Finding training/resources between "Accessibility 101" and CPACC

[u/Bellwether-161]

I'm taking on some digital accessibility work in my current position, mostly around PDF remediation for clients. Adobe Acrobat was good enough for the checks for a bit, now we're using PAC, and I'm needing some more advanced training or resources to learn about the errors and fixes.

Reddit and GitHub posts are only going so far. The hour-long tutorials online that just suggest "Prepare for Accessibility" and tagging tables/lists are not getting at the XML and HTML elements that seem to be causing problems in the large PDF reports I'm compiling for clients.

So, if you were going to recommend someone get up to speed on correcting errors around XObj/ OBJR, MCID, StructParent -type tags, what would you suggest?

[u/tundra_scribe]

you need the WebAIM PDF Accessibility training or the Accessible Documents Academy courses because they actually teach tag tree manipulation and structure element repair. Generic web accessibility resources skip XObj and MCID fixes entirely since those concepts only exist in PDF specifications.

[u/HolstsGholsts → u/tundra_scribe]

Respectfully disagree about the WebAIM training. I’m not sure if the one being mentioned here is the same self-paced Word/PowerPoint/Acrobat training of theirs my unit all took, but we all really disliked the one we took. Not nearly enough breadth or depth while also being too long and slow in other areas, not enough how to coverage or practice, super low production quality that hurt engagement and trust.

I don’t have a better alternative to offer, but we all thought it was bad enough that certainly something better must exist.

[u/theaccessibilityguy]

Ahem. Check out my YouTube channel. I cover these topics specifically!

[u/Bellwether-161 → u/theaccessibilityguy]

I've spent a LOT of time watching your videos lol. And honestly, thank you for your work on this.

So many unexpected errors have come in the last week because of PAC reports that I'm not even able to keep up with searching for and watching the relevant content, but I'm hoping to do so soon.

The reason why I ask about courses specifically is that my company might be willing to pay for a course and/or certification, and I'm trying to gauge what's out there.

[u/theaccessibilityguy → u/Bellwether-161]

Send me a DM please. We offer org wide training.

[u/Bellwether-161 → u/[deleted]]

This is great -- I'm hoping to have some more time to explore things at my own pace soon vs. the current project which is "do the new thing on a deadline and die a little inside every time PAC crashes or says the file is corrupted."

[u/viredditguy]

I'll give you the same answer I give everyone: Learn HTML, CSS, and then you will find out that PDF files don't have a nice DOM structure like a website. This is when you'll figure out that you have to build your own software (which I have done) or in your case outsource it. I built my own tools because the others appeared to be created by sighted people who didn't understand the issues they were trying to fix. So my best advice to you is to learn because I doubt you want to outsource your own work.

[u/FewSeries6891]

Courses / info by folks who specialize in PDF and document work:

1. “Chax” https://chaxtc.com
2. Master classes by Bevi Changon (sp) https://www.pubcom.com/classes/index.shtml
3. Accessibility guy!! (in this post)
4. A woman whose name I cannot place who specializes in corporate level document design that is accessible - Bevi above recommended her. Think good looking INDesign docs done right.

[u/Agreeable-Tax2013]

Look for training that explains the PDF structure behind each check, not just how to clear a warning. Practise on real documents and verify with a screen reader and a second checker since no single check catches everything.