Creating accessible documents and presentations

Microsoft Office Documents

This section provides general guidance on making documents in Microsoft Word more accessible. Some of the points are linked to help guides, which explain how to implement the recommendation. Some of the principles can be applied to other word processing tools:

• Make sure text is size 12 or 14, with headings even larger.
• Use the inbuilt styles to structure the document and make it easier for students to navigate.
• Add alternative text to images, graphs, charts and tables.
• Avoid floating objects (e.g. text boxes) and add images in line with the text.
• Use a simple structure for tables (e.g. reading left to right, row by row) and specify column and row headers. You also need to add alternative text.
• If you are adding links to websites in the document then ensure that you use meaningful text to make the link rather than the web address.
• Add screen tips to links to let users know where the link will take them to.
• Use the Accessibility checker in Word (and other Office applications) to check for accessibility issues.

We have also created a useful checklist which provides a manual way to check the accessibility of Word documents.

Microsoft Word documents accessibility checklist

Microsoft Office PowerPoint Presentations

This section provides general guidance on making PowerPoint presentations more accessible. Some of the points are linked to help guides, which explain how to implement the recommendation.

• Make sure that text is at least size 24 where possible with headings even larger.
• Keep text short and concise and if needed expand upon points within the notes section.
• Ensure each slide has a unique title to help students find the information they need.
• Add alternative text to images, graphs, charts and tables.
• Use the default PowerPoint layouts for slides as this provides an automatic reading order for the items on the slide.
• Check the outline view of the slides to ensure that all the text based content is being picked up.
• Avoid slide transitions and keep animations simple to help organise information into manageable chunks.
• If you are adding links to websites in the document then ensure that you use meaningful text to make the link rather than the web address.
• Add screen tips to links to let users know where the link will take them to.
• Add the text from the slides to the note section.
• This makes is easier to convert the presentation into an alternative format.
• Consider the advice on making audio and video accessible if these are included as part of the presentation.
• Use the accessibility checker in Office 2016 / 365 to check for accessibility issues.

We have also created a useful checklist which provides a manual way to check the accessibility of PowerPoint presentations.

Microsoft PowerPoint documents accessibility checklist

For further guidance on making PowerPoint Presentations accessible take a look at the following resources:

• WebAIM PowerPoint Accessibility
• Microsoft Office advice on creating accessible PowerPoint presentations
• Quick guides for making Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents accessible

Accessibility Series: PDF Documents

This section provides general guidance on making PDF documents more accessible. Some of the points are linked to help guides, which explain how to implement the recommendation.

• Create the document in Word or PowerPoint using the advice provided in the previous blog posts.
• Review the document using Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker
• Save the document as pdf (make sure the document properties are included). Ensure the Document structure tags for accessibility check box is selected,
• Run an accessibility check within Adobe Acrobat to pick up any further issues.

We have also created a useful checklist which provides a manual way to check the accessibility of PDF documents.

PDF documents accessibility checklist

For further guidance on making PDF documents accessible take a look at the following resources:

• Using Adobe tools to make accessible content
• Quick guides for making Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents accessible
• BBC Guide to creating accessible PDF’s with Word and Acrobat Professional

Alternative Formats

Alternative formats could be provided if there is no way to make a resource accessible to all potential students. Below are some examples of the alternative formats you may need to supply:

• Microsoft Word versions of PDF documents. (Blackboard Ally can assist with this)
• Microsoft Word versions of PowerPoint presentations.
• Alternative text of images, charts, graphs and tables provided in documents, presentations and VLE (Blackboard/Course Resources) content areas.
• Transcripts for audio.
• Closed captioning or transcripts for video content.
• Audio descriptions for video content explaining the visual elements of a video.

More guidance on alternative formats is available from the Office for Disability Issues’ page on alternative formats.