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Presentation accessibility guidelines

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General accessibility guidelines

  • Provide the editable version of the presentation (LaTex or PowerPoint).
  • Use Check Accessibility in PowerPoint (Review tab) to make the slides more accessible.
  • In this presentation you will find further guidelines for:
    • Layout and design (slide 3);
    • Colour (slide 4);
    • Text (slide 5);
    • Equations (slide 6);
    • Figures (slide 7).

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Layout and design

  • Keep the layout consistent and logical allowing readers to easily follow along.
  • Number your slides.
  • Use a suitable number of sides (each slide should take 1-2 minutes).
  • Use Slide Master in PowerPoint (View tab) to customise the slides layout
  • Use the Reading Order Pane in PowerPoint (Review tab) to make it accessible to screen readers. This tells the screen reader the order in which text should be read.

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Colour

  • Use single colour background: avoid background patterns or pictures.
  • Avoid white backgrounds: use cream, grey or soft pastel colours instead.
  • Use colours with suitable contrast for text (at least 4.5:1).
  • Don’t rely on only colour to convey meaning.
  • Make it colour blind friendly (e.g. use opposite colours in the colour wheel).

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Regular vision

Deuteranopia

Protanopia

Tritanopia

Monochromacy

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Text

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  • Use colour contrast between text and background (at least 4.5:1).
  • Use an appropriate font size depending on the screen size (at least size 18 in PowerPoint).
  • Don’t misuse superscript and subscript: keep the text size consistent.
  • Using bold text can help key points and headings stand out. Avoid italic text and underlining, as this can make text more difficult to read.

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Use Sans Serif Fonts

Avoid Serif or Script Fonts

  • Arial
  • Times New Roman
  • Verdana
  • Baskerville
  • Tahoma
  • Lobster
  • Calibri
  • French Script

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Equations

  • In PowerPoint, use the built-in Equation function (Insert tab)
  • In LaTex, use an accessibility package (e.g. \usepackage{axessibility}).
  • If using images for equations, create a customised alt text for your equations to make it screen readable.
  • Use the Equation tool instead of Symbol in PowerPoint (Insert tab)

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Figures

  • Add alt text to images or mark them as decorative.
  • Alt text should be:
    • Brief, clear and accurate in describing the image;
    • Not redundant (for example if there is a text that explains the figure already);
    • Don’t include text such as “figure of …” or “graphic of …”;
    • Complex images should have an alt text and a long description.

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