It is important to ensure that everyone, including people with disabilities, has equal access to information. PDF documents are commonly used for publishing information online, such as bank statements, instruction manuals, and announcements. However, many PDFs are not created with accessibility in mind, making them inaccessible to people with disabilities.
To make PDFs digitally accessible, it’s crucial to identify and fix these issues. Therefore, PDF accessibility training is essential.
What is PDF Accessibility Training?
PDF accessibility training involves learning about various aspects of PDF accessibility, including accessibility standards for PDF documents, best authoring practices, creating accessible PDFs, remediating inaccessible PDFs, and testing and validating PDFs on a website, server, or database.
Once you are familiar with PDF accessibility standards, training will help you fix PDFs and make them compliant with existing accessibility standards and regulations.
Given below are some key aspects of PDF accessibility training:
Understanding PDF Accessibility Standards
Several PDF accessibility standards, such as Section 508, HHS Guidelines, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), outline the fundamental requirements for PDFs to be considered digitally accessible according to a specific standard. Our comprehensive article provides more details on the most crucial PDF accessibility standards.
Through PDF accessibility training, you will become familiar with these standards and learn how to create and design PDFs while adhering to these standards. This approach will help avoid the need for remediation at a later stage.
Creating Accessible PDFs
One key part of PDF accessibility training is learning how to create accessible PDFs from various software and sources. This includes structuring the content using headings, lists, headers, footers, tags, and other elements that help screen readers interpret the content accurately.
Testing and Validating PDFs
Testing a PDF for accessibility is a critical part of PDF accessibility training. This involves determining whether a PDF is accessible by using PDF accessibility checkers such as Allyant’s CommonLook PDF Validator. This tool tests a PDF against different accessibility standards and provides a detailed report.
CommonLook PDF Validator is available for free download here:
CommonLook PDF Validator FREE Download
PDF Remediation
As an employee in the accessibility department of your organization, you have found that out of 100 PDFs posted on your website, 80 of them are not accessible. So, what should you do about those PDFs?
You will need to fix those PDFs so that they are accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.
This is where PDF accessibility training becomes very important. This training provides techniques for fixing inaccessible PDFs, which can include reformatting content, adding missing accessibility features, and making sure they work well with assistive technologies.
PDF accessibility training goes beyond following the rules; it encourages inclusivity and improves the experience for users with disabilities. By investing in accessibility training, organizations show their commitment to having a diverse, fair, and inclusive environment.
Best PDF Accessibility Training Services
We at Allyant take pride in offering top-notch PDF accessibility training services. Our suite of accessibility tools includes CommonLook PDF, one of the most powerful tools for identifying and remediating accessibility issues in PDFs. Our extensive training modules are designed to deliver the best outcomes for you and your company, ensuring you achieve the most effective results from Allyant’s CommonLook Software Suite.
Your Education Specialist Awaits!
You’ve invested time, money and energy into your journey to accessibility—so let’s keep up the great work! If you have a question regarding any of our training modules, or simply need a little help choosing the right one, drop us a line. We’ll make your accessibility education seamless.
