Design for All: PowerPoint 2007
How to make your PowerPoints accessible
Follow these steps and your PowerPoints will be easier for everyone to
access, including partially sighted readers and people with Dyslexia.
Best practice is described and there is a check list on the back page to
use when creating PowerPoints.
For more information on designing accessible Print documents, PDFs
and Word documents see the ITS web pages at
www.bbk.ac.uk/its/services/dis_support/staff
Barbara Denton, IT Services, Oct 2011
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Contents
How to make your PowerPoints accessible 1
Contents 2
Step 1. Slide creation – basic points 3
1.1 Use a slide layout from one of the Office Themes 3
1.2 Choose an easy to read Font Size and Font 4
1.3 Choose your colours carefully 4
1.4 Emphasising text 5
1. 5 Align text to the left and avoid justifying 5
Step 2: Handling Images, videos and multi-media 6
2.1 Locate images on their own or on the right hand side of text 6
2.2 Ensure the image or video is explained in the slide or in the slide notes 6
2.3 Don’t insert text as an image, or put text over images 6
2.4 Make sure multi-media files can be located 7
Step 3: Slide Content 7
Step 4: Use the Notes field 7
Step 5: Using Hyperlinks 7
5.1 Linking within a PowerPoint 7
5.2 Linking to Documents 8
5.2.2 Linking externally 8
Step 6: Slide transitions and animations 9
6.1 Adding a sound to slide transitions 9
6.2 Adding animations 9
Check List 10
Barbara Denton, IT Services, Oct 2011
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Step 1. Slide creation – basic points
1.1 Use a slide layout from one of the Office Themes
PowerPoint offers a range of slide layouts called “Office Themes”. When you start
PowerPoint it opens with the “Title and Content” Office Theme as the default (see
below). This is accessible.
Using an “Office Themes” produces consistent heading sizes and allows the
presentation to be exported, retaining your text, and the headings formatting. This
makes it easier to navigate and use.
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Choose any Office Themes that suits your content, but do NOT use “Blank”.
1.2 Choose an easy to read Font Size and Font
Ensure the text on your slides is accessible before your start writing to save time
editing later. This means choosing an accessible font and font size.

Choose a font without serifs. Serifs are the little tails attached to end of a
character that confuse partially sighted readers by disguising the shape of the
character (Times New Roman is a serif font – this is an example of Times New
Roman – do not use this font). The default font in PowerPoint 2007 is Calibri
which is a sans serif font which is easy to read.
Example:
 This is Times New Roman, this is a serif font and is not easy to read
 This is Calibri, the default font for PowerPoint 2007. This is easy to read

Use 24 point minimum, or your slides will not be accessible.
1.3 Choose your colours carefully
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Choose a good contrast between text and background to ensure the text can
be easily read. Avoid pale colours on coloured backgrounds or colours which
are indistinguishable by people with colour blindness (e.g. red on green). Dark
blue text on a cream background is easy to read.
If the background colour is dark and the text colour is pale then making the
text bold can increase the depth of the text and make it easier to read.
Try printing in greyscale, if the result is hard to read then the chances are
some people will find the coloured version hard to read.
Text colours can vary from slide to slide, although consistency can aid
accessibility.
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Example:
These are examples of pale colours on coloured backgrounds. These colours are
hard to read.
This would not be visible to someone with red/green colour blindness (the most
common)The text to the left would not be visible to someone with red/green colour
blindness
1.4 Emphasising text

Avoid using all capitals, underline or italics for emphasis. Capitals, underline
and italics disguise the shape of the character:
Examples
CAPS ARE HARD TO READ BECAUSE the text is all the same height – in lower
case some characters (g for example) have loops hanging below the line of text, and
some characters are raised above the line of text (h for example) which help visually
impaired people to recognise words.
Underline because any tails below the line are hidden
italics because the characters run together.

Use bold or a change in font size for emphasis.
1. 5 Align text to the left and avoid justifying
Use text justified to the left. This the PowerPoint default.
Example:
This text is justified to the left side and is easy to read because the gap between
words is constant, and each new line is easy to find on the left hand margin (12
point).
This text is justified to the left and right hand side of the page so that all of the
characters and spaces are stretched to make neat margins. This makes it difficult for
a partially sighted person to read (12 point).
This text is justified to the right margin and has a jagged left hand margin. It is
difficult for partially sighted people to read, because they can’t easily find the
beginning of the next line of text (12 point).
This text is centred. This is acceptable for headings, but is not easy to read when
used for paragraphs etc.
Barbara Denton, IT Services, Oct 2011
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Step 2: Handling Images, videos and multi-media
Images and videos are an import part of PowerPoint presentations. They can:
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add variety and interest
illustrate ideas and support learning
be helpful for learners with strong visual learning styles or print related
difficulties
2.1 Locate images on their own or on the right hand side of text

Don’t put illustrations, photos, tables etc in the middle of text
or to the left of text as some visually impaired readers will
not see text place to the right of an image. Position an image
on its own or to the right of the text, as in this example.

