Improving PDF Accessibility with AI and Liquid Mode

Link to session

Robert Haverty, Adobe, Senior Product Manager, Document Cloud Accessibility

Rick Treitman, Adobe, Entrepreneur in Residence

Matthew Hardy, Adobe, Senior Engineering Manager, Document Cloud

Jamila Keba, Adobe, Frontend Developer for Acrobat’s Liquid Mode

Demo

• Reflows content to fit on small screens
• Takes headings to create an outline. Click on heading to go to that section of document
• Sections are collapsible
• font size, character spacing, and line height can be changed
• developed to be compatible with screenreader
• future areas of improvement: tables and images (using machine learning to create alt text when images don't have one)
• Currently available for mobile devices and Chromebooks where Android app can be loaded

Impact on readability

• allows users to increase text spacing, font size, etc
• student with 3rd grade school children with varying levels of fluency: one kid increased his speed by 27 words per minute, was able to read with inflection + meaning. even the fastest student jumped 27 words per minute.
• helps people who struggle to read, but also increases efficiency for proficient readers
• font, size, character spacing, line height, and character stretch seem to be the key factors in increasing efficiency.

Built in highlighter

• Used as a "ruler" to guide reader through document, not necessarily to make highlights/annotations to refer to later
• 4 ways of highlighting: mouse, underline, lightbox, and grey line
• No 1 solution worked better for the group as a whole - it was individual to the reader