Beginning I believe with Acrobat Pro version 9, which came out in mid-2009, Adobe introduced a built-in Accessibility Checker (AC) to assist users in making PDF documents accessible to people with disabilities. This was the first product I can remember to have this feature and the new feature was readily welcomed by those of us in the accessible design business. Since that time I have sung the praises of Adobe and the AC in presentations I’ve given, in e-mails to colleagues and in articles that I have written for Maine CITE and the State of Maine Office of Information Technology. The AC was simply a wonderful tool which made is very easy to check and fix accessibility errors in just about any PDF. What was best about the AC was that when run with the Full Scan settings, the application would create a complete and detailed report (the Accessibility Report) which listed the errors, AND provided links to the exact location in your document where the error occurred, AND provided a specific set of directions for how to fix the problem. This was a godsend to people eager to review and edit their PDFs to ensure accessibility. And it made it easy for anyone to make their PDFs accessible.

So last week I purchased and installed Adobe Acrobat X on my Windows 7 machine and have been running it through the paces. It all ran perfectly until I tried the accessibility checker on my first test document. It took a little while to find this feature since it is not automatically loaded in the Tools section that is a new feature in version X. But one of the neat features of Acrobat Pro X is the customizable menu bar (called Quick Tools). Using the Customize Quick Tools feature, I was quickly able to add a button which will activate the Full Scan Accessibility Checker.

But then the fun began. While reading the Accessibility Report and particularly the remediation directions provided in the Report, it became quickly apparent that it was impossible to proceed further. The directions for fixing errors were all wrong! I was stunned; the directions provided were for Acrobat Pro version 9, not Adobe Acrobat Pro X!

To make sure, I ran the test again on several other documents and each time, the AC provided remedies for fixing documents using version 9 of Acrobat Pro. The directions had not been updated!

In fairness, not everything is wrong. Apparently, for the new version of Acrobat Pro, the good people at Adobe reduced the number of editing tools, reorganized them and combined them into a smaller collection. The vast and complex number of tools was actually a shortcoming in version 9 and the new setup is much easier to understand in version 10. But changing the names and locations of the tools has made the directions for fixing error obsolete and incorrect.

So the good news is that the new Adobe Acrobat Pro X does have a great Accessibility Checker, and it will accurate work and find all of the accessibility errors in the PDF documents you scan. But for figuring out how to fix your document, you are currently on your own until Adobe updates the application and puts in the correct remediation directions.

Some might say that this is a minor annoyance and obviously just an oversight. To them I say: making documents – particularly PDFs – into accessible documents has always created contention since it is perceived as being difficult to do. As a result, very high proportion of the digital documents created everyday fail to be accessible for people with disabilities. Anything that can make the process smoother, faster, easier is a step in the right direction. The Accessibility Checking built into Adobe Acrobat Pro was this kind of step.

I’ve sent an e-mail to my friend Andrew Kirkpatrick, Adobe’s Group Product Manager for Accessibility, expressing my concerns and asking for a target date as to when this will be fixed. In the meantime, I don’t recommend that anyone upgrade to version X until this is fixed.

To help those of you who have already taken the plunge, I have figured out the correct directions for three of the most common accessibility errors: Creating PDF Tags, Adding Alternative Text to images and Specifying the Language of a document. The first most common accessibility error is the absence of any tagging in the document and this should always be the first thing you do after you run the Accessibility Checker.

Please note that there may be other ways to accomplish these remedies; I am only reporting those I have found so far by trial and error.

If you find errors or additions, drop me a line!

Here are the old directions and the corrected directions for fixing common accessibility errors in Adobe Acrobat Pro

Tagging the document

Directions for Acrobat Pro v 9 – Creating PDF Tags

If your document is not tagged, the AC will note this and offer these directions:

• Re-create the PDF file from the authoring application with tagging enabled (this primarily is for documents created with Adobe InDesign)
• Choose Advanced > Accessibility > Add Tags to Document to infer the tags.
• Choose Advanced > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order Tool to create the Tags tree manually using the TouchUp Reading Order Tool.
• Create the Tags manually using the Tags panel.

