It’s not obvious how Section 508 applies to PDF content, and that’s frustrating. What is for sure is that perceived accessibility and usability depend on making the document work well rather than work poorly, no matter how formally “compliant” it is. Here, we offer a few issues worthy of consideration when developing your Section 508 […]
View PostIntroduction What are bookmarks? We’re not talking about strips of cardboard or dog-eared pages. When present, PDF bookmarks appear to the left of the page (the F4 key toggles the bookmarks “panel” on and off). In the most common application, bookmarks allow users to instantly skip to other locations in the document. That’s VERY handy, […]
View PostUsing PDF for a help system is a great idea – providing you don’t make some basic mistakes, keep true to what PDF is, and don’t force it to be what it isn’t. Some general rules for implementing Help documentation in PDF format might go like this: 1) RESPECT THE PRINTED PAGE, aka, think about […]
View PostWhen Adobe Systems began expanding PDF beyond the original mission of a portable file with reliable printed output, they added navigational, interactive and other features intended to improve the end-user experience. Hence, Acrobat became RAD = Rapid Application Development (Wikipedia definition). Beginning with links and bookmarks, then adding form field elements, buttons, javascript, movies, full-screen […]
View PostBookmarks are simultaneously one of the most valuable and least-used features of PDF. Located to the left of the displayed page (the F4 key toggles them in and out of view), bookmarks provide an intuitive navigational and functional system that is highly desirable for any file and absolutely vital for longer documents. Inefficiency Systems vs. […]
View PostThe following guidelines for PDF authoring may not help you entirely avoid any problems, but the vast majority of your users and readers will be thankful nonetheless. Take good care of your PDFs when you make them, and everyone who ever uses the file will thank you for your consideration. If the document is very […]
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