This illustrates how
placed in the middle of
Visually impaired readers
right of the image. Text
an image, table or photo.
images, photos, tables etc
text should not be used.
may not see the text to the
should not be broken up by
2.2 Ensure the image or video is explained in the slide or in the slide
notes

Do not use images/videos in isolation to convey information. Describe the
image, graph, table or video. Use the slide notes if this requires a large
amount of text, do not clutter the slide itself.
2.3 Don’t insert text as an image, or put text over images

Don’t put text over the top of an image, or make text an image, or make it
anything other than horizontal as this cannot be read by blind or dyslexic students
using screen readers.
Barbara Denton, IT Services, Oct 2011
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2.4 Make sure multi-media files can be located

Any videos or other multimedia content that you add to your presentation will
not automatically move with you presentation for example if you decide to put
your presentation onto the BLE or e-mail it to a student. Put the multimedia
files in a location that the students can access before you create the links to it
in your presentation.
Step 3: Slide Content
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Slides are used for a slide show, which is accompanied by dialogue from the
presenter. Keep the slide content concise and the use the notes field (see
below) to expand your ideas.
Use bullet points and lists where possible and ensure each point finishes with
punctuation e.g. a full stop (this makes a text reader pause after each point).
Limit the content to the amount you could fit on a post card.
Use the minimum 24 point font size and this will limit the amount you can fit
onto each slide.
Step 4: Use the Notes field
The notes field can be viewed by students accessing the PowerPoint online either
before or after the lecture. It can be used for the following:
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To expand and clarify content. This can help students who need to read
PowerPoints online in advance of a lecture, or who have difficulty taking notes
during lectures.
To provide additional examples and explanation without over crowding the
slide.
To describe any visual content on a slide that cannot be seen by a visually
impaired person. Use the notes to explain/describe a graph or diagram, but
don’t describe “eye candy” that doesn’t impart meaning.
Step 5: Using Hyperlinks
Links can be created from a word or words, or from an image in your presentation.
The links can be to resources outside the current PowerPoint presentation e.g. to
web pages or Word documents, or they can link internally to another page in the
current PowerPoint.
5.1 Linking within a PowerPoint
PowerPoint is normally linear, with the presenter starting with the first slide and
finishing on the last slide. People reading your presentation online may find moving
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quickly between different sections of the presentation can be more productive than
the linear approach. Good navigation within a PowerPoint can:
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Stop the learner losing interest before they get to the section they are
interested in.
Allow the learner to easily find and re-read sections e.g. for revision
Reduce scrolling
Break the presentation into coherent sections which aids understanding of the
content
Links to slides at the start of new sections within the PowerPoint presentation.
5.2 Linking to Documents
5.2.1 Document Location
Linking to documents gives the learner access to more information without over
crowding the PowerPoint presentation. Students with disabilities will need to see
PowerPoints in advance of any lecture. This is commonly done by putting them onto
the BLE or by e-mailing them to the student. The only way to ensure that the
hyperlinks to the documents will work online is to put the documents into a location
that the student can access online before you create the hyperlink in your
presentation.
Do not hyperlink to documents located on your own computer because the links will
not work for the students.
5.2.2 Linking externally
Linking to external web pages can be very helpful for students. As web pages are
external and independent of the PowerPoint they will work in all locations. It can be
helpful to give an indication about the page content e.g. “page containing illustrations
and diagrams of the eye”.
Barbara Denton, IT Services, Oct 2011
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Step 6: Slide transitions and animations
6.1 Adding a sound to slide transitions
It can be helpful for blind or visually impaired students if a sound is added that
indicates the movement from one slide to the next. This is done in the slide
Transitions tab. The sound will indicate that the lecturer has moved to the next slide.
6.2 Adding animations
Animations enable the text on a slide to appear one bullet point at a time. This can
be helpful to both dyslexic and visually impaired students as it reduces the amount of
text being viewed at one time and focuses attention on the point being discussed.
Animations are added using the Animation tab. “Appear” can be better for visually
impaired students than the options that involve more movement on the screen e.g.
“fly in”.
Barbara Denton
Assistive Technology Support, IT Services
Tel 0207 079 0717
b.denton@bbk.ac.uk
Barbara Denton, IT Services, Oct 2011
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Check List
Check?
Done
Use an Office Theme for slide layout
Font size 24 point or greater
Font style without serif e.g. Arial or Calibri
Good colour contrast
No large blocks of all capital letters, underline or
italics
Text is left aligned
Images/tables/graphs are on their own on the slide
or are to the right of text
Images/videos/graphs are explained in the slide
notes
No text over images or patterned backgrounds
Multimedia files are located where the students can
get to them
Slide content: concise slide content that would fit on
a post card
Slide content: bullet points with full stops used
where relevant
Notes field used to expand content/provide
additional examples/describe images and diagrams
Internal hyperlinks used where relevant to aid
navigation
External hyperlinks to docs/files and videos point to
a web location where the student can access them
Sound added to slide transitions for students with
visual impairments
Animations added to make text points appear one at
a time (but use “appear”) if desired
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