As with other Microsoft Office software, PowerPoint has a number of features which aid accessibility particularly with the latest screen reading and magnification software.
Making use of inbuilt features such as templates for creating your slides not only assists accessibility but also has benefits such as consistent slide design and speed of production.
Templates
One of the most useful aspects of PowerPoint from an accessibility point of view is the use of templates. By selecting and using appropriate templates for your slides rather than creating from scratch PowerPoint will maintain heading and subheading levels. These levels facilitate navigation for screen reader users and can be particularly important if the presentation is converted into an alternative format such as synthetic audio, braille or large print.
Keyboard Shortcuts
PowerPoint offers keyboard shortcuts for most operations which would otherwise require the use of the mouse. Learning keyboard shortcuts for common tasks is a really good way for anyone to increase their knowledge and speed at using Microsoft Office software. Did you know that Control M will insert a new slide and Control D will copy an existing slide?
Handouts
There are a number of options for producing handouts directly from your slides. PowerPoint offers a good deal of flexibility on how handouts are produced and from well designed slides it is perfectly possible to produce handouts which conform to Clear Print recommendations.
What to avoid?
PowerPoint has a good number of features which promote accessibility. However, there are a number of specific issues to be aware of when creating presentations.
Text boxes
As with other software in the Microsoft Office range the use of floating graphical elements such as text boxes can cause accessibility problems. Floating graphics are always a particular issue and these are, as yet, generally not accessible and any text within them will not be exported in the production of accessible formats.
Transitions, animations and video
Use visual effects in presentations sparingly. Many of the features in PowerPoint can be difficult for people with low vision to appreciate, and in some cases can be uncomfortable to view.
Accessible PowerPoint
Most of the features of PowerPoint are accessible by the latest access technology. By producing a properly designed PowerPoint presentation based on templates the end result lends itself to conversion to alternative formats with little further editing.
Information on other file formats is available on the pages for Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDF documents and ODF documents.