Corrected Directions for Acrobat Pro v 10 – Creating PDF Tags

If your document is not tagged, the AC will note this and offer these directions:

• Re-create the PDF file from the authoring application with tagging enabled (this primarily is for documents created with Adobe InDesign)
• Choose Tools on the Menu bar, Choose Accessibility (if Accessibility is not viewable, find the tiny “show or hide panels” button in the upper right part of the Tools menu, click on it and unhide Accessibility). Choose Add Tags to Document to infer the tags.
• Choose the Tags view panel. Where it says “No Tags available,” right click on this and choose Add Tags to Document.

Alternative text for images/figures

Directions for Acrobat Pro v 9 – Adding Alternative Text

Before repairing this problem, you must add tags to the document. (See directions above)

• To add alternate text to an image, choose Tools > Advanced Editing > TouchUp Object Tool. Click on the image. Right click and choose Properties…from the context menu. Click on the Tag tab and fill in the alternate text field.

Corrected Directions for Acrobat Pro v 10 – Adding Alternative Text

Before repairing this problem, you must add tags to the document. (See directions above)

• To add alternate text to an image, choose Tools on the Menu bar. Choose Content, and select the Edit Object tool. Click on the image. Right click and choose Properties…from the context menu. Click on the Tag tab and fill in the Alternate Text field.

Specifying Language attributes

Direction for Adobe Acrobat v 9 – Specifying a Language (adding language attribute to the document)

• Set the default language for the entire document by choosing File > Document Properties > Advanced tab and setting the Language field
• Set the language for all the text in a subtree of the Tags trees by selecting the element at the root of the subtree, right click and choose Properties, clicking on the Tag tab, and filling in the Language field
• Set the language of any amount of text by selecting the text in the Content panel, choosing Options > Properties, clicking on the Tag tab, and filling in the Language field.

Corrected Direction for Adobe Acrobat v 10 – Specifying a Language (adding language attribute to the document)

• Set the default language for the entire document by choosing File > Document Properties > Advanced tab and setting the Language field
• (There is no change here)Set the language for all the text in a subtree of the Tags trees by selecting the element at the root of the subtree, right click and choose Properties, clicking on the Tag tab, and filling in the Language field
• Select Tools from the top menu bar. Choose Content and select the Edit Document Text tool. Set the language of any amount of text by selecting the text with the Edit Document Text tool. Right click and choose Properties. Select the Tag tab in the TouchUp Properties window, select Language from the drop-down menu.

This thought hit me as I was signing up to attend the Boston Accessibility “Unconference” a few weeks ago. After reading the introduction and description on their website, I found it strangely reminiscent of the “happenings” we engaged in when I was a youth in high school and college. Very avant-garde, I thought; I’m in.

So with open expectations and my colleague Steve Sawczyn (a.k.a. @steveofmaine) riding shotgun, I ventured the three hours down to Waltham, MA this Saturday to see what would “happen.” I will admit that I was surprised by some things and not others. There were good things and disappointments. The experience reminded me vaguely of the first Tweetup I attended about a year ago; meeting a bunch of people whom I knew only through digital correspondences, blog posts and Tweets. I was quickly putting faces with “avatars” and changing my impressions at a steady pace.

There will be a formal evaluation process for the Boston Accessibility Unconference and when that comes out, I will take the opportunity to provide my full opinions there. But I wanted to take a few minutes to reflect upon the experience and post that information here while it was relatively fresh in my mind. I’ve organized my thoughts into three statements. Feel free to respond or generate your own ideas. Here are the three statements:

• What it was
• What it wasn’t
• What I would like it to be in the future

What it was

The Boston Accessibility Unconference was a gathering of about 80 fairly diverse folks who were interested in the accessibility of information technology. Like me, most seemed interested in the vicissitudes of accessible web design, but there were a number of folks whose interests appeared to branch into other areas of technology. There were a fair number of people with disabilities among the gathering.

