3. Slide

Content: Meaningful Title, Placeholders, Design, Templates, Header and Footer, Reading Order.

3.1 Meaningful Title

Each slide has a meaningful title.

Further information

What does this mean?
The audience should be able to understand quickly and concisely what each slide is about. The title should therefore describe the content of the slide clearly and precisely in order to help users focus on the slide and understand its content more easily.

Why is this important?
For users who navigate a presentation using a screen reader or text-to-speech software, a meaningful title on each slide can help them understand the content of the presentation and find their way around it. Screen reader users often navigate between slide titles in order to locate specific topics and grasp the content of individual slides. A clear and precise title generally improves the accessibility of the presentation and makes orientation easier.

How can you implement/check this?
To ensure that each slide has a meaningful title, first consider the message you want each slide to convey. The title should focus on the main content of the slide and should not be too general or too specific. A simple way to check the title is