[CATO] [EXTERNAL] - Common Look Tools?

[Hanscom, Michael]

Hi Doug,

I'd love to see a CommonLook demo at some point. I've been learning ABBYY FineReader, which has been kind of a good news/bad news situation (good news: relatively inexpensive and can get the job done; bad news: buggy and persnickety). In the end I may have to keep working with what I have, because a $100 license is much easier to argue for than an $800 license, but if CommonLook is good enough, then just maybe....

Michael Hanscom (he/him), Accessible Technology Program Manager, Highline College
mhanscom at highline.edu<mailto:mhanscom at highline.edu> | Building 25-516 | 206.592.3383
Accessible Technology Zoom Lobby: Wed. 3:30-4:15 p.m., Thu. 3-3:45 p.m. https://highline.zoom.us/my/mhanscom
Access Services: 206.592.3857 | access at highline.edu<mailto:access at highline.edu> | https://access.highline.edu<https://access.highline.edu/>

From: CATO <cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> On Behalf Of Hayman, Douglass via CATO
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2024 11:09 AM
To: Distribution List for the Committee for Accessible Technology Oversight <cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Hayman, Douglass <dhayman at olympic.edu>
Subject: Re: [CATO] [EXTERNAL] - Common Look Tools?

CAUTION: This email originated from outside Highline College. Do not click links or open attachments unless you validate the sender and know the content is safe. If you are unsure, contact the Help Desk at x4357 (206-592-4357) or email helpdesk at highline.edu<mailto:helpdesk at highline.edu>.
Amy,

I use CommonLook PDF and it works great over using just Acrobat Pro, or Equidox which I tried and was unhappy with.  I'd be glad to demo how I use it with screen sharing on sometime.  Costs about $800 which includes online training to for learning the program.

With PDF files one can make complex, accessible tables where Word doesn't have that capability.

Doug Hayman
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Information Technology
Olympic College
dhayman at olympic.edu<mailto:dhayman at olympic.edu>
(360) 475-7632



From: CATO <cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato-bounces at lists.ctc.edu>> On Behalf Of Rovner, Amy via CATO
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2024 10:56 AM
To: cato at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:cato at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Rovner, Amy <arovner at shoreline.edu<mailto:arovner at shoreline.edu>>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] - [CATO] Common Look Tools?

CAUTION: This email came from a non-OC system or external source. Beware of phishing and social engineering!

Hi CATO friends,

I'm in an Allyant webinar - they make the CommonLook tools for making office, PDF, etc. accessible.

They got my attention when one of the presenters (who is blind) said they would 100% choose an accessible PDF over a Word doc (made as accessible as the Word accessibility tool directs). That blew my mind b/c that is the exact opposite of what I have heard users who are blind have said in the past. Just trying to figure out if it's a sales tactic or that their PDF remediation tools are really that good.

Are any of you using these tools? Thoughts?

Thank you!
Amy

Amy Rovner, MPH RD
Director eLearning Services
ctcLink Training Lead
Shoreline Community College
www.shoreline.edu<http://www.shoreline.edu/>  |  206.546.6937
eLearning Office: 206.546.6966
eLearning Email: elearning at shoreline.edu<mailto:elearning at shoreline.edu>
Shoreline Support Center<https://support.shoreline.edu/>
Canvas Support Live Chat: for Students<http://%3Chttps/cases.canvaslms.com/liveagentchat?chattype=student%3E>; for Faculty<http://%3Chttps/cases.canvaslms.com/apex/liveagentchat%3E> (or call 888-672-2040)
[Shoreline Community College]<https://shoreline.edu/>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/cato_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20240126/228d45b3/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11325 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/cato_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20240126/228d45b3/attachment-0001.png>