Accessibility in PowerPoint Transcript

[music, opening credits]

NARRATOR: Commonwealth of Learning: Learning for sustainable development.
Sharing presentation materials can help increase the accessibility of lectures. In
this video, we will be going over how to ensure those files are accessible.
Specifically, we will be looking at accessibility in PowerPoint. The version of
PowerPoint shown in this video is Office 365. However, the main principles and
practices will apply to other versions of PowerPoint and may transfer to other
presentation software as well.
In this video, we will cover the following topics:
• Using and customizing slide layouts,
• Headings,
• Order of objects,
• Image alt text,
• The built-in accessibility checker, and
• Recommendations for sharing files.
One thing to keep in mind is that several accessibility principles that we covered in
the course are also applicable to slide design. This includes the size and style of
text, how to describe images in text, and colour and colour contrast.
Slide Layouts
[A screen recording of a blank slide in PowerPoint.]
When creating slides in PowerPoint, you will want to use the slide layouts, which
act as templates.
You can access the slide layout options in the Home tab under the "Layout" drop-
down menu.
[A cursor clicks “Layout,” which is under the Home tab in PowerPoint.
A drop-down many appears showing several different slide layout options.]
Slide layouts use different placeholders for different content types like headings,
images, and text, which ensures that the information on your slide can be accessed

“Accessibility in PowerPoint” by Commonwealth of Learning. CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence.

by people using screen readers and that screen readers will present the information
in the correct order.
[The slide layout switches from the “Heading and content” layout to the
“Comparison” layout.]
In addition, slide layouts can make your slides design so much easier, especially if
there is a consistent style that you want applied throughout your presentation.
Using slides layouts will also help you avoid the use of text boxes. Textboxes are
not accessible for people using screen readers.
[The slide layout switches to the “Title only” layout, which only has room
for a heading. A textbox is inserted in the slide and text is added to it. The
textbox is right clicked, and “Edit alt text” is selected. The text content of
the textbox is copied as the alt text.]
So if you are using textboxes, you will have to provide an alt text description for
any textboxes you use. This can create a lot of extra work.
[The slide layout switches to the “Heading and content” layout, which only
has a placeholder for a heading and one content type.]
For example, the layout of the slide displayed here has room for a title and one
content type. But let's say that I want this slide to have room for two separate
sections of text. Instead of adding a textbox, I can select the two-content layout
option from the layout drop-down menu. If I do this, there is no need to provide an
alt text description.
[The cursor selects the “Layout” menu and selects the “Two Content”
layout option. The slide switches to a layout with a heading and
placeholders for two content types.]
PowerPoint provides you with several default slide layouts, but you are able to
customize and style the layouts however you wish, and have those customizations
applied to all slides using that layout. This is done in the Slide Master view.
In PowerPoint, you can access Slide Master under the View tab. The Slide Master
acts as the style sheet for all of your slides. It is where you can style your slide
layouts by selecting your font type, size, and colour. You can apply a background
to all of the layout types at once, and you can edit the layouts or make your own by
adding, removing, or repositioning different content-type placeholders. Any

“Accessibility in PowerPoint” by Commonwealth of Learning. CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence.

changes made to these layouts will be reflected in your slides, and any new layouts
you create will be available to select from the Layouts menu when you go back to
your slides.
[The font type for headings is changed in the Slide Master. When Slide
Master View is existed, you can see that the font for the headings in the slide
deck have been updated.]
Headings
As with all digital content, headings are important. When it comes to presentations,
slide headings should be added to the title placeholder available in slide layouts
and not a textbox or general text placeholder.
It is also important to ensure that every slide in your presentation has a unique
heading that accurately describes the content on that specific slide. This will make
it easier for people to find specific information on your slides. It also helps students
who are using screen readers to navigate the presentation.
Verify order of objects
You also need to verify the order of objects on each slide. This ensures that a
screen reader will present the slide content in the correct order. By using slide
layouts, PowerPoint will have a decent idea of what order to present information
in. But things can get mixed up, especially if content was moved around.
[A slide with a heading and three sections of text content on different parts
of the slide.]
To verify and edit the order of objects on a slide in PowerPoint, go to the Home tab
and under "Drawing" select "Arrange," and then click "Selection Pane." A
Selection panel will pop up, listing the order of objects on the slide you have open.
When you click on the placeholder, the object it corresponds to on your slide will
be selected as well. You can drag and drop these objects to put them in order, or
you can use the arrows to move things up and down.
Add alt text to images
It is important to add alt text to all images in PowerPoint.
[A slide with a heading, text, and three images that show different versions
of the same bar graph.]

“Accessibility in PowerPoint” by Commonwealth of Learning. CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence.

To add alt text to an image, you can right click it and select "Edit alt text" from the
menu that appears. If the image is decorative and does not need a text description,
you can click the checkbox that reads "Mark as decorative."
Alt text can also be added to graphs, tables, and textboxes to make them accessible.
PowerPoint’s Accessibility Checker
PowerPoint has a built-in accessibility checker that works like spell check. When
you turn it on, it will analyze your PowerPoint file and identify any potential
accessibility barriers that may exist. This may include poor colour contrast,
missing alternative text, and slides that have objects that are out of order.
Keep in mind that an accessibility checker may not catch everything. However, it
can be a useful tool to identify common issues.
To turn on the accessibility checker, go to the Review tab and click "Check
Accessibility." It will then walk you through fixing accessibility errors in your
slide.
Sharing slides
Finally, let's talk about options when sharing slides.
The easiest way to share slides is to share the PowerPoint file. This is a great
option to ensure the file will be accessible to students using screen readers, and it
also allows students to refer to any available speaking notes.
PowerPoint also allows you to export slides into different formats. For example,
you can have the slides converted to PDF or Microsoft Word document.
To do this, open the File tab and click "Export." Select "Create Adobe PDF" to
have files converted to PDF or you can select "Create Handouts." With this option,
you can have all of the slides exported to a Microsoft Word document, with the
option of including the slide notes as well.
This brings you to the end of the video. By keeping these functionalities of
PowerPoint in mind, you will be able to create more accessible PowerPoint files to
share with students.
End Credits
[music]
This video is available under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike Licence.

“Accessibility in PowerPoint” by Commonwealth of Learning. CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence.

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Commonwealth of Learning: Learning for sustainable development.

“Accessibility in PowerPoint” by Commonwealth of Learning. CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence.