Microsoft PowerPoint AccessibilityMelanie ThorntonCoordinator of Access and Equity Outreach

Partners for Inclusive Communities

Housekeeping Items• Recording• Participants muted by default• Captions, Technology and Timing• Questions

• Chat• Questions Queue• Email: mthornt@uark.edu.

• Certificate of Attendance• Handout: https://exploreaccess.org/handouts/

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Ways We Use MS PowerPoint• Face-to-face slide presentations• Live slide presentations for webinars• To create standalone slide shows• To share digitally• To create handouts in other formats

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Common Barriers: PowerPoint• Images with no alt text• Poor contrast• Text that is not clear or large enough• Text not available in outline view

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Providing Good Contrast• Select a slide design that has good contrast between text

and background. (4.5 to 1 or better)• Black or dark blue text on a light grey or white

background or...• Light text—white or light grey—on black or dark blue

background• If you are unsure about the contrast, use a contrast

analyzer to check it

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Choosing Design Templates

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Checking Color Contrast 1

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Checking Color Contrast 2

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Choosing Slide Layouts• Do not choose the blank

slide and then add text boxes.

• Choose the layout that fits your content best.

• This allows all of the text content to be available in the Outline View for easier exporting.

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Using Unique Headings for Each Slide• Make sure each slide has a unique heading.• If you have information that continues across

more than one slide add “continued” if there are 2 or number then if there are more than 2.• Data from Our Study - 1• Data from Our Study - 2• Data from Our Study - 3

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Don’t Want a Heading to Show?• Make the heading

the same color as your background

• You can also hide the title in the selection pane

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Choosing Fonts and Font Size• Choose fonts that are easy to read

• Sans Serif or Times New Roman• Avoid very decorative or thin fonts

• Avoid putting too much text on slide • Make sure fonts are at least:

• 28+ for in person presentations• 24+ for webinars

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Making Images Accessible with Alt Text• Without alt text, a screen reader user will not

know what an image is. • The screen reader will just say “graphic”• Describe what is in the image. No need to say

“image of” or “picture of”

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How to Add Alt Text• Right click on the image• Choose Edit Alt Text• (In older versions, you may choose Format Picture)

• Write the description in the box that appears to the right of the document.

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More Complex Images• For charts and graphs, make sure

to select the outside edge when adding alt text

• Option 1: Place full description in alt text

• Option 2: Include brief description and summarize the rest of the data in the slide content

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Chart Sample•45% have 6 to 10 errors on page•30% have more than 10 errors on page•20% have 3 to 5 errors on page•5% have fewer than 2 errors on page.

Alt text: Pie chart title: Website Accessibility Assessment of All Organizational Sites. Data summarized on slide.

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Meaningful Links and Usability• Do people need to access the link right away?

• Provide full URL• Download the handout at: exploreaccess.org/handouts

• Will everyone likely use the handout to access the resources?• Provide meaningful links

• Creating Accessible Documents Toolkit

• Are you printing handouts for a face-to-face presentation?• Provide both

• Create Accessible Documents Toolkit(exploreaccess.org/creating-accessible-documents)

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A Few More Suggestions• Data Tables: Only simple tables with same numbers of columns and rows. Can add alt text if complex table.

• Embedding videos: Remember to caption.• Animations: Use sparingly. Avoid flashing objects.• Design Ideas: Some are fairly accessible and some are not at all. Avoid unless you plan to remediate PDF.

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Using the Accessibility Checker• Select Review Ribbon• Click on Accessibility Checker• Panel opens to the right

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Save as PDF

• Always “Save As” PDF instead of Printing to PDF

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Thank you!

• Evaluation and Certificates• Future webinars:

• Accessible Webinars• http://exploreaccess.org/upcoming-events/

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Contact MeMelanie ThorntonCoordinator of Access and Equity OutreachUniversity of ArkansasPartners for Inclusive Communities

mthornt@uark.edu

Follow UA Partners on social media:• Facebook: @uofapartners• Twitter: @uofapartners• LinkedIn:

linkedin.com/company/uofapartners/

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