Section 508 Accessibility Classes

• 508 + Word + PDF
• 508 + InDesign + PDF
• 508 PDFs
• Sec. 508 for Writers and Editors
• Accessible PDF Forms
• 

508 accessibility for websites is part of our Advanced Dreamweaver class.

508 + Word + PDF
— Master Class

PubCom's Master Classes teach practical workflow techniques for real-world publishing. Instructors are seasoned experts in their field.

Do you need to make Section 508-accessible Word documents and accessible PDFs from Word?

Here's the class for you. It is specifically designed for:

• Writers and editors
• Government publishers and communicators
• Government contractors
• Proposal writers and editors
• Authors and subject matter experts (SMEs)
• Webmasters and developers who must prepare accessible PDFs for their websites and content management systems (CMS), and
• Others who create MS Word documents destined for the web and content management systems.

This master class is for all levels of MS Word users, from entry-level to advanced users. The following topics are covered in this concentrated 2-day session:

• The law: Understanding Section 508 requirements, WCAG guidelines, the US Access Board's forthcoming expanded guidelines, and your responsibilities.
• Features that make Word documents and PDFs accessible.
• Using Word's tools to create accessible Word documents.
• Formatting Word documents for Section 508 accessibility, content management systems, and import into InDesign.
• Creating accessible tables in Word and PDFs.
• Creating and maintaining a document's structure for XML and 508-accessibility.
• Making tables and lists accessible.
• Setting the file's metadata and language.
• Exporting accessible PDFs from Word and other Office applications.
• Using Acrobat to enhance accessibility and add user features in web-quality PDFs.
• Testing PDFs for accessibility.

Added benefit: Word documents that use these techniques are easier for desktop publishers to import into their layout programs, such as Adobe InDesign. Plus accessible Word and PDF files improve search engine optimization (SEO).

On site class is available. This is an ideal class to bring onsite to your office where your editorial or communications team can master these critical skills.

Prerequisite: Knowledge of M.S. Word and basic computer skills. It's helpful to also know how to create Acrobat PDFs, but not required.

 

508 + Word + PDF — Master Class

Instructor:	Bevi Chagnon
When:	TBA in September
Length:	2 days
Hours:	9:00 am - 4:00 pm + extended lab time
Where:	PubCom's training lab in Takoma Park
Platforms:	Windows and Mac
CEUs:	1.2 CEUs, certificate awarded
Books:	Textbook and PubCom's workbook
Fee:	$695
Registration:	• Online registration
	• Download our registration form
	• More details about registration
Discounts:	• Returning students and groups, email us for registration information
GOVT:	• Email us for our government price schedule and registration form.

 

508 + InDesign + PDF
— Master Class

PubCom's Master Classes teach practical workflow techniques for real-world publishing. Instructors are seasoned experts in their field.

The master class is chock full of Bevi Chagnon's shortcuts, tips, strategies, techniques, and do's and don'ts for desktop publishers who must not only create press-quality files, but also accessible Section 508-compliant PDFs from their InDesign layout files. Plus, these accessibility techniques also prepare InDesign files for XML publishing, web publishing, and content management systems (CMS), and also improve search engine optimization (SEO).

Accessibility, cross-media publishing, SEO — lots of long-term benefits from one course!

Experienced InDesign-ers call this class the "ah-ha, now I understand why" class.

This class is perfect for:

• Government VISs
• Graphic designers and desktop publishers
• Government contractors
• Proposal designers and writers
• Recipients of government funds and grants

In three days of hands-on training, Bevi takes you from start to finish, beginning with Microsoft Word through Adobe InDesign to exported, accessible Acrobat PDFs. The class covers the entire publishing process, complete with time-saving techniques to "make it all work" in a real world publishing environment.

You'll learn the best techniques and methods to use throughout the complete workflow, and you'll understand at which point it's best to perform certain accessibility procedures.

Software covered: Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Acrobat Professional. (InDesign-ers, are you wondering why we'll use Word in an InDesign class? Many critical accessibility features should be built into the original Word file, and other features are faster and easier to do in Word than in InDesign. We won't spend a lot of time in Word, but we will gain some very useful accessibility and cross-media techniques during our brief tour of Word.)

