How to Make PowerPoint Presentations Accessible to Publish on the Web
When you have an existing PowerPoint presentation posted on the web—or one you want to post on the web—you have two options.
Option 1: The easiest way to make it accessible all web users is to download a software “plug-in” designed by the University of Illinois called the Web Publishing Accessibility Wizard. Check their Web site for the current price. The Wizard allows you to easily develop three different versions of your PowerPoint presentations—a text-only version, a text with minimal graphics version and a text with full graphics version—that can be perceived by all users in any browser. The final product is a web page you can publish to the internet—without any prior knowledge of how to create a web page!
The Web Accessibility Wizard
plug-in is available on-line. After you install it in your computer,
it will add a “Save as an accessible web page” option under
the File menu of your PowerPoint program. Install the program yourself;
if you cannot download the program, you may need to ask for assistance
from your System Administrator.
Note that while this program makes PowerPoint presentations accessible on the web, it will not make the original PowerPoint presentation you develop accessible in itself as a presentation. To make your original presentation accessible, see "How to Create Accessible PowerPoint Presentations from Scratch."
To make your PowerPoint presentation into an accessible web page:
1) Make certain the Web Accessibility Wizard has been installed on
your computer.
2) Open Microsoft PowerPoint
3) Open the specific presentation you want to work with
4) Under “File,” select the “Save as Accessible Web
Page” option
5) Once the Export Wizard displays its opening page, click "Next"
5) the Export Wizard will guide you through a series of steps to make
your PowerPoint accessible, steps that include:
a. Determining whether an image is “informative” or “decorative.” If it is decorative (e.g. a piece of abstract art), it is sufficient to provide a brief description or simply identify it as a “decorative image.” If it is informative (i.e. its function is to give the user information necessary for purposes of comprehension), you’ll want to consider what you want the viewer to get out of the image. Consider and describe what the image conveys to the user, as well as the value of the information it contains. (see our “Descriptive Text Tutorial”).
Many images have dual functions; this logo, for example, is informative inasmuch as it identifies the source of the material on the slide. Yet it has a decorative function as well. Describing the colors and shapes depicted in the logo is of little value, however, as doesn’t significantly add to the meaning of the image. A brief description of its informative meaning will thus be sufficient for making it accessible. (e.g. Web Accessibility for All logo).
b. Labeling and filling in information from all charts. You will be
asked to give Series (horizontal or “x” axis) and Category
(vertical or “y” axis) names to your chart rows and columns.
This will allow accessibility technologies such as screen readers to
read aloud the information in the appropriate order so that users who
are blind, visually-impaired or have learning disabilities can understand
the chart’s organization. Inserting a chart title will help users
to understand the function of the information presented in an image.
In the example below, a chart title such as "Color deficiencies
and their spectra" will helpful for users to understand the information
presented. Image hearing only the sequence of colors in this example:
(red, brown, rust-brown, red) not knowing which end of the spectrum
or which deficiendy this information is associated with! Again, consider
the purpose of the informational image if it is to understand the colors
perceived at specific intervalds of the electromagnetic spectrum by
persons with normal and three common types of color perception deficiency,
then the description is sufficient. If the purpose is to familiarize
the viewer with the entire range of the spectrum the human eye can perceive,
then the description is not sufficient.
c.Providing a short, functional description of an image as well as a
longer, more detailed description to assist users in more fully comprehending
the content and interpreting the function of the image. Notice in the
example below, the short description still describes the image's function,
though the long description goes into a lot of more detail.
6) When Export Wizard approaches the end of the program, it prompts you to label the color of the background of the PowerPoint slides you designed. Hit “change color” and pick a color that closely matches the background you have chosen to use, making sure to use a color that contrasts sufficiently against your text that color- and other vision-disabled users can perceive the information on your slides.
7) Export Wizard will ask you to save the file to your hard drive. Pick where you want to save it, name your file and click “Next.” Once Export Wizard is finished, you have an accessible PowerPoint ready to post to the web.
Once again, the Web Accessibility Wizard plug-in is available on-line.
Reviewing the steps of making PowerPoint presentations
accessible on the Web using the Web Accessibility Wizard:
1) Check to make sure the Web Accessibility Wizard has been installed
on your computer. The File menu should have an option titled “Save
as Accessible Web Page;” if you have that option, the Wizard has
been successfully installed.
2) Open Microsoft PowerPoint
3) Open the specific presentation you want to work with
4) Under “File,” select the “Save as Accessible Web
Page” option
5) Follow the Export Wizard guide through the processes of
a. determining whether the images you use are decorative or informative.
b. labeling and filling in information from all charts.
c. providing short, functional and longer, more detailed descriptions
of all your images.
6) Choose a background color to match your slides
7) Name and save your file to the desired location on your hard drive.
Congratulations! You’ve made a completely accessible Web page
out of your PowerPoint presentation.
Option 2: Simply publish you original accessible
PowerPoint presentation on the Web. Using this option assumes that your
audience has Microsoft Office Suite in their computer. For the ones
that do not have Microsoft Suite, you should provide a PowerPoint viewer.
This is a viable solution that will help people in your audience that
do not have Power Point program or are not using Internet explorer,
but other browsers such as Netscape, Mozilla and Opera. But if a person
is using only the PowerPoint viewer because they do not have the full
program, they will not be able to take full advantage of the newly-accessible
information in the presentation.
To address this inconvenience, you can urge your audience to save the file in their computer’s hard drive and open it with the PowerPoint program. That way, people will be able to use the accessibility features. If neither option is available, there is no way for the user to access the content of the file, regardless of the person’s disability status.
You can get a free PowerPoint viewer on-line.