers from the United Kingdom.