The setting was the beautifully modern Waltham facilities of the Adobe Corporation provided by host Andrew Kirkpatrick, Adobe’s product manager for accessibility. The building featured all the latest gizmos and the most high tech restrooms on the planet. If you haven’t had a chance to hear Steve Sawczyn’s report of the skin-removing hand dryers in the men’s room, you are missing a rewarding experience. I will think of this place when I sent a hunk of cash to Adobe in a few weeks to purchase CS5 (again Warning: I don’t know if this link leads to an accessible website)

The agenda for the day was pretty free-flowing: an initial warm-up-welcome activity to create an “agenda,” four breakout periods where topics were assigned through a groupthink process, and various breaks for social interaction.

Several of the sessions that I attended were rather free-flowing with no one really taking charge and a general open exchange of ideas and opinions (some included with “hand grenades”; sorry Andrew). On the contrary, several of the sessions I attended were somewhat controlled by one or two individuals who had brought a PowerPoint presentation and seemed determined to give it whether people wanted to hear it or not.

What it wasn’t

I have to be careful here. I don’t want to sound critical or petulant because overall, the experience was very positive. But I didn’t get everything I wanted. So, if I frame this as what I was hoping for – and didn’t get – may be no one will be offended.

I was hoping for a larger picture (big picture) perspective and understanding of accessibility. I spend a lot of time in my head thinking about this topic in very global terms and I wanted to meet like-creatures and compare notes. I think they were in the room, but I didn’t have an opportunity to find many of them.

I was hoping to learn new things about areas I was interested in. I sensed a general backward reflection process or “this is what I do” attitude and was hoping for more of a what do we need to do differently attitude.

Like Guy Noir, I was hoping to find answers to life’s most persistent questions.

What I would like it to be in the future

I would like there to be a professional facilitator or facilitators who are not knowledgeable or interested in the topic of accessibility who can keep things on target.

I would like there to be more in the way of preparation beforehand so everyone can hit the ground running.

I would like for there to be more time to socialize. I would like there to be more time.

I would like to narrow down the focus to a couple of topics (may be three) and deal with them – I would like this to have been done before I got there. In essence, I want a little less “un” in the unconference.

I would like folks to leave the PowerPoints at home and just talk about the topics.

I would like everyone to be an expert and no one to be an expert. Yeah, you can tell I’m a child of the ’60s on that one!

I would like (and am still hoping for) a continued conversation. Perhaps that’s why I wrote this.

Final Thoughts

I’d like to truly thank all those who organized this. It was a risky activity and I think it came off wonderfully. I would like to particularly thank the sponsors for their financial and in-kind contributions. I promise to do whatever I can to make this happen again.

I don’t think it is unreasonable to “pass the hat” or pay a few bucks to be there.

I hope we do not wait a year for another Boston Accessibility Unconference. The topic and the work is too important. I would like almost a monthly (daily, hourly) opportunity to converse – there has to be a technology that we can use to do this. We should make that the first priority.

How can I help?

What do you think?

Feel free to comment!

In their article, Report: Malicious PDF files comprised 80% of all exploits for 2009, ZDNet reports:

A newly released report shows that based on more than a trillion Web requests processed in 2009, the use of malicious PDF files exploiting flaws in Adobe Reader/Adobe Acrobat not only outpaced the use of Flash exploits, but also, grew to 80% of all exploits the company encountered throughout the year.

The other blog, Adobe plugs more gaping holes in PDF Reader, ZDNet reports that Adobe has released a new patch for the Adobe Reader yesterday.

This morning, both of my Windows XP machines lit up with an announcement that there was a new version of Flash Player available and urged me to install. I did despite the fact that I manually updated them all last week when the first stories appeared that the patch was released.

