Accessible PowerPoint
to Accessible PDF
Basic Overview Workshop
What We Will Cover Today
O How to tell whether a document is
accessible
O How to create an accessible PowerPoint
Presentation
O How to turn that presentation into an
accessible PDF
O How to check your work
What Do We Mean by
Accessible?
O Documents designed to be accessed by
assistive technology devices and software
O
O
O
O
Screen readers JAWS / NVDA
Magnifiers – ZoomText
Text to Speech – Kurzweil, Dragon
Refreshable Braille
O Also to support
O Different Learning styles
O Access to technology
O Different Environments / devices (phones,
tablets)
What *DOES* make a
Document Accessible?
O Similar – but not identical – to Web Pages
O Logical Reading Order & Structure
O Slide layouts
O Unique Slide Titles
O Simple Language
O Alternate text, captions for images, tables,
objects, charts
O Tables for data only – proper formatting
O Color contrast
O “Human readable” links – descriptive text
How Do You Check a
Document for Accessibility?
O Automated Checks
O Office Check for Accessibility
O Acrobat Pro Check for Accessibility
O Check with Screen reader Software
O Ask for help from users of assistive
technology
O The Key: Know what you’re looking for!
Starting with the Source
O Create accessible source documents
O Your work in creating accessible PDFs is less
taxing and less time consuming!
O You won’t be asked to “re-create” the
material as an accommodation
O You make your documents more portable
O Cross browser
O Cross platform
O Cross device
First Steps: Ask Yourself…
O Does this document need to be a
download?
O Could it be created as a Web Page?
O If you provide the download as a
supplement, it still must be accessible.
O Equivalent Experience
One Caveat….
OPDF is NOT
Universally Accessible
O Low vision
O Dyslexia
O Conditions that impact reading
O Cognitive issues
What’s the Problem with PDF?
O Cannot customize text
O People with low vision can’t manipulate fonts
O The Zoom function does not reflow text
O Reflow does not work with some pages
O Cannot accommodate need for high contrast
Think HTML First!
O Most accessible format
O Easy to make beautiful
O Easier to access on mobile devices
O Requires nothing but a browser
O DON’T use the save as Web page option –
mangled code.
O Create a Web page or pages – via WordPress
Samples of PowerPoints in
HTML
O Chancellor’s Presentation – Fall Faculty
Staff Convocation
O Faculty Senate Convocation
O Human Resources
If you choose to use
PowerPoint…..
O Focus on Design & Content
O Colors and Contrast
O Font Size
O Slide Layouts
O Transitions, Video & Audio
O Slide Titles (equivalent to headings)
O Images, Charts and Shapes
O Logical Slide Reading Order
Hands On!
O Sample document
O http://webs.purduecal.edu/webaccessibility
Start with Design?
O Choose a template with sufficient
contrast
O Slide Layouts
O Font size
Start with Content?
O Plain language
O Easy to understand
O Easy on the jargon
O Too Much Information!
O (don’t crowd the slide)
O Unique Slide Titles
O Equivalent of Headings – for navigation
Sample PowerPoint
O We have our content
O Let’s talk Design!
O Choose a template:
O Color Contrast
O Background
O Font
Design: Color Contrast
O Sufficient Contrast
O Two similar colors
next to each other:
hard to read
O Always put text on a
plain, solid color background. Text on a image or
patterned background is harder to see
O Be sure to provide enough contrast between the
text color and the background color.
O Check by viewing in grayscale.
O Also online tools
Design: Colorblind
Considerations
O Avoid using the colors red, green, and
orange
O Use textures instead of colors in graphs
O Draw attention to important information on
slides by circling it rather than changing its
color
O Use high contrast colors – did I mention that
already?
Design: Fonts
O Size – minimum 18
O Style:
O Sans-Serif
O recommended for on screen reading
O Dyslexia-friendly
O This is a serif font
O Harder to read online
O Harder in general for dyslexia
O Consistent with fonts in the document
O Avoid text shadow or glow effects
O Use bold for emphasis
O Italics and upper-case not recommended.
Design: Layout
O Use a standard layout when you insert a new
slide
O Contain Placeholders
O Pre-formatted
O Help ensure each slide is as accessible as
possible
O Do Not Use Text boxes.
O Either skipped by screen readers
O Or read out of order
O Problem especially if you don’t check your reading
order
Design: Layout Columns
O Use this layout for
O By using the two
columns of text
O Never use the tab
key to separate lists
into columns in a
single placeholder
column layout, you
serve screen reader
users
O The software reads
the entire first
column and then the
next instead of
straight across.
