Accessible Electronic Content: Guidelines: Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint

Simple PowerPoint 2000/XP presentations (text-only) can be made accessible with little difficulty. The use of images, charts, graphs, etc. by visually-impaired students are all dependent on effective text descriptions or tactile alternatives of these elements. The use of audio, video and other forms of multimedia in PowerPoint presentations presents additional challenges that may be best addressed through alternative HTML-based versions. If there is a chance your students do not have access to PowerPoint on their local machines, HTML versions should be provided in any case.

Solutions

Provide native PowerPoint presentation
Provide HTML version of PowerPoint presentation
- by hand
- using the PowerPoint conversion tool
- using the UIUC PowerPoint Accessibility Wizard
Provide original PowerPoint presentation and HTML version

Creating Native PowerPoint presentations

Summary: Assuming all users have access to a local copy of PowerPoint, native files are generally accessible. Like HTML versions, all graphics require effective descriptions.

Required Hardware, Software, and/or Other Tools: PowerPoint 2000 (older versions of PowerPoint do not support Alt-tag insertion).

Cost of Tools: Upgrade to MS Office 2000

Skills Required: Should be comfortable with PowerPoint and publishing files to the Web.

Time Needed to Ensure Accessibility: Varies depending on content.

Compliance Can Be Part of Initial Production: Yes, but if also creating HTML version, keep in mind style compatibility (see Special Problems/Issues for more information).

Special Problems/Issues: PowerPoint 2000 and later versions offer native support for adding descriptions for images. A few things to keep in mind:

Students must have access to PowerPoint on their computers to view native files.
Accessibility options for embedded audio and video clips are not available in this environment.
Add short descriptions for images through TOOL-> . See Accessibility options under PowerPoint HELP.
Older versions of PowerPoint do not allow ALT tags to be added.
Must tab to move from text boxes (usually use arrow keys).
Screen reader will only recognize title in a title box.
Disable style checker in PowerPoint 2000; may cause screen reader to skip over text boxes.
CTL-FIND enables search, but screen reader does not read results.
Graphs, charts, equations:
- Use single description of chart or graph, rather than trying to describe each individual element.
- Use descriptive words to describe mathematical equations (e.g., "divide 44 by 9" instead of "44/9."
- Screen reader cannot handle native PowerPoint graphing tools. JAWS has no way of reading output plotted in non-linear form. May freeze up or crash machine.
Tables (Excel):
- Need instructions to prompt user to ENTER to launch Excel, to use Escape to exit, or other instructions.

Examples: PowerPoint presentation 1 (text-only); PowerPoint presentation 2 (text and images).

Recommended Resources: PowerPoint 2002 Help files (includes JAWS-specific keystrokes).

Creating HTML-based presentations by hand

Summary: Alternative HTML-based versions are especially helpful when audio/video content requires transcripts and other long descriptions.

Required Hardware, Software, and/or Other Tools: HTML editor or word processor.

Cost of Tools: Varies according to HTML creation tools used. Accessibility utilities are available for some HTML editors. For example, Usablenet's LIFT utility is built to work with Macromedia's Dreamweaver, a popular editor here at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Skills Required: Should be comfortable with creating web pages and inserting images and other media, where appropriate.

Time Needed to Ensure Accessibility: Varies depending on content.

Compliance Can Be Part of Initial Production: No, but files created automatically through PowerPoint utilities can be used in HTML versions.

Special Problems/Issues: A few things to keep in mind:

Must have RealPlayer and other helper applications set up in advance. Ensure that helper applications allow interaction with play controls (pause, play, etc.)
Audio transcription may benefit students with visual disabilities as well.
Braille programs may not handle tables-based HTML as well (pending further investigation).
Slide index should be either line-by-line or cell-by-cell (in tables format).
Use of standard Previous/Home/Next navigation at top of page is recommended.
Using CTL-Find to navigate may work for some students, but must always know what current slide number is.

Creating HTML-based presentations through PowerPoint

Summary: PowerPoint has a utility that saves presentations as HTML, but the results are a navigational nightmare for any disabled student dependent on a screen reader.

Required Hardware, Software, and/or Other Tools: PowerPoint 2000 (older versions of PowerPoint save all slides and content as single images).

Cost of Tools: Upgrade to MS Office 2000.

Skills Required: Should be comfortable with PowerPoint and publishing files to the Web.

Time Needed to Ensure Accessibility: Varies depending on content.

Compliance Can Be Part of Initial Production: Yes, but if also creating HTML version, keep in mind style compatibility (see Special Problems/Issues for more information).
Special Problems/Issues: PowerPoint 2000 and later versions offer native support for adding descriptions for images. A few things to keep in mind:

Does not allow screen reader to navigate with keystrokes through content line by line on main slides (e.g., line by line).
Cannot move through slides in reverse order using Internet Explorer.
Does not loop back to first slide at the end of presentation; user must return to address bar and re-enter slide show at beginning.

Creating HTML versions using the UIUC PowerPoint Accessibility Wizard

Summary: This plug-in has great potential for facilitating the creation of HTML-based PowerPoint presentations, but is currently too buggy to accommodate longer presentations. New versions of this tool are expected to be announced soon.

Required Hardware, Software, and/or Other Tools: UIUC PowerPoint Accessibility Wizard; PowerPoint 2000.

Cost of Tools:

UIUC PowerPoint Accessibility Wizard is free and downloadable via the Web (See Recommended Resources).
Upgrade to MS Office 2000.

Skills Required: Should be comfortable with PowerPoint and publishing files to the Web.

Time Needed to Ensure Accessibility: Varies depending on the number of images, diagrams, and spreadsheets. A ten slide PowerPoint presentation with six images takes approximately 10 minutes, plus time to upload files to web server.

Compliance Can Be Part of Initial Production: Yes, if only creating an accessible HTML version. If also creating a native PowerPoint presentation, it will have to be resaved as accessible HTML, keeping in mind style compatibility (see Special Problems/Issues for more information).

Special Problems/Issues: This tool is buggy, but may offer substantial time savings for making shorter PowerPoint presentations accessible. Suggested tips for using for implementing this solution:

Only works with PowerPoint 2000; resave PowerPoint presentations created with older versions before you begin.
Tool does not recognize audio or video clips; must be added with other editing tools.
Print out UIUC PowerPoint Accessibility Wizard installation instructions before you begin installation process, as it is not intuitive.
If you wish to save the accessible version of your PowerPoint presentation in a new folder, create this folder before you begin the conversion.
Text created in PPT text boxes does not always maintain position in converted presentation.
Converted PowerPoint presentations default to a white background but convert the original font colors. If your original PowerPoint presentation uses a white (or lighter) font on a dark background, you will end up with a white font on a white background if you do not alter your color scheme before you begin the conversion.
The "short description" in the tool is the Alt tag for the image; text entered in the "Long description" field will appear under the image, much like a caption.
Once you have begun the conversion, avoid using the Back button if possible, as it often results in the program terminating.
If the tool does terminate, you may need to close and reopen PowerPoint in order to use the tool again.

Examples: PowerPoint presentation 1 (text-only); PowerPoint presentation 2 (text and images).

Recommended Resources: Web-AIM Tutorial "PowerPoint Accessibility"

Recommendations

Provide native PowerPoint presentation and HTML version by hand.

Resources

Recommended Resource for PowerPoint: Web-AIM Tutorial "PowerPoint Accessibility."
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/powerpoint/