Building an Accessible Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation
Creating presentations that are accessible to everyone is an important consideration for content developers. Because Macromedia Breeze presentations are authored in Microsoft PowerPoint, it is important that the PowerPoint presentation itself be accessible. PowerPoint presentations often contain graphics and animation. In order for these elements to be accessible to blind users who employ software called a screen reader to read the contents of a presentation to them, it is necessary to give the graphics or animation text equivalents which describe their function.
PowerPoint presentations that are delivered to an end-user’s computer can reach a wider audience if accessibility is considered at the development stage. Here are a few steps that will help you to create an accessible PowerPoint presentation:
- Add text equivalents to the images used in the presentation
- Limit use of animations and transitions in your PowerPoint presentation
- Ensure the accessibility of animations used
Adding alt text to images in Microsoft PowerPoint
For images or objects (e.g., charts) used in your presentation, add text equivalents (alt text) using the steps below.
- Right-click on your image or object, or select the image or object and press Shift+F10.
- Select Format Picture… or Format Object…
- Select the Web tab in the dialog box.
- Enter the alt text in the text area box provided. Be sure this text adequately represents the purpose of the image it describes. This text need not be a detailed description of the image but should convey the image’s function on the page.
Limit transitions in your presentation
Accessible presentations should limit transitions to one per slide whenever possible. When a PowerPoint presentation is converted into a Macromedia Breeze presentation, overuse of transitions can present difficulties for screen readers. Consider the example of a slide containing bullet points which fly in from the right: as each bullet transitions onto the screen, a screen reader will return to the top of the page and recommence reading the page’s contents from the beginning. This can create a very tedious experience for the screen reader user. While it is acceptable to use such transitions once in a while, it should not be done on every slide. Limiting the use of transitions and animation to one per slide will help to improve the readability of your presentation for screen reader users.
Ensure the accessibility of animations used
Animations used in your PowerPoint presentations should be accessible. Ensure that Macromedia Flash animations used in your presentations are accessible by following the recommendations for Macromedia Flash authoring at the Macromedia Accessibility Resource Center.
In addition, you should carefully consider your use of decorative animations. Constant motion on the screen may cause a screen reader to refresh frequently, making the presentation more difficult to use. Keeping animations to a minimum or eliminating them altogether will increase the accessibility of your content.