Design: Transitions &
Multimedia
O Avoid automatic slide transitions for online
documents
O Remove them when converting a live presentation
O Remove animations
O Videos –Must have Synchronized captions
O May want to remove from online version and
provide the information in an alternative format –
text for instance
O Audio – provide transcripts – also may want to
remove the sound.
O Invisible titles
O Arrange>>Selection Pane>>Toggle Eye
O Still read by screen reader
O Reduces visual clutter
O Use Unique slide titles
O Easy Navigation for Screen Reader users
O This is Design- It’s also Content
Content: Images
O Right Click
O Format Picture
O Alt Text -
Description
O Not Title
Content: Images - Alt Text
O How do you decide?
O Complicated images
(like this one)
O Provide a
long description as
a separate page
Content: Data Tables
O Use Slide Layout – insert table
O Or Insert tab >> Table
O Select a table style that sets the text,
background and grid colors
O Keep in mind color contrast between text and
background colors
O Choose style with grid lines that separate
table cells
Content: Table Tips
O
O
O
O
Use simple table structure
Predictable rows and columns
Include a header row
Add alt text to make table more accessible
O Like a summary
O (remove it if you convert to PDF)
O No blank rows
O No blank cells
O No merged cells
Content: Insert Table Here
Name
Department
Pamela Riesmeyer
Marketing & Communications
No blank cell
No blank row
No merged cells
No split cells
Links
O Human readable text
O No “Click Here”, “Read more”
O No complex URLs
O Listen to this:
O A publication-quality image is available at
http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2009/rama
n-watery.jpg
O Vs This:
O A publication-quality image is available.
O Raw URL in notes
O For those who want to print document
Design & Content:
Logical Reading Order
More than one placeholder on a slide – what order will the
placeholders be read? Two ways to test:
O Method One:
O Press the Tab key on the
slide you want to check
O A box appears around a
placeholder giving it
focus
O Tab through the page and
note the order in which
the boxes get focus
O That’s the reading order
O Method Two:
O On the Home tab, go to
Arrange>>Selection
Pane
O View the order
O Click on each
placeholder
O It’s Bottom Up!
Check Your Work
O Run Accessibility Checker
O Fix the problems
O Run it again, til it’s clean
O REMEMBER: the checker
is NOT Perfect!
O Can’t check color contrast
O Doesn’t check for reading order – that’s on
you.
O YOU are the authority!
Now to Produce a PDF!
O Create PDF (requires plugin for Office)
Note: PowerPoint on Mac is problematic – for
so many reasons. You may want to use Open
Office
O Save As PDF
O Save PDF
Create PDF
O Acrobat Tab Preferences
O Application Settings
O Enable
Accessibility and
Reflow with
tagged Adobe PDF
Save As
O Options
O Standard
O Document
structure tags
for accessibility
Save as Adobe PDF
O Options
O Enable Accessibility
and Reflow with
tagged Adobe PDF
Good News – Almost Done!
O If your source document is well-structured
and accessible – this is a piece of cake!
First, Check the Document
O You need Acrobat Pro
O Everyone can have it – Calumet campus
O Contact the Customer Service Center or put
in a ticket for IS Support
O Interface and tools different for 9, 10, 11
O Big Accessibility improvements in 11
O Use it in a lab– (check schedule)
What Are We Looking For?
O Tags Similar to HTML
O Structure – Headings/Paragraphs/Lists
O Image Alternate Text & Captions
O Table headings
O Links
O Color
O ****READING ORDER****
Acrobat Pro XI
O Automated
O Action Wizard >> Make Accessible
O Helpful if source document is not clean
O Full Check
O Pretty good –
O No substitute for YOU!
O Visual Inspection
O
O
O
O
Tools>>Accessibility
Touch Up Reading Order
Tags Panel
File>>Properties>>Title & Advanced for Language
Note About Wizards
O Keep in mind that they’re tools, not
authorities
O YOU are the authority
O IF you have created an accessible source
document, you don’t have to run all of the
Wizard steps
Steps to Follow
Acrobat XI
O First:
Run document check
Under Accessibility
options
O No need to change
defaults
Check Issues Identified
Acrobat XI
O Two items at least will need
visual checks
O Logical Reading Order
O Color Contrast
O You most likely will be able
to make minor adjustments
Visual Checks
O Look at the Tags
O Look at the Reading Order
O You may decide that the checker has it wrong
O You can move things around –
O Drag and Drop
O Better in XI than in X
Visual Checks - Tags
O Expand the Slide
O Look for P (paragraphs)
O Expand the Text box -
O Look for L and LI (lists and
doesn’t mean
the same thing here as
it does in Office
O Look for H1 (heading
level 1)
O All slide titles are 1
O Ideally, you would
change them to H2
list items)
O Don’t always translate
in PowerPoint
O Look for Tables and TR,
TH, TD
(table rows, table header
cells,
table data cells
Visual Checks – Reading
Order
O Look at the Reading Order
O Each page has a unique reading order
O Would it make sense
if this is the order
in which someone
was reading the
document to you?
