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How to Create Accessible PowerPoint Presentations

How to Create Accessible PowerPoint Presentations

Owned by Stuti Desai

For creating accessible PowerPoint presentations this is a checklist as well as detailed steps/explanations that can be followed.

 

  1. Click on File found in the Word menu

  2. Click Info

  3. Under Properties, add the Title and Author if needed

  • Good Choices are:

    • Arial

    • Calibri

    • Verdana

  • Try to use font size 12 and higher

  • Use Strong style for bold and Emphasis style for Italics

  • Do not start alt text with “picture of“ or “graphic of”

  • Validate auto-generated alt text

  • Include enough information for end user

  • Exclude information found near the image (example: caption below image)

  • Include alt text for images with hyperlink

  • Tip: You can turn on/off the Automatic Alt Text setting found in File > Options > Ease of Access > Accessibility

  • Write link text where it is going, for example IT Accessibility

  • Do not use “click here”, “learn more”, “read more”

  • Do not underline text that is not a link because keyboard users may think it is a link that is inaccessible

  • Use only data for tables

  • Designate top row as the header for each column

  • Turn on Repeat Header Row (found under Layout menu item when table is highlighted)

  • Add Alt Text to the table

  • Cannot create accessible table if using split cells, merged cells, or nested tables in Word when exporting to PDF

  • Tab through each cell to check for navigation (left to right and down)

Detailed information and steps to ensure adequate color contrast.

  • Make each slide title unique

  • Title will be presented as a heading to screen reader uses and will be the first thing read on each slide.

  • By default screen reader will read:

    • slide title first

    • followed by other content defined by slide layout

    • then any added content

  • If content is added, be sure the reading order is correct

  • Two ways to check reading order:

    • Home > Arrange > Selection Pane (this is reversed order)

    • Review > Check Accessibility > Reading Order Pane

  • Tips on Reading Order Pane:

    • Read in order listed

    • Uncheck decorative elements

    • If you have complex diagrams or illustrations made of many objects, group the objects into logical units

    • More information on Reading Order Pane

Animations and automatic slide transitions should be avoided because they can be a disturbance for people using screen readers.

Live Present:

  • End user chooses to turn off/on

  • Save file to OneDrive

  • Slide Show > Present Live drop-down arrow and set Audience Settings

  • Present > Present Live

  • Language can be changed by end user

Live Captions:

  • Everyone sees the captions

  • Use desktop version of the PowerPoint

  • Slide Show > Always Use Subtitles

  • Use VTT Captions

  • Kaltura creates SRT captions

    • Edit video > Captions > Download icon

  • Use Happy Scribe to convert captions

  • Click video, Playback > Insert captions