Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonist
It is NOT true that PDF is a proprietary format.
PDF is an OPEN STANDARD.
The "guys at Vision Australia" are either incompetent, or trying to justify their existence and fees, by making meaningless recommendations like this.
PDF provides many valuable attributes which no other common format currently provides, including EPUB. This may well change some time in the future, but right now, the Australian taxpayers got suckered. |
Excuse me - look at where the quotemarks were in my post - the statement "PDF is a proprietary format" was mine, not theirs. Have you ever watched / listened to a blind person, or someone with severe sight impairment, accessing (or trying to access) a PDF? If you had, you'd understand why it's regarded as a problem.
Blind PC users (and those with other disabilities) have a range of sophisticated software and hardware available which makes it possible for them to use a PC, surf the Web, create and read documents, etc. But most PDFs aren't constructed in a way that will enable that software to read out the content in a meaningful way, or to navigate around the document sensibly. Hence the recommendations to provide information in additional, more accessible formats, and provide training for staff who create PDF documents so they know how to create more accessible PDFs.
Why you think those are "meaningless recommendation" beats me. The report is talking about government/local authority documents being produced for public consumption. You don't think government has a responsibility to produce information in an accessible format?
- Donna