This class covers a lot of territory! Topics include:

• The law: Understanding Section 508 requirements, WCAG guidelines, the U.S. Access Board's standards, and your responsibilities.
• Features that make PDFs accessible.
• Formatting Word documents for 508 accessibility and import into InDesign.
• Automating InDesign formatting with Master Pages, Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, and Object Styles.
• Techniques and strategies for creating InDesign documents that build in Section 508 accessibility.
• Adding Alt-text attributes, tags, and other accessibility features.
• Making tables and lists accessible.
• Guidelines for writing appropriate Alt-text.
• Creating an InDesign document's structure and hierarchy for XML and Section 508 accessibility.
• Setting the file's metadata.
• Exporting PDFs for press, print, and Section 508-accessible webpages.
• Using Acrobat to enhance accessibility and add user features in web-quality PDFs.
• Remediating common accessibility problems in PDFs.
• Testing PDFs for accessibility.

Prerequisite: This is an intermediate-level class, so you should be comfortable using Adobe InDesign for basic documents such as brochures and newsletters.

508 + InDesign + PDF — Master Class

Instructor:	Bevi Chagnon
When:	TBA in September
Length:	3 days
Hours:	9:00 am - 4:00 pm + extended lab time
Where:	PubCom's training lab in Takoma Park
Platforms:	Windows and Mac
CEUs:	1.8 CEUs, certificate awarded
Books:	Textbook and PubCom's workbook
Fee:	$985
Registration:	•> Online registration
	• Download our registration form
	• More details about registration
Discounts:	• Returning students and groups, email us for registration information
GOVT:	• Email us for our government price schedule and registration form.

 

508 PDFs

Are you a webmaster who must fix PDFs you receive from others? Are you a writer or editor instructed to provide accessible PDFs? Do you have a backlog of legacy PDFs that need to be made accessible?

This PDF remediation class is right up your alley! It's perfect for:

• Government webmasters
• Writers, editors, and communicators
• Government contractors
• Proposal writers and editors
• Recipients of government funds and grants
• Anyone who needs to remediate PDFs and make them accessible.

Topics include:

• The law: Understanding Section 508 requirements, WCAG guidelines, the US Access Board's forthcoming expanded guidelines, and your responsibilities.
• Features that make PDF files accessible.
• Adding tags to unstructured PDFs.
• Correcting a PDF's structure, tags, and reading order.
• Adding Alt-text attributes, tags, and other accessibility features.
• Guidelines for writing appropriate Alt-text.
• Making tables and lists accessible.
• Setting the file's metadata and language.
• Checking PDFs for accessibility.
• Using screen readers to check accessibility.

Note: This class includes ample hands-on time to work on PDFs.

Prerequisite: This is an intermediate-level class, so you should have some familiarity with Acrobat Standard or Professional before attending.

508 PDFs (PDF Remediation)

Instructor:	Bevi Chagnon
When:	TBA October
Length:	2 days
Hours:	9:00 am - 4:00 pm + extended lab time
Where:	PubCom's training lab in Takoma Park
Platforms:	Windows and Mac
CEUs:	1.2 CEUs, certificate awarded
Books:	Textbook and PubCom's workbook
Fee:	$695
Registration:	• Online registration
	• Download our registration form
	• More details about registration
Discounts:	• Returning students and groups, email us for registration information
GOVT:	• Email us for our government price schedule and registration form.

 

Sec. 508 for Writers and Editors
— Master Class

PubCom's Master Classes teach practical workflow techniques for real-world publishing. Instructors are seasoned experts in their field.

Do you write or edit government documents? Do you wonder what's the best way to word and punctuate your documents to enhance accessibility?

Do you lie awake at night questioning how screen readers interpret hard-hyphens, soft-hyphens, em-dashes, and en-dashes? If so, this is your accessibility class!

This special class for editors and writers shows how to make accessible Word and PDF documents (as our other 508 classes do) but with extra emphasis on editorial issues, such as wording, punctuation, document structure, and other features that affect those who use assistive technology (AT).

It's perfect for:

• Government communicators, editors, and writers
• Government contractors
• Proposal writers and editors
• Authors and subject matter experts (SMEs)
• Others who create MS Word documents destined for the web and content management systems.

Topics include:

• The law: Understanding Section 508 requirements, WCAG guidelines, the US Access Board's forthcoming expanded guidelines, and your responsibilities.
• Features that make Word documents and PDFs accessible.
• Using Word's tools to create accessible documents.
• Writing to enhance accessibility.
• Chicago, AP, and GPO style guides and accessibility.
• Formatting Word documents for accessibility, content management systems, and import into InDesign.
• Creating and maintaining a document's structure for XML and 508-accessibility.
• Making tables and lists accessible.
• Writing appropriate Alt-text for graphics.
• Writing keywords, descriptions, summaries, and other metadata.
• Exporting accessible PDFs from Word and other Office applications.
• Using Acrobat to enhance accessibility and add user features in web-quality PDFs.
• Testing PDFs for accessibility.

