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• • October 30, 2012 at 1:12 am #63465
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi,

    I have been testing accessible pdf work flow in indesign 5.5 and 6 using the structure panel method and the new article panel method. No matter what I do I cant get the reading order of a pdf to reflect the order of the article list in the indesign document.

    I need to get a team of designers up to speed with this procedure but I dont want to confuse the issue by introducing the concept of the 'Article Panel' if it does not work.

    Has anyone else tested the new feature?

    Thanks in advance for adding to this thread.

    Cheers

    Archie

  • October 30, 2012 at 5:33 am #63466
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Articles panel definitely does work. You are turning on Tagged PDF in the export pdf dialog box, right? Note that there is also a difference between

    More info here: https://www.theindesigner.com/blog/faster-easier-accessible-pdfs-from-indesign-cs55

    However, this paragraph really caught my eye in Bevi Chagnon's article on accessibility in InDesign Magazine (issue 46, feb/march):

    “I know that Adobe insists that you only need to use the Articles panel, but some assistive technologies depend on the Articles panel to create the reading order for their users (which controls the order of the tags in the PDF); some other ATs depend upon the Layers panel (which controls the object order). So, for maximum accessibility, you should manage both… Drag and drop the items to set the reading order. This panel creates a bottom-up reading order, the exact opposite of the Articles panel. That is, the bottom-most text frame or graphic will be read first.”

  • October 30, 2012 at 2:04 pm #63468
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi David,

    Thanks for your response – I value your input.

    To date, I have been using the structure panel to mark up the xml structure, map styles to tags, maintain threaded text frames where possible and use inline or anchored figure frames to ensure the logical reading order and semantics are maintained in my pdf output.

    However, since 5.5 I have been testing the Articles Panel to to set the reading order. I export with 'Create Tagged PDF' and 'Use Structure for Tab Order' settings and then open the pdf. When I inspect the PDF the Tag order is fine in the Tags Panel but the Order Panel shows the reading order to be incorrect.

    The only way I have been able to create a logical reading order in the pdf Order Panel is by managing the z-index (stacking order) of the text and figure frames in indesign – not by shuffling things around in the PDF (as instructed by adobe). If I move elements in the Order Panel it often mixes up the tag order, breaks the Article/story structure and can produce other unwanted results, like elements dissapearing.

    Am I misunderstanding the intended use for the Atricles Panel or am I right in suggesting that it does not effectivlety set the reading order in the pdf Order Panel?

  • November 2, 2012 at 12:39 pm #63490
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    That sounds about right. The point that has been made repeatedly to me is that most readers only use the tags order, not the Order panel order. That's why Adobe focused the Articles panel on that. But sometimes you need to do both, and that the only way to manage the Order panel order is with the Layers panel. A pain.

  • November 2, 2012 at 5:07 pm #63491
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    David, Thanks for clearing that up.

    But in that case, it just seems strange to me that the method outlined by Adobe for accessible Acrobat PDF workflow, focuses on the Order Panel and recommends shuffling elements in the Order Panel which actually has adverse affects on the tag structure???!

    Also, is there any intention to manage both issues with the Articels Panel in future releases? Just seems like a logical solution to me.

    Cheers

  • January 18, 2016 at 8:55 pm #80909
    Carey Martin

    Member

    I have now been trying to teach myself from the Adobe videos to use the Articles panel. First of all, the link below posted by David in answer to the first query now does not work so could I have the correct link please:
    More info here:
    https://www.theindesigner.com/b…..esign-cs55

    I am confused about the images. The video tells us about clicking on each item and dragging to the panel to correct the reading order. But clicking on the image does not work. It is anchored though, and has alternative text. If the text around the image is dragged into an article and it includes the positioned anchor, will the alternative text in the anchored image be read at the appropriate moment?

    And is there a way to easily test this; that is, is there an easy way to activate what would happen if the file was exported to pdf and then I used a reader to test it?

    I’d really rather just use this panel than the structure panel as well. Is that possible?

  • January 19, 2016 at 7:08 am #80919
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Carey: I fixed the link in the post above. (A lot of our old links got messed up when we moved to a new forum system.)

    The images that are anchored in the story come along in the proper place; you don’t need to use the Articles panel to manage their position.

    I do recommend reading Bevi’s article in Issue 46

  • January 8, 2018 at 8:18 am #100814
    Marc Dunker

    Member

    Is it true that if you’ve used the Object > Interactive > Set Tab Order in a document, using Articles for tab order won’t work?

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