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Accessibility Assignment

Student’s Name

Department, Institutional Affiliation

Course Code, Name

Instructor

Date
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Consenting

In completing this Department of Justice Software Accessibility Checklist (DOJSAC)

assignment, a laptop occasionally used by three family members was used. On weekly basis, the

laptop was used by two employed members of the family. As a result, they inquired if

accomplishing the needs of the assignment would interfere with the functionality of the laptop. I

was prompted to ascertain that the DOJSAC assignment only aimed at evaluating a specific

software and would not lead to any changes in the device. Also, following the reassurance of

their queries, I was then accorded full permission to complete the assignment by accessing

Microsoft PowerPoint.

Background

Accordingly, to completing the DOJSAC assignment, the evaluator accessed the family

laptop in their living room where there were minimum distractions. Also, the place provided a

strong network connection to facilitate every process. To ensure effectiveness in the process, the

checklist was printed prior to the assignment and acted as a source of reference. There was no

complexity in accessing Microsoft PowerPoint and associate software settings as the laptop was

well managed and icons well arranged to ease the processes. Through professionalism and

experience, it was easy for the evaluator to identify assistive technology which helps guide

individuals to access services using the device. As the family was not in during the evaluation, it

provided a comfortable and conducive environment to carry out necessary tests for the

assignment.
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Assessment

The assessment checklist was completed in approximately two hours. As highlighted, this

was conducted at the family’s living room as this provided a good environment and suitable

location with minimal concerns from individual distractions, network connection problems, as

well as complexities in accessing the software. The laptop used was fast and reliable constituting

reliable outcomes in running operations using Microsoft PowerPoint. To complete the

assignment, the evaluator requested access to a PowerPoint document saved in the device to

carry out tests on the accessibility of the Microsoft PowerPoint software.

Results

During the evaluation, several elements of Microsoft PowerPoint software were assessed

based on the following review criterion.

Elements Findings

Keyboard access Microsoft PowerPoint offers users keyboard equivalents for mouse

actions, provides clear and precise documentation instructions. Also,

it has instructions available for all users provides a logical tabbing

across the menu, text boxes, and fields. The software presents users

with a well-defined focal point for keyboard navigation with the

availability of pull-down menus and incorporates existing operation

system features.

Timing Since the family gave full access to the software, there were timed

responses that allowed the evaluator to modify timing parameters

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only for the DOJSAC assignment.

Screen elements Microsoft PowerPoint provides field descriptions placed above the

control as the provided document consisted of objects, graphs, and

tables. Further, every window, object, and control was well labeled to

ease accessibility but the software adopts custom control over

standard control.

Icons Here, I was established that Microsoft PowerPoint provides user-

selectable options to display text and icons. Additionally, there was

consistency in the use of icons with the availability of text

equivalents and icon selections on the menu, tools, and format bars.

Sounds There is the availability of audio and visual cues in Microsoft

PowerPoint giving the user an option to adjust or disable sound

volume because the software supports the ‘show sounds’ feature

integrated into the operating system. To settings tab allows the user

to access and initiate sound and visual changes.

Display The software displays on a patterned background but allows the user

to override and default fonts for printing and text display. Moreover,

users can adjust rotation, flashing, and moving displays through the

operating system.

Colors Microsoft PowerPoint does not allow for color-coding as the primary

means of presenting information but provides users with a variety of

color settings to enable the use of user-defined colors. In the

software, highlighting is also viewable using inverted colors.

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Size Size settings were easily identified, however, if the software draws its

screen elements, it does not adhere to the size settings selected by the

user in the control panel.

Documentation Notably, there was the availability of electronic manuals,

documentation, and ASCII text files but a user cannot have any

report generated by the software printed in ASCII file format.

training There was the availability of special training provided through online

platforms to help users with disabilities easily use the software in

conjunction with assistive technology.

Interpretation

From the evaluation, it is vital to note that Microsoft PowerPoint is easily accessible and

easy to use by all users regardless of their condition. This is facilitated by the easily available

software settings provided by the operating system (Rutledge & Mucciolo, 2021). Considering

that the owners provided a comprehensive document to accomplish the accessibility assignment,

it was possible to evaluate all areas of the software. As a result, it was possible to identify how

the software function and provided necessary recommendations that aim at integrating necessary

changes to improve the overall functionality and accessibility of Microsoft PowerPoint as

highlighted.

Recommendation
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Noteworthy, with a majority of the features complying with the expected standards of

accessible software, it was however necessary to recommend a change that allows the software

to support standard controls to complement owner-drawn controls. There is a need to provide

alternative and reliable navigation tools since users without a mouse or keyboard find it very

difficult to navigate through the software. In addition, it is essential to ensure that the software

supports the presentation of audio information in a visual format (Molochkov, 2017). Since the

software supports patterned display, it would benefit the users by allowing for the presentation of

a primary blank to give the user full control in selecting the appropriate display design to use in

operating the software. Besides, it was impossible to print files in the ASCII format with the

available online tutorials not providing reliable outcomes as the steps were not compatible with

Microsoft PowerPoint. Also, it is recommended that more channels be provided to facilitate

training to ensure that users are able to navigate through the software and incorporate assistive

technology.

Application

As a technologically advanced individual, it was possible to navigate through the

software effectively with the aid of a mouse and keyboard. Here, I try to resolve any

complexities that result from the system and highly advocate for the use of shortcuts. However, it

was challenging to use shortcuts only to find the software and navigate through with the aid of

the operating system when an owner-drawn control is not available (Huddleston, 2018).

Subsequently, it is a challenge to complete certain tasks using the system necessitating aid from

online platforms. However, a majority of online-based accessibility operations mandate

subscriptions which limits the number of users benefiting from the help (Petrie & Bevan, 2019).

Additionally, for individuals with disabilities, it is challenging to identify and use navigation
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functions and shortcuts if they are not efficiently trained. This contributes to unanticipated

concerns for Microsoft PowerPoint users which highlights the need for professionals to educate

other users on how to apply the identified concepts when using the software.

References
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Huddleston, S. (2018). Making Microsoft PowerPoint Accessible.

https://scholarspace.jccc.edu/c2c_sidlit/2018/friday/1/

Molochkov, В. П. (2017). Microsoft PowerPoint. https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id-11327197

Petrie, H., & Bevan, N. (2019). Evaluation of Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility, Usability, and

User Experience. The universal access handbook, 1, 1-16.

Rutledge, P. A., & Mucciolo, T. (2021). Using Microsoft PowerPoint 2002. Que Publishing.