Powerpont Accessibility

PowerPoint Accessibility

* WebAIM: PowerPoint Accessibility - http://www.webaim.org/techniques/powerpoint/
* AccessIT: How do I make my online PowerPoint presentation accessible? - http://www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?1028
* Web Accessibility for All: Creating Accessible PowerPoint Presentations -
* http://www.cew.wisc.edu/accessibility/tutorials/pptmain.htm
* Microsoft PowerPoint, Universally Designed - http://accessproject.colostate.edu/udl/modules/powerpoint/mod_ppt.cfm
* California State University on Powerpoint- http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/access/docs_multi/MSPPTFaceToFace.shtml
http://teachingcommons.cdl.edu/access/docs_multi/documents/
CreatingAccessiblePowerPointPresentations.pdf

NOTE: To access the Center for Disability Resources Library, click on this link.

Consistent Navigation and Identification

Consistent Navigation and Identification

Consistency is important for web site accessibility and usability. WCAG 2.0 Success Criterion 3.2.3 (Level AA) requires that navigation elements that are repeated on web pages do not change order across pages. Success Criterion 3.2.4 (Level AA) requires that elements that have the same functionality across multiple web pages be consistently identified. For example, a search box at the top of the site should always appear in the same place and be labeled the same way.
Separate Content/Functionality from Visual Design

Accessibility of web page content and functionality occurs almost entirely in page markup (HTML). Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), on the other hand, should be used exclusively for defining page styling and visual design. While CSS can be used to improve visual design, accessibility, and usability, screen readers ignore nearly all styles. When page content or functionality are integrated into visual design and CSS (such as a CSS background image that presents content, or a styled button that presents no functional text), then this content is not available to screen reader users. Ensure that content and/or functionality are not lost when page styles are disabled.
Accessibility of User Flows

When implementing accessibility, the issues on the most visited or high profile pages are often the first to be addressed. While this is effective, also consider user flows or processes. For example, on an online shopping site, focus on making the entire checkout process accessible. While the final purchasing page of this critical process may not be as high profile or receive as much traffic, if it is inaccessible, the entire flow is essentially inaccessible. Unfortunately, the user may not realize this until they have spent considerable time on previous steps in this flow.
Cognitive Load vs. Functionality

Cognitive load is the amount of mental effort required to engage in a process. On a web page, clutter, animation, confusing content, background sounds, complex information, and other aspects of poor accessibility and usability increase cognitive load. Try to provide necessary functionality while minimizing cognitive load. This can be particularly difficult on site home pages where much functionality is provided, which generally results in a very high cognitive load. Good usability and accessibility techniques, often as identified in user testing, can help site authors maintain necessary functionality while decreasing the cognitive load.

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Accessibility Tips from ATAP and WebAIM

Link Type Indicators
It is a good idea to inform users when a link goes to non-HTML content (such as a PDF file or Word document). It can be frustrating to activate a link and then realize that the link requires an external program or viewer. An icon (with appropriate alternative text) or text, such as "(PDF)", is sufficient. Because screen reader users commonly navigate by links, it is vital that the link type indicator icon or text be placed within the link, otherwise this information is readily available to sighted users, but not presented in the context of the link for screen reader users.

Accessibility User Testing
Instead of conducting accessibility testing with users with disabilities (asking users to identify accessibility issues), it is almost always more effective to do usability testing (asking users to evaluate overall usability) with users with disabilities. While accessibility testing can be used to identify instances of accessibility – poor alt text here and a missing label there, fixing all significant instances of inaccessibility and non-compliance still might result in a poor experience for users with disabilities. Basic user testing that includes users with disabilities has a focus on the broader user experience with a site, yet still can identify specific accessibility issues. User testing with individuals with disabilities should be part of a broader testing plan that involves compliance checklists, automated tests, manual testing, and assistive technology testing.

Do Not Require Unnecessary Form Data
One of the keys to creating highly accessible forms is to avoid as many errors as possible before the form is submitted. Ensure that forms are as simple and intuitive as possible, and don't require that a field be filled out if the content is not necessary (e.g., a telephone number to subscribe to an email discussion list). Errors can also be prevented by allowing informatoin to be entered in a number of logical formats. For example, allow a telephone number to be formatted: (123)456-7890, 123-456-7890, 123.456.7890, or 1234567890, as long as ten numerals are present. This data can easily be reformatted using scripting or database languages for further usage.

Large Clickable Targets
Some mouse users have may have difficulty with fine motor control, so it is important that clickable targets be sufficiently large. Radio buttons and checkboxes should include properly-associated labels (using the element). Small icons or text, such as previous/next arrows or superscript links for footnotes, should be sufficiently large or combined with adjacent text into a single link.

Accessibility Tips from ATAP and WebAim

Low Vision Custom Color Settings

Some users with low vision can see content more easily if the default colors are inverted (white text on a black background), customized user styles are applied (blue text on a yellow background, for example), or a custom color scheme is used. This can be done using the operating system, with screen magnification software, or with user style sheets in a web browser. To ensure web accessibility for these users, make sure your page colors have sufficient contrast, that color is not used as the only means of conveying information or meaning, and that colors are specified for page elements (typically using CSS to at least define the page foreground and background colors).

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Accessibility, Compliance, and Discrimination

Accessibility is about the user experience. Because a web site can always be more accessible, accessibility is best viewed as being a continuum. Web accessibility guidelines and standards (such as Section 508 and WCAG) provide useful measures along that continuum. Discrimination laws (such as the Americans with Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act), however, generally do not define web accessibility, but instead clarify that web sites should not discriminate based on disability. Because standards and guidelines do not address all aspects of web accessibility, it is possible for a site to comply with a set of guidelines, yet remain very inaccessible to some users and potentially discriminatory. This is particularly true with very minimal standards such as Section 508. For these reasons, it is best to get a true understanding of accessibility and how end users access and use the web. Standards and guidelines should be used as tools and measures of accessibility, but the ultimate goal should not merely be compliance, but to provide an efficient, friendly, and accessible user experience regardless of disability.

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Evaluating Web Accessibility with WAVE

WAVE is a free web accessibility evaluation tool found at http://wave.webaim.org/. Rather than providing a complex technical report, WAVE shows the original web page with embedded icons and indicators that reveal the accessibility of that page. This presentation facilitates manual evaluation of web accessibility. A Firefox toolbar version of WAVE allows evaluation of web content directly within the browser - thus allowing sensitive, password protected, dynamic, or intranet pages to be easily evaluated. Because WAVE performs evaluation after page styles (CSS) has been applied and (in the toolbar) after scripting has been processed, WAVE provides a very accurate representation of true end user accessibility.

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Evaluating Alternative Text

When evaluating the alternative text of images, remember that the alternative text (whether in the image's alt attribute or in adjacent text) should convey the content and function of an image. Asking the question, "If the image could not be used, what text would replace the image?" is often a good way to determine appropriate alternative text. First, view the alternative text along with the image. Is the alternative text equivalent to the content of the image? Second, disable images and view the alternative text in place of the image and consider if the alternative text makes sense in its context and reading position within the page.

To access the Center for Disability Resources Library and its materials, please click this link