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Why Accessibility?
Georgia College & State University is committed to ensuring our websites are accessible to all. By prioritizing accessibility in our digital environments, we strengthen our ability to fulfill our educational mission and serve every member of our community.
Rules for Accessibility
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice published a final rule mandating state and local governmental organizations update their online accessibility efforts to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 Level AA.
Under this federal rule, all digital content and services produced by the university must conform to these standards. Digital accessibility, under this rule, means designing web content and mobile applications to provide equal access, regardless of ability or circumstance. At its core, it is about removing barriers so that individuals do not face unnecessary obstacles when engaging with our resources.
While WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the federal minimum standard, the GCSU Web Team works to achieve WCAG 2.2 Level AA across our websites.
Document Accessibility
Creating accessible documents allows users to more easily interact with the information you provide. These guidelines can help you achieve a base line of accessibility when creating online documents including Microsoft Office, PDFs, and other document formats.
In general accessible documents are:
- Scannable: Readers can quickly scan a document to find out what it contains.
- Searchable: Readers can use a digital device to search for words in the document.
- Legible: Sighted readers can physically read the text.
- Readable: Readers can easily understand the messages in the document. [
Creating Accessible PowerPoint Presentations
Check accessibility while you work
The Accessibility Checker is a tool that reviews your content and flags accessibility issues it comes across. It explains why each issue might be a potential problem for someone with a disability. The Accessibility Checker also suggests how you can resolve the issues that appear.
In PowerPoint, the Accessibility Checker runs automatically in the background when you're creating a presentation. If the Accessibility Checker detects accessibility issues, you will get a reminder in the status bar.
To manually launch the Accessibility Checker, select Review > Check Accessibility. The Accessibility pane opens, and you can now review and fix accessibility issues. For more info, go to Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker.
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Create accessible slides
The following procedures describe how to make the slides in your PowerPoint presentations accessible. For more info, go to Video: Create slides with an accessible reading order and Video: Design slides for people with dyslexia.
Use an accessible presentation template
Use one of the accessible PowerPoint templates to make sure that your slide design, colors, contrast, and fonts are accessible for all audiences. They are also designed so that screen readers can more easily read the slide content.
- To find an accessible template, select File > New.
- In the Search for Online templates and themes text field, type accessible templates and press Enter.
- In the search results, select a suitable template.
- In the template preview, select Create.
Give every slide a title
One simple step towards inclusivity is having a unique, descriptive title on each slide, even if it isn't visible. A person with a visual disability that uses a screen reader relies on the slide titles to know which slide is which.
Use the Accessibility ribbon to make sure every slide has a title. For instructions, go to Title a slideand expand the "Use the Accessibility ribbon to title a slide" section.
Hide a slide title
You can position a title off the slide. That way, the slide has a title for accessibility, but you save space on the slide for other content. For instructions, go to Title a slideand expand the "Put a title on a slide, but make the title invisible" section.
If you want all or many of your slide titles to be hidden, you can modify the slide master. For instructions, go to Title a slideand expand the "Systematically hide slide titles" section.
Restore a slide design
If you've moved or edited a placeholder on a slide, you can reset the slide to its original design. All formatting (for example, fonts, colors, effects) go back to what has been assigned in the template. Restoring the design might also help you find title placeholders which need a unique title.
- To restore all placeholders for the selected slide, on the Home tab, in the Slides group, select Reset.
Set the reading order of slide contents
Some people with visual disabilities use a screen reader to read the information on the slide. When you create slides, putting the objects in a logical reading order is crucial for screen reader users to understand the slide.
Use the Accessibility Checker and the Reading Order pane to set the order in which the screen readers read the slide contents. When the screen reader reads the slide, it reads the objects in the order they are listed in the Reading Order pane.
For the step-by-step instructions how to set the reading order, go to Make slides easier to read by using the Reading Order pane.
Use built-in slide designs for inclusive reading order, colors, and more
PowerPoint has built-in, predesigned slide designs that contain placeholders for text, videos, pictures, and more. They also contain all the formatting, such as theme colors, fonts, and effects. To make sure that your slides are accessible, the built-in layouts are designed so that the reading order is the same for people who use assistive technologies such as screen readers and people who see. For more info, go to Video: Use accessible colors and styles in slides.
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On the View tab, select Normal.
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On the Design tab, do one or both of the following:
- Expand the Themes gallery and select the slide layout that you want. PowerPoint automatically applies this layout to the presentation.
- Select Design Ideas and select one of the predesigned designs.
Avoid using tables
In general, avoid tables if possible and present the data another way, like paragraphs with headings. Tables with fixed width might prove difficult to read for people who use Magnifier, because such tables force the content to a specific size. This makes the font very small, which forces Magnifier users to scroll horizontally, especially on mobile devices.
If you have to use tables, use the following guidelines to make sure your table is as accessible as possible:
- Avoid fixed width tables.
- Make sure the tables render properly on all devices, including phones and tablets.
- If you have hyperlinks in your table, edit the link texts, so they make sense and don't break mid-sentence.
- Make sure the slide content is easily read with Magnifier. View it on a mobile device to make sure people won't need to horizontally scroll the slide on a phone, for example.
- Use table headers.
- Test accessibility with Immersive Reader.
Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/powerpoint/make-your-powerpoint-presentations-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities#bkmk_slideswin
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