PDF/UA Samples for Arbortext Layout Developer

[DATACOPYSupport]

Hello everyone,

PDF/UA (in ALD) is a very complex theme as it is a ISO Standard which allows "some" Document structures but "not everything". PDF/X or PDF/A never has such limitations. To find here a way is hard enough. Some of the templates evolve over years with several techniques.
There is then a mix of Showstrings, Script, Perl, JavaScript and PI's - or everything which works in the last 20 years. This causes new problems. For example, a <?> disrupt the tagging structure for a PDF/UA.

At the end you cannot find a way to a PDF/UA as you never know where the Problems come from.

To solve one Problem, the idea was that PTC offer some Samples.

Basics (Documentation and Test)
1. There is a good Documentation ... Tagged PDF Best Practice Guide: Syntax - For developers implementing ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA) - see "pdfa.org"
2. And a good test Tool (PAC2024) to evaluate the results in 3 quality levels. I think it works for everyone if the Sample is PDF/UA Compatible. The other both Level "WCAG" and "Quality" are optional in my opinion.

Samples
I suggest Samples (as "3D" and "PDF/UA") which shows one isolated situation in one document:
The first PDF/UA has nothing more as one Headline and Text. Everything else based on this Document
- Footnotes
- TOC
- Links
- Linked TOC
- Special Characters and the use of "ActualText" with PUA Unicode Chars
- Tables
- Lists
- Images

etc ...

Why isolated?
- Some techniques are simply not allowed in any combination. We show them in a simple tagging environment and a flat structure.
- This maybe helps to understand how it works and how to integrate this in a Customer's Document
- It also helps to compare the Documentation, like the "best practice guides".
- it maybe helps to identify some unexpected bugs between ALD and the PDFLib if we put not everything into one document.

PI's or JavaScript?
I guess JavaScript is the more flexible technique, but PTC also offer the PI's. We also have the Problem that not all Customers works with JavaScript as they have old templates.
Can we force them to spend much time to transform their templates? I'm not sure in this case.

Best wishes

Frank

[Catalina]

Hi @DATACOPYSupport 

Thank you for your question. 

Your post appears well documented but has not yet received any response. I am replying to raise awareness. Hopefully, another community member will be able to help.

Also, feel free to add any additional information you think might be relevant. It sometimes helps to have screenshots to better understand what you are trying to do.

Best regards,

[SimonTaylor]

Hey Frank - I'll do what I can before the next feature release towards the end of the year. Do you have any specific content you'd want this based on? Or just purely abstract?

Simon

[DATACOPYSupport]

Hi Simon,

the first concrete questions are:

- footnotes in PDF/UA

- linked TOC in PDF/UA and ...

- Special Characters and the use of "ActualText" with PUA Unicode Chars in PDF/UA.

everything else is good to know and sooner or later helpful

I prefer a simple flat Document which shows only one issue per Document (maybe in JavaScript).
This is easier to handle for everyone including PTC.

It is also maybe important to collect all the problems outside the tagging issues to help Developer to identify issues they cannot see. For example "graphic objects in Footnotes" (SPR 1608027) or a "<?>" (17705705) etc ... until the "tpdftagpreview" (SPR 1608027) is repaired in 12.3.1.0 in May 2025. But this can be collected in separate Articles.

Thanks

Frank