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Creating Accessible Learning: Slide Layouts

Why It Matters

Using an accessible slide layout ensures that:

  • Assistive technology (e.g., screen readers) can interact properly with items on a PowerPoint slide
  • ALL users have seamless and equal access to slide content in the best way possible
  • Exported PowerPoint files (e.g., to PDF) retain accessible slide layouts in their new format

Slide Layout Basics: Start Here

The Selection Pane is an essential tool used to manage the accessibility of your PPT slide layouts. You can:

  • See all items on a slide
  • View and rearrange slide item reading order
  • View each item's content type (e.g., title, text, image, etc.)

How to open the Selection Pane (Figure 1): Home tab → Editing tab → select Select drop-down arrow → Select Selection Pane.

PowerPoint is open with a slide displayed in the middle. On the toolbar, the Select drop down is open and the selection pane option is highlighted. To the right side of the window is the selection pane. It has two buttons at the top, Show All and Hide All, and a list of items on the corresponding slide. The items are: Content Placeholder 2 and Title 1.

Figure 1

Slide layout refers to slide content and organization. You choose a slide layout template whenever you add a new slide (Figure 2) or change the layout using the "Layout" drop-down option.

The PowerPoint Home tab is shown and the “New Slide” drop down menu is open. Nine different Office Theme slide layout templates are offered.
Figure 2

Screen reader software relies on slide layout for instructions on what to communicate to the user, so always use the Selection Pane (Figure 3) to adjust the following:

  • Slide reading order, or the order the screen reader reads content to a user.
  • An item's content type or tag, such as an image, title, text, etc., which the screen reader shares with the user. This is generated by the slide layout template.
A PowerPoint slide layout template has three template boxes on, each with the prompt “click to add” in the middle. The box types are highlighted on the Selection Pane, which lists in order Picture Placeholder 1, Text Placeholder 1, and Title 1.
Figure 3

Accessibility Guideline: Slide Reading Order

Slide reading order tells assistive technology the order to present slide content to users (WCAG 1.3.2, A). You can adjust reading order using the Selection Pane. The Selection Pane lists all slide items and their reading order in a linear manner, meant to be read in order from bottom to top (see Figure 4).

A PowerPoint slide is shown with the Selection Pane open on the right side of the screen. The Selection pane has a list of 8 slide items with a purple arrow to the right to signify that items are read from bottom to top. Each item on the list has a number superimposed next to it to show items are ordered, and that it goes from the bottom (number 1) to the top (number 8). On the actual slide, the numbers one through eight are superimposed next to each slide item to show how they correspond to Selection pane items.

Figure 4. The added numbers show how slide content corresponds to Selection Pane items, which are ordered from bottom to top. “Title 1” is the first item on the slide and “TextBox-Gummy worms” is the last item on the slide.

Use the Selection Pane to set reading order and ensure that slide items are listed in the correct order that users should encounter them.

To rearrange slide items, click and drag the item within the Selection Pane. Remember, slide order in the Selection Pane goes from bottom to top.

To test the order in which someone using assistive technology would encounter slide items, click on a slide, then press the “tab” key on the keyboard. This will tab through the items using their set order, highlighting each item as you tab.

Accessibility Guideline: Slide Item Tags

Every item on a PPT slide has a semantic label, or a label that tells assistive technology what type of content it is and and what to tell the user about it. In HTML, these labels are commonly referred to as “tags.” As seen in Figure 5, slide items will be automatically labeled by their tag type, which you can see in the Selection Pane.

It’s important to use the correct tags for items so that assistive technology communicates this information to users. (WCAG 1.3.1, A)

Note that while you’re able to rename a label’s text for organizational purposes, this does not change the item’s tag type.

Screen shot of the Selection Pane in PowerPoint. There are 5 items listed in the selection pane from bottom to top as follows: Title 1, Content Placeholder 7, TextBox 9, Picture 11, Content Placeholder 8.

Figure 5

There are several types of tags. The ones you may encounter most frequently include:

Content Type Label in Selection Pane HTML & PDF Equivalent
Image or graphic
  • Picture
  • Graphic
  • Content Placeholder
  • Rectangle (or other shape name)
 <figure>
Title
  • Title
 <H1>
Text boxes
  • Text Placeholder
  • TextBox
  • Content Placeholder
 <p>
Table
  • Table
  • Content Placeholder
 <table>

 

Note that the tag "Content Placeholder" may be assigned to a variety of template boxes and that's okay; they'll still be tagged appropriately.

Item tags are generated by PowerPoint. Here’s how to ensure you’re using the proper tags:

  • Use accessible template slides & layouts. Templates typically include a variety of slide layouts that contain correctly tagged items.
  • Check item tags in the Selection Pane. Items in the list will be automatically labeled by their tag type, although you are able to edit the label text. Note: Editing the label text does not change the tag type.

Summary Checklist

Slide Layout Checklist

  • Use accessible PowerPoint templates with pre-formatted slides.
  • Check slide reading order using the Selection Pane, then test it using the “tab” key. Adjust the order as needed.
  • Add additional slide items properly to avoid problems later.
  • Check item tags using the Selection Pane.
  • Use a unique Title-tagged box on every slide.