Making Digital Assets Accessible: Presentations

This is an overview of the elements that require special consideration when creating accessible presentations. Please review the Resources box for detailed instructions on the following:

• Give every slide a unique title to enable screen reader to navigate properly.
• Make sure all links are clearly visible and are not hidden behind other objects, such as images or text.
• Provide column headings in tables.
• Use simple table structure. Avoid merged or split cells, these confuse adaptive keyboards and screen readers.
• Check the reading order of each slide to ensure a screen reader reads it in the order you intended.
• Provide alternative text for images that convey content. Use accurate and equivalent descriptions.
• Ensure the text is legible by using sans-serif fonts and make sure your color scheme has enough contrast between light and dark. Avoid using orange, red and green for your template or text. 
• Use texture instead of color to highlight points of interest.
• Avoid flashing images. These may cause seizures for students with photosensitive epilepsy and may be distracting for students with learning disabilities.
• Provide a transcript for spoken content and music with lyrics in a video or audio file. Include visual description of images that provide content.
• Caption (or subtitle) any video content.
• Do not use the "Save as HTML" file format in PowerPoint to present documents in Moodle. This format is difficult for screen readers to navigate.
• When offered a microphone, use it.