Making an Accessible PowerPoint Presentation (macOS)

Updated on Nov 15, 2024

Screen readers can read the elements of a slide in the order they were added; this may be very different from the order in which things appear visually on screen. People who use a screen reader skim slide titles to navigate; they can quickly scan through a list of slide titles and go right to the slide they want. Using unique slide titles lets users clearly understand which slide they are on. Avoid using the same title for slides with spill-over information; consider including additional information such as ‘Slide Title 1 of 2.

Apply Accessible Design.

Avoid all capital letters.
Choose a San Serif font that is larger than 18 points.
Ensure embedded or linked media is accessible.
Ensure slide order is consistent with how you intend the slide to be read by others.
Review the following article to learn more about How to change the reading order in PowerPoint.
Remember to add a unique title to each slide.
Include ample white space between sentences.
Use bold font to emphasize rather than using excessive italics and underlines.
Use accessible templates. Go to the Branded Assets site and select the Southern New Hampshire PowerPoint.
Run the Accessibility Checker.

How to Run the Accessibility Checker in PowerPoint

Select "review" button.
Select "check accessibility" button.

Describe all visual objects with an Alternative Text (Alt Text).

Explain “why” the image relates to the content. The Alt Text is read aloud by screen reading software. Review the following article to learn more about How to create Alternative Text.

The results from the accessibility checker showing the warnings and errors.

The ways that Alt. Text missing can be fixed for users.

Following this article will take you step by step on how to run the accessibility checker, and also more in-depth information on it: How to Use Accessibility Checker in PowerPoint (Desktop Mac)

How to Add Alternative Text (Alt. Text) to Images in the PowerPoint

Right click on the image.

The menu from right clicking on the image.

Select "Edit Alt. Text ..."

The right click menu with the "edit alt text" button boxed in.

Type in what the photo is of. For this example of the logo, you could put "Southern New Hampshire University logo."
If it is decorative, you can select the box. For this one it could be marked as decorative due to possible no relevance to the Power Point depending on what it is on.

The box to input the alt. text for the image and a "mark as decorative" checkbox.

For more information on Alt. text you can go to How to Use Accessibility Checker in PowerPoint (Desktop Mac). There is also another article about alt. text and you can go here to find it How to create Alternative Text.

How to Change the Reading Order of the PowerPoint

From the Home ribbon select "Arrange" then select "Selection Pane"

The home ribbon with the drop-down menu of the "Arrange" button.

For the screen reader to properly read the slide to the user, the reading order must go from bottom to top. In the following example, the screen reader would read the text in picture 13, text placeholder 8, and finally, title 7.

The "selection pane" window with the current order of being read to users.

For more information on how to change the reading order, you can go to the following;

How to Change the Reading Order for PowerPoint (Desktop Mac).

Run images with colors that can be changed through the Color Checker.

Avoid using color as the only means of representing information.

Use sufficient contrast for text and background colors. Review the following articles to learn more about:

Review the articles listed below for additional support:

How to Check Color Contrast with A11Y (Please note the web-based site will only work on Google Chrome).
How to Check Color Contrast with Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA): (This free software will require you to download the application to your device).
How to Create Accessible Content for Color Vision Deficiency
Upload the content to a web-based Color Blind Vision Simulator such as Coblis: Color Blindness Simulator and look at what the content would look like through the eyes of people with different types of color blindness.
How to Check Color Contrast with Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA) (Desktop Mac) Please note this will require you to download an application to your desktop.

http://www.color-blindness.com/coblis-color-blindness-simulator/