The Art of the Table: InDesign Tricks for Stunning Smart Accessible Layouts

• 3:30-4:00 pm Pre-Presentation Networking

• 4:00-5:45 pm Presentation

Are you tired of tables that are bland, difficult to update, or inaccessible to people with disabilities? Elevate your document design by mastering advanced table techniques in Adobe InDesign. Presented by InDesign guru Pariah Burke, this masterclass dives into secrets and recipes from his InDesign Masterclass: Text Techniques and InDesign Masterclass: Type & Tables books, showing you how to create tables that are aesthetically appealing, highly efficient, and Section 508-compliant.

You will learn how to build stunning layouts that utilize sophisticated visual effects, such as creating repeating headers and footers, repeating headers but different headers on the first page, and even designing non-rectangular table cells.

Crucially, discover how to design "smart" tables by leveraging the full power of Table, Cell, and Paragraph styles to format an entire table in one click. We will cover time-saving workflows for managing complex data, including converting tab-separated lists into formatted tables and setting up live linking to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets so your data stays perpetually up-to-date.

Finally, ensure your work is accessible to people with disabilities and compliant with modern standards like Section 508 and WCAG. Learn the proper techniques for merging and splitting cells to ensure accessibility, allowing screenreaders and other assistive tech to re-read headers in front of data cells, and techniques for making empty cells understandable and accessible.

Walk away with expert-level tips to make every aspect of your table work shine, transforming tedium into automation and design frustration into creative freedom.

About Pariah Burke

Pariah Burke is a renowned digital publishing and graphic design authority who empowers creative professionals to master the tools that drive their industry forward. With more than two decades of experience and a portfolio of influential books, Pariah delivers transformation—not just training.

As the author of ePublishing with InDesign and Mastering InDesign for Print Design and Production, Pariah has helped shape how creative professionals learn and use Adobe software. His insights have influenced features in Adobe InDesign and Creative Cloud itself.

He’s created over 20 professional video courses, published more than 450 tutorials and articles for InDesign Magazine, CreativePro Magazine, Macworld, and others, and trained design teams at top agencies, publishers, and global brands.

His mission is simple: to Inform, Inspire, and Empower Creative Professionals™.

Veni, Vidi, Docui — I came, I saw, I taught.

Free Drawing

All attendees are eligible to participate in a free drawing. No purchase or donation is required. However, you must attend the presentation to be eligible. Prizes delivered electronically are available to anyone in the world. Physical prizes are available to anyone in the U.S. without a shipping charge. Winners from outside the U.S. who choose a physical prize must bear the cost of shipping.

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