Creating good accessible presentations is crucial as presentations are one of the primary methods we use to communicate information to staff and students. Primarily presentations are intended to be projected on a large display before groups of various sizes and usually accompany a lecture or a speaker’s live talk. Other ways that presentations are used can be: as part of a pre-recorded session; as a standalone set of slides; as a means to collate different resources; and to communicate complex instructions to complete a task.
For a full tutorial on the most common accessibility issues, please access the Accessibility Checklist and Tutorial.
What are the rules to follow:
- Run the Accessibility Checker on PowerPoint to view suggested ways to create accessible presentations.
- Add alt-text to all images.
- Use colours that have high contrast.
- Do not only change the colour of a word to ‘highlight’ its meaning.
- Reduce the amount of text on your screen.
- Font size and style should be easy to read.
- Use at least 14-18 point font for all text (can be larger for headings).
- Use Arial, Calibri, Lucida Grande, or other sans-serif font.
Glossary of Terms
- High Contrast: A high contrast between colours makes certain that there is a clear difference between the text colour and the background colours. For example: Do not use White Text on a Light Grey background as that would be harder to read.
- Alt-Text: Alternative text or ‘alt-text’ is the text that is read by screen readers or that is shown in place of an image. All text on an image should be included in the alt-text. Likewise a full description of the image should be included.
- San-Serif Font: These are more simple fonts that have wider spacing and lack the extra strokes called ‘serifs’ which add flair to letters and can make letters look joined-up.
Is there a template I can use?
You can use most basic templates, create new templates and make changes to presentation templates in most presentation programmes. When choosing a template for your presentation, think about the rules to follow and ask yourself if the colours are of a high enough contrast and if the font is easy to read. Some presentation templates are designed for personal and not professional use and therefore do not follow digital accessibility guidelines.
Accessible template for Microsoft PowerPoint
The Oxford Brookes University Design and Brand team and the Accessibility Working group have released new Brookes presentation templates in full-screen or wide-screen format, with dark and light backgrounds and pink and yellow highlights.
The most commonly used templates are:
- Full screen Brookes Pink Power Point template with dark background for distance viewing.
- Full screen Brookes Yellow Power Point template with light background for close viewing.
How to save the templates to your own device:
- Choose one of the Power Point templates in the Oxford Brookes accessible presentation templates by clicking on the link.
- Depending on your browser, the download will either start automatically or you may be shown a ‘Preview’ screen.
- If you are shown a preview, click on the download icon to download the file to your computer.
- After you have downloaded the file, find the file in your computer using File Explorer or Finder.
- Move or Save the file into a separate folder (such as your Documents folder).
- Click on the file to open a new document with that template applied.
For Windows and Mac OS: See Microsoft Support guidance on using the acessibility checker.
Accessible template for Google Slides
The Oxford Brookes University Design and Brand team and the Accessibility Working group have released new Brookes presentation templates in full-screen or wide-screen format, with dark and light backgrounds and pink and yellow highlights.
The most commonly used templates are:
- Full screen Brookes Pink Google Slides template with dark background for distance viewing.
- Full screen Brookes Yellow Google Slides template with light background for close viewing.
How to save the templates to your own device:
- In order to access the Google Slides templates in Oxford Brookes accessible presentation templates, you must first log in to your Brookes Google account.
- Click on the link to the template you would like to use (you will be asked to make a copy of the presentation).
- Click ‘Make a Copy’ (this will open a copy of the presentation and save it to your Google Drive).
- Click on File/Move to organise the file in your Google Drive so you can find it later.
Get support from Google on changing the theme, background, or layout in Google Slides.
What are the benefits to following these rules?
Meeting Legal Requirements: You will meet the legal requirements set out by The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 and the Equality Act (2010) which serve to protect students with disabilities from disability and provide rules on the accessibility of websites and mobile applications.
Other Benefits to Teaching and Learning:
- Using a larger font size will make presentations easier to read and reduce eye strain.
- Simpler fonts will increase the readibility of documents for individuals with special learning difficulties and those with low vision or other visual impairments.
- Adding details in the ‘notes’ section of presentation slides reduces text on screen and offer more resources for revision.
What are some suggestions for making my presentations even more accessible?
- Use high contrast combinations:
- white text on a charcoal or pink backgrounds.
- black text on light grey or yellow backgrounds.
- Check how you emphasise words and phrases.
- Do not only change the colour of one word as a screen reader will not recognise it has been emphasised.
- Instead, make important information bold to highlight it.
- Avoid using underlining as this should be reserved for working links.
What about PDFs?
Once you have created an accessible presentation, you can then save a PDF copy.
You must use save to PDF, and not Print to PDF. The Print to PDF option only makes what amounts to an image that cannot be read by a screenreader. Saving to PDF keeps your formatting though in some cases may change some fonts and spacing.
Where can I find step-by-step guidance?
In the Digital Accessibility Guidelines Moodle course, there is a section dedicated to supporting you in evaluating presentations for accessibility. Once you have completed the course, revisit individual sections via the links below.