How to Create Accessible PowerPoint Presentations from Scratch
These directions will be useful for people just beginning to make a PowerPoint presentation.
1. Open your Microsoft Power Point program (from the Start menu choose “Programs” and then “Microsoft Power Point”).
2. These actions will display the program in your screen with a window
in the middle that asks you about the type of presentation you want
to use. Choose the “blank presentation” and click “OK”
3. When you click “OK”, a window showing you the Auto Layout
options will be displayed in your screen. Choose the third auto layout
of the third line. This auto layout looks like a blank slide with only
a header. Click “OK”.
A blank slide with a header only will be displayed on your screen. Using the slide you have now on your screen, let’s go over some formatting elements that you will need to make your presentation accessible.
Within PowerPoint there are different views. For making accessible
presentations, use the Normal View icon located at the bottom left of
the screen.
4. Click on the Normal View icon that is the first icon located at the bottom left of the screen. When working in a Normal View, the screen will show three pane areas:
· Outline Pane: the frame on the far left
This pane shows your presentation text without any graphics.
· Slide Pane: the frame on the upper right
This pane shows what each individual slide of your presentation looks
like.
· Notes Pane: the frame on the lower right
This pane shows the author’s notes.
Note: if you are not able to see these three sections, you are not
in the “Normal View” To get to the “normal view”
review points 4 of this tutorial.
5. Write in the “Click to add title” area of the slide:
“This is an example of how to create accessible PowerPoint presentations”.
Your screen should look like a slide with information in the header
and the same information automatically appears in the outline.
When a slide contains an image, graphic, logo or flow chart, those images are inaccessible for people using assistive technology, such as screen readers. All these non-text images will not be seen (i.e. not read aloud) since the graphical information is a “blank space” for the screen reader. To prevent screen readers from skipping information conveyed by images or graphics, you need to describe the image or graphic in the Notes Pane.
How to write notes in the Notes Pane:
1. Point your mouse to the bottom right part of your PowerPoint slide
where it says: “Click to add notes.”
2. Click with the mouse in that section and start typing. What you type
will depend of the purpose of the graphic that you are adding. (see
our “Descriptive Text Tutorial”))
The notes should clearly convey what you want the user to get out of
the image. If the graphical information on the slide is purely decorative,
you do not necessarily have to mention it. If there is a logo, you must
let the user know the logo is there and what the logo is.
Example of a PowerPoint that includes some graphical information
An accessible slide that contains an image and some text seen in a Normal
View will:
· show all the information on the slide,
· Show an outline with only the text information of your slide.
· Show written notes in the notes pane describe the image contained
on the slide.
And that’s it! Following these easy steps will help you to create accessible PowerPoint presentations (when started from scratch).
Notes:
When you create PowerPoint presentations using design templates (e.g.
stylish background and/or colors), be sure that you have colors with
enough contrast so that people with color blindness or low vision have
access to all of the information in the presentation. More information
on effective
color contrast.
For advanced PowerPoint presentations that use multimedia (e.g. streaming video that presents images and uses speech), captioned text will be required to make the information available to deaf and hard of hearing people. If some visual information presented is not described orally but is important for understanding the information, it should also be described on the caption. If captioning is not possible, you should provide a text transcript of the video.
Now, to be able to post your PowerPoint presentation on-line, you need to follow the steps described in the PowerPoint tutorial 2: “Making PowerPoint Presentations to Publish on the Web”
Reviewing the steps to create PowerPoint presentations from scratch:
1. When you start a PowerPoint presentation or insert a new slide, always choose the frame structure (auto layout) that best fits your purpose.
Suggestions of use of an Autolayout:
Auto layout 1) Title and subtitle
Auto layout 2) Title and some bullets
Auto layout 3) Title and two columns of bullets
Auto layout 4) Title and a table.
Auto layout 5) Title, bullets and 1 graphical image.
Auto layout 6) Title, graphic and bullets
Auto layout 7) Title and flow chart
Auto layout 8) Title and a graphic.
Auto layout 9) Title and bullets and a picture
Auto layout 10) Title, a picture and bullets
Auto layout 11) Title
Auto layout 12) Mainly graphics. All the information contained in this
specific type of layout should be described in the notes pane.
2. Select the Normal view icon (click on it)
3. Type the information in your slide and confirm that the information is also displayed in the outline section. Use simple language that the users can understand easily. It is also a good idea to write the information using a good amount of white space (i.e. no crowded) for sound design and for visual clearness. (see our “Descriptive Text Tutorial”))
If graphical information is used on the slide (e.g. images, pictures,
logos, figures, charts, tables), describe them in the notes pane section.
Images that are decorative do not need to be described. An image’s
description will depend on the purpose of the graphical information
presented.
4.
Other general recommendations:
a) Use sans serif fonts for your presentations, such as Arial, the type of font used for this handout. The use of fonts such as Times New Roman creates false cues for people with low vision, creating confusion in the correct identification of letters.
b) Use a good amount of blank space in your presentation.
Congratulations! You’ve learn how to Make an Accessible PowerPoint presentation from Scratch. Now please take our PowerPoint test your knowledge.
To be able to post your PowerPoint presentation on the Web, you need to follow the steps described on the PowerPoint section called How to make PowerPoint presentations Accessible to Publish on the Web.
Go back to PowerPoint tutorial page