Prerequisite: This master class is for all levels of MS Word users, but is geared to editors and writers.

 

Sec. 508 for Writers and Editors — Master Class

Instructor:	Bevi Chagnon
When:	July 19-20, 2011
Length:	2 days
Hours:	9:00 am - 4:00 pm + extended lab time
Where:	PubCom's training lab in Takoma Park
Platforms:	Windows and Mac
CEUs:	1.2 CEUs, certificate awarded
Books:	Textbook and PubCom's workbook
Fee:	$695
Registration:	•> Online registration
	• Download our registration form
	• More details about registration
Discounts:	• Returning students and groups, email us for registration information
GOVT:	• Email us for our government price schedule and registration form.

 

Sec. 508 Accessibility Workshop

Learn how to create Section 508 accessible MS Word documents and Adobe Acrobat PDFs in this unique 2-day intensive workshop.

Held throughout the year in Washington DC and locations around the country.

Starting with an overview of Federal regulations, standards and guidelines (focusing on the forthcoming expanded regulations due in 2011), the workshop continues with hands-on sessions in M.S. Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat Professional, teaching best practices and techniques for creating Section 508-compliant accessible documents.

InDesign users: You can sign up for an optional add-on day just for InDesign for a complete accessible publishing workflow.

This workshop is so huge is has its own webpage!
See the workshop details at www.workshop.pubcom.com.
Register below.

Sec. 508 Accessibility Workshop

Instructor:	Bevi Chagnon
When:	August 2-3, 2011 — Washington DC August 30-31, 2011 — Denver CO
Length:	2 days + optional add-on day for InDesign users
Hours:	8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Platforms:	Windows only
CEUs:	1.4 CEUs, certificate awarded
Books:	PubCom's workbook, textbooks optional
Fee:	$595
Registration:	• Online registration Choose 1 core session
	Optional: Choose 1 add-on day for InDesign
	• Download our registration form
	• More details about registration
Discounts:	• Returning students and groups, email us for registration information
GOVT:	• Email us for our government price schedule and registration form.

 

Accessible PDF Forms

PubCom's Master Classes teach practical workflow techniques for real-world publishing. Instructors are seasoned experts in their field.

Learn how to make accessible, interactive Acrobat PDF forms in this 2-day concentrated class.

This class is designed for:

• Government forms designers
• Government web masters
• Government contractors
• Recipients of government funds and grants

This master class covers creating a form's shell in M.S. Word and Adobe InDesign, and then adding form fields, buttons, and accessibility features in Acrobat Pro using Acrobat's built-in forms tools.

(This class does not use LiveCycle Designer, which is another forms-generating program from Adobe.)

These topics are covered in this concentrated 2-day session:

• Features that make PDF forms accessible.
• Techniques and best practices for building form "shells" in MS Word and Adobe InDesign.
• Using Acrobat's form wizard.
• Adding, editing, and controlling form fields and interactive buttons, such as "Submit."
• Setting simple math formulas.
• Testing PDF forms for accessibility.

Prerequisite: This is an intermediate-level class, so you should have some familiarity with Acrobat Standard or Professional before attending, as well as MS Word. Knowledge of Adobe InDesign is helpful, but not necessary.

Accessible PDF Forms — Master Class

Instructor:	Bevi Chagnon
When:	TBA
Length:	2 days
Hours:	9:00 am - 4:00 pm + extended lab time
Where:	PubCom's training lab in Takoma Park
Platforms:	Windows and Mac
CEUs:	1.2 CEUs, certificate awarded
Books:	Textbook and PubCom's workbook
Fee:	$745
Registration:	• Online registration — TBA
	• Download our registration form
	• More details about registration
Discounts:	• Returning students and groups, email us for registration information
GOVT:	• Email us for our government price schedule and registration form.

508 Accessibility

If you're a government publisher, you've probably heard about Section 508 accessibility requirements for all government documents.

But accessibility isn't just for government documents.

Accessibility is a wise strategy for ALL publishers because the same techniques that aid blind and handicapped audiences also help search engines find and index your material.

Yahoo. Google. Bing.

Ya-Goo-Bing!