Earlier this year, the PDF Association launched the “NVDA goes PDF/UA” project to fund support for PDF/UA in NVDA, enabling superior access to accessible PDF documents. The first round of funding in June resulted in significant enhancements to PDF access in NVDA 2012.3, particularly with regard to tables. We are pleased to announce that the PDF Association is providing further funding to continue this work.
While NVDA users have enjoyed rich access to some PDF documents for several years, this access is inconsistent due to widely varying degrees of accessibility in PDF documents. This was largely due to the lack of consistent, clear rules for accessible PDF. PDF/UA aims to bridge this gap, providing a single standard which document creation and processing software, PDF reader applications and assistive technology can implement and be assured of excellent accessibility.
We would like to thank the PDF Association for their continued support and look forward to working with them into the future to ensure the best possible access to PDF documents.