Perhaps the scariest conclusion noted in the ZDNet article about report from ScanSafe was that:

Therefore, the increasing use of malicious PDFs can also be interpreted as the direct result of the millions of users using outdated and exploitable Adobe products (emphasis mine), with the only preference a malicious attacker could have in this case remaining the incentive based on the 99% penetration of Adobe Flash on Internet-enabled PCs.

I guess the adage, “you have no one to blame but yourself” comes to mind, but clearly, people have come to expect that the people who make the stuff that they run on their computers ensure that their stuff is safe.

So the message here folks is: when you get a notice that there is a new version of your software available, drop everything and install it.

I have disliked Flash for a long time, primarily due to its problems with assistive technologies; it often does not play well with screen readers, especially if it has not been developed correctly. In my mind, many Flash developers are graphic artists, illustrators or animators, and don’t really understand web design.

Add to this the fact that more people are now accessing web content via a non-traditional user agent (i.e., not a traditional browser) and you see why I agree with Bradley that Flash may be past its prime.

It’s ironic that Adobe developed Acrobat to find a way to share documents at a time just prior to the “invention” of HTML. Flash, build on the same business principles, was developed for the same reason. And once again, a new standard (HTML 5) may usurp their position. And, I should point out that the new standard will be accessible to screen readers.

But just as those who predicted the demise of Adobe Acrobat 15 years ago were wrong, I suspect it is not quite time for Adobe to throw in the towel and hire the undertaker. Look for Flash to be around for some time to come. But at least for some of us, there will be other options.

This will be interesting to watch.

I have been on a quest to get the latest information about the various distance learning and conferencing software on the market and their accessibility. And I have not been having much success.

It seems that every day there is a new videoconferencing service or webinar package being created and most – if not all – have no information about accessibility and their use with assistive technologies. For example, my research about Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro has turned up nothing but some personal observations – all negative regarding access – and a VPAT that is less than stellar. The company claims that updates made last fall make it “more accessible” but I have not seen anything definitive other than the company’s own White Paper on the topic. Yet, I know of at least one state government agency that is using this application despite concerns about accessibility.

I do not mean to be picking on Adobe; it just so happens that Connect Pro is the last one I have been researching.

As people scramble with declining budgets, more and more organizations are cutting their travel budgets and will be relying on technology to connect people for continued learning and professional development. But will this be leaving out a multitude of people in the process if the DL tools are inaccessible?

You thoughts and resources would be appreciated. I would really like to know if there is anyone out there studying this.

~jeb

__

Image used through license from Creative Commons - Goddard Video and Multimedia

~John Brandt

Adobe Acrobat logo

UPDATE: New versions of Acrobat Reader 9 and Professional 9 are now available for download. Updates and patches to older versions are supposed to be available tomorrow, March 18th. Also note that I patched what I could and then today received what I thought to be a very suspicious e-mail with a PDF attachment. Read about it on my other blog

I learned this on Twitter a few days ago and am frankly surprised it has not become more widely knows. Basically, there has been a security problem found in the Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat Professional which allows certain malware to attack your computer. Initially it was reported that by simply disenabling the JavaScript switch in Reader (and Professional) the problem went away. As an interesting aside, I did this and the very first PDF I downloaded and read an hour later came from Adobe and it required the JS switch be turned back on.

Anyway, in this latest report from ZD Net, it appears that that advice does not mitigate the problem and that Adobe is no closer to a solution than it was a few days ago.

So, the only general advice we can give sportsfans is to avoid opening Adobe Acrobat files until the security issue is resolved. As is stated in the ZD Net article: “All users of Adobe Reader/Acrobat should therefore show extreme caution when deciding which PDF files to open regardless of whether they have disabled JavaScript support or not.”

Here is a link to the ZD Net article with details

Update:  Here is more information from Adobe – but the general consensus is to make sure you have you Anti-Virus programs running and up-to-date.

http://blogs.adobe.com/psirt/2009/02/adobe_reader_and_acrobat_issue_1.html

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa09-01.html

~jeb