Overview

Welcome to lesson 9 of 13 in the Accessible Reading for Educators Course. In this lesson you will learn about viewing Portable Document Format (PDF) files with the EasyReader App.

Lesson Objectives

After studying this lesson, you will be able to:

• Describe what occurs when you open a PDF file that contains no readable text.
• Describe the alternative ways you can view a PDF file.
• Explain the process students follow to change viewing mode.

This lesson should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

Accessible PDFs

Students can open and view Accessible PDF files using EasyReader App. PDF files that are considered inaccessible are those that contain no text. Such PDF files contain scanned images of pages and require Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to convert the images to text.

PDF files from Accessible Libraries are correctly marked up for accessibility. However, PDF files from other sources may not be accessible. In such cases, EasyReader App will warn the student that the file is inaccessible and that an alternative app should be used to view the file.

To learn more about Accessible PDFs, visit Create and verify PDF accessibility.

Viewing Accessible PDF files

The Reader screen shows Accessible PDF files using PDF View. PDF View shows the original layout of the document including fonts, colours, spacing, and formatting. In PDF View, students cannot change the appearance of the document, and when they zoom in the text will not wrap to accommodate the increase in text size.

Students who find it difficult to view the PDF in its original form can switch to Text View. Text View enables students to use their preferred font, colours, line spacing, etc. and the text will adjust to the screen size when the text size changes.

Students can switch between PDF View and Text View through the "Book Options" menu. Students can also perform the switch by doing a three-finger tap gesture or by pressing the F9 key.

Summary

In this lesson you learnt that an Education Plan enables students to view Accessible PDF files. You learnt that students can view the file in its original layout using PDF View, or switch to a simplified Text View. You also learnt that it is easy to switch between these views using the "Book Options" menu, with a touchscreen gesture, or the use of a keyboard command.

Quiz

Below are three sample quiz questions based on this lesson. Please spend no more than five minutes considering the answers to these questions.

• EasyReader App will warn a student when they are attempting to view a PDF file that is considered inaccessible. Is this statement true?
  1. Yes.
  2. No
• Which of the following statements is true?
  1. Students can adjust the background and text colour when using PDF View.
  2. The text automatically wraps when a student increases magnification when using PDF View.
  3. Students viewing a PDF can change to Text View to view the book using their preferred font, colours, and line spacing.
• What Function Key can students press to switch between PDF View and Text View?
  
  1. F7
  2. F8
  3. F9

End of lesson

Thank you for completing this lesson. Please select 'Next Lesson' below to continue to the next part of this course.

To revisit a previous lesson, please scroll to the top of this page and choose the lesson from the Course Outline menu.

But before you move on, here are the answers to the quiz questions:

1. Students viewing a PDF can change to Text View to view the book using their preferred font, colours, and line spacing.
2. Yes.
3. F9.