Microsoft PowerPoint – Accessibility Tips

PowerPoint Window Views

-Normal view (default) will show the Current Slide on screen and thumbnail view of other slides to the left

-Outline view is very important for Accessibility. In this view, the display on the left pane provides an outline of onlythe text that was entered into your presentation.

-Very Important Tip: Only text that was entered into a ‘Placeholder’ will appear on the Outline view. So, if you create your own text box on an individual slide, (instead of adding a placeholder to a master slide layout) the contents of that text box will not appear in the Outline View, nor will it be picked up by screen readers.

-Tip: Quickly and easily set up your PowerPoint presentation by typing your Slide Titles and Bullets directly into the Outline View. Then, add your creative flair.

Slide Layouts & Master Slides

-For global presentation settings, use the ‘Slide Master’to set up new or modify existing page layout templates. (Don’t modify each slide independently.)

-‘Slide Masters’can be used to set up font style, sizes colour, background design, text and image placeholders and elements (such as the SLC logo) that will automatically appear on each slide.

-Tip: Images on the slide master are considered ‘artifacts’ and will not be picked up by screen readers. (No alternate text required)

-Tip: When using slide masters, any global changes in presentation design can be done quickly. Make the changes on the Slide Master and all of your slides will be updated automatically. (Time savings)

Font Size & Style Recommendations

-Font size - 30pt minimum (36 or larger preferred)

-Font style – Use Sans Serif fonts (ie. Verdana, Calibri, Century Gothic); not Serif or script style fonts (Times New Roman, Bookman Old Style, Palatino Linotype, Brush Script)

Colour

-Ensure that there is adequate contrast between background and foreground

-Don’t use colour as sole method of distinguishing groups

Include Title on each slide

-Slide titles act similar to headings in MS Word.

-They provide structure to your presentation and navigational control to users of screen readers

Less is More

-White space is a good thing

-Limit slides to 6-7 bullets (maximum)

-Avoid using Word Art (changes the shape of the letters, it is an image no longer text)

-Limit the use of transitions and builds (too much becomes distracting and could affect the ability to focus on the material)

-Avoid using transitions that ‘flash’ on the screen as it could cause seizures

Use Bulleted/Numbered Lists

-Bulleted for ‘un ordered’ lists (camping packing list)

-Numbered for ‘ordered’ lists (assembly instructions)

Create Non Text Objects within PowerPoint

  • Create tables, graphs, smart art from within PowerPoint (using a place holder) instead of creating in another program (ie. Excel) and copying the chart/table as an image
  • This will keep the data in the chart within the presentation and screen readers will be able to access the data
  • Tip: It will also be easier to update later, as you won’t have to locate the source file for your table/chart.
  • Click on the picture within the placeholder object that you would like to add (ie. Video, Table, Chart, Smart Art, Picture, Online Picture, Video)

Add Alternate Text to Non Text Objects

-Add ‘Alt Text’ for all non-text objects (pictures, tables, charts, smart art, videos)

  • Right Click > Properties > Alt Text

-For Videos – include closed captions

-Tip: For multiple images, group the images and add alt text to the group

Hyperlinks

-Create meaningful hyperlink text. (Not Click Here, or URL)

  • Right Click>Edit Text To Display

Meta Data

-Add pertinent meta data to your document to store information about the file including title, subject, author, category, key words, comments etc.

-This information can be searched on by screen reader users; and it will be useful for searching files on SharePoint

  • File > Properties > Advanced Properties

Accessibility Checker

-Use the Accessibility Checker in MS PowerPoint to review your document

-Correct any accessibility errors using the information provided by the checker

  • File > Inspect Document > Check Accessibility

-Tip: Add the Accessibility Checker to your Quick Launch Menu

  • Customize Quick Action Tool Bar > More Commands > All Commands > Accessibility Checker > Add

File Sharing and PDF Accessibility

-When sharing files to PDF, for best results, create the file using the ‘Acrobat’ Tab

  • Acrobat Tab > Create PDF

-If there is no Acrobat Tab installed, use the Save As PDF option. If you use the Save As PDF function, most of the accessibility features come in, however the blocks of text are not split into paragraph chunks. Having smaller chunks of text makes reading the file easier to navigate for people using screen readers. This won’t make much difference with PPT files.

-If you Print to PDF, all the accessibility tags and bookmarks are stripped from the file as it is just an image of the file that is scalable for print purposes.