PowerPoint Accessibility Checklist
People who use screen readers will need to have the slides in HTML format in order to access them. This is the
only format that can be considered reliably accessible to the various brands of screen readers on the market.
The following checklist will help ensure that your slide show is as accessible as possible for people using screen readers
and for people with disabilities who do not use a screen reader.
ID
1.01
1.02
1.03
1.04
Pass
Fail
N/A
Has the slide show been created from an existing slide layout?
Using the built-in slide layouts present in PowerPoint ensures that all the
objects can be perceived byassistive technologies.
Does all the content in your slide show appear in the outline view of the
show?
Information that is not present in the outline view of the slide show will
not be perceived by screenreaders.
Does all the information appear in the outline view in the same order as
it does onthe slides?
Screen readers will deliver the content in outline view order.
Do the slide notes contain appropriate descriptions of images, graphs,
tables, andcharts that appear on the slides?
The notes feature allows screen reader users access to this information.
Providing text descriptions ofimages, graphs, tables, and charts can also increase
understanding for others as well.
Have you replaced all word art with real text, or provided a text
alternative in thenotes pages?
1.05
Word art is not accessible to screen readers. It is also difficult or impossible to
read when using ascreen magnifier.
Do your choices of text size, font, and foreground and background colors
enhancereadability?
1.06
Avoid the use of distracting colors or fonts and provide sufficient color and
contrast to avoid problemsfor people who are color-blind or have low vision.
Are transcripts available for embedded audio clips?
1.07
Transcripts are necessary to provide information to people who cannot hear the
audio portion of thepresentation.
1.08
Are embedded multimedia clips captioned and audio described?
Captioning and audio description provides access to multimedia for people
who are deaf or hard ofhearing, or who are visually impaired.
June 2009
San Francisco State University - ACCESS
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