[LINK] Aust Gov PDF Accessibility Review

[Tom Worthington]

Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> ...  Australian Government is seeking input to inform its policy about
> the use of the Portable Document Format (PDF) for the provision of 
> government information online. ...

My submission, in brief: "Don't".

More seriously, rather than going to a lot of trouble to make the PDF 
documents accessible, it would be much easier to just provide a HTML 
version. The one HTML version can be usable from ordinary web browsers 
as well as being used with assistive technology. Agencies could still 
produce PDF versions if they wanted to, but need not make them accessible.

The web pages can also be design to work with smart phones, e-book 
readers and print acceptably. This would also produce much smaller 
electronic files, providing better access for all users and resulting in 
reduced carbon emissions.

My draft submission in more detail: 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2009/10/replace-pdf-with-accessible-web-pages.html>.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/people.php?StaffID=140274