Trust Yourself!
O You may decide
that the checker
has it wrong
O You can move things
O Drag and Drop
O Better in Acrobat Pro XI
than in Acrobat Pro X
O You can change the tags
O Tag Properties or
O Use the Touch Up Reading Order Tool
Take it Even Further
O Visual Check
O Color Contrast Analyzer
O Screen Reader Test
O Like Browsers – there are differences
O JAWS – most popular and most expensive
O NVDA - free
O Windows Narrator – Windows 7
O Macs - VoiceOver
O Acrobat Pro Built in Read Out Loud
O View>>Activate Read Out Loud
O Not always accurate
O Good enough in most cases
A Note about Data Tables
O Acrobat XI checker may not catch these
O Touch Up Reading Order Table Editor
O Pretty good for simple tables
O Headers
O Scope
O For Complicated Tables –
O Advanced workshop!
A Note About Tags:
O Every Tag has Properties
O Most of them you won’t need
O Set language
O Set Alternate Text for images / tables
More About Tags:
O Expand all tags:
O Ctrl + click on
plus next to “Tags”
O Can find tag by selection
O Highlight heading
in document
O Click on drop down
upper left of panel
under “Tags”
Another Note:
SAVE EARLY AND OFTEN
O Acrobat Pro is notoriously unforgiving
O There is no UNDO for many of these steps
O Save frequently
O Save incrementally
O So you will have a version to return to
O Don’t count on “Revert”
O True for forms as well as documents
Make Accessible Wizard Do’s
O If your source document is clean
and it is not a form:
O Run this manually
O Click on these sections:
O Add Document Description >>
O Set Reading Language >>
O Set Alternate Text >>
O Run Accessibility Full Check >>
Make Accessible Wizard
Don’ts
O IF your source document is clean and
it is not a form:
O Don’t click start
O Don’t click Set Open Options
O Don’t’ click Recognize Text using OCR
O Don’t click Detect Form Fields
O Don’t click Set Tab Order Property
O Don’t click Add Tags to Document
Satisfied?
O If you’ve run the checker and it’s clean
O If you’ve looked at the Reading Order
O If you’ve looked at the colors
O If you’ve looked at the tags
O If you’re satisfied with your document..
You’re Done!
O You have done as much as you can
O There will always be issues
O With assistive technology differences
O With changes in regulations
Summary
O Focus on Design & Content
O Colors and Contrast
O Font Size
O Slide Layouts
O Transitions, Video & Audio
O Slide Titles (equivalent to headings)
O Images, Charts and Shapes
O Logical Slide Reading Order
O Check your work
Resources – SO MANY!
O Our Web Accessibility Site Resources Page
O “Cheat” Sheets
O from the National Center on Disability and Access to
Education
O Guides
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Adobe Best Practices Guide (94 page PDF)
Adobe PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow (50 page PDF)
WebAIM PDF Accessibility Web Page
Penn State
West Lafayette (PDF)
Health & Human Services Web Page
Microsoft Office – Creating Accessible Office Files
A Word About Acrobat Reader
O Reader is not Acrobat Pro
O Acrobat Reader XI better than X
O Can save forms that are filled out in Reader
O Recognizes more of the accessibility features
O Provide link to plugin on every Web page where
you offer a document
O We make it easy on you:
O If your site doesn’t have this
on the side, let us know
and we’ll add it.
Your Questions & Feedback
O Talk to me!
O I’m listening!
O Reach me at
riesmeyerp@purduecal.edu
or extension 2731
or my cell is
219-730-2751
Some Examples
O What screen reader users hear:
O PDF
O Untagged
O Tagged
O Another example
O Automatic tags
O Remediated tags
The Documents You Heard
O Stark Tinkham Writing Contest Flyer
O Stark Tinkham Writing Contest Rules
One You Need to
Hear AND See
O English Language Program Newsletter
O Tagged but not right
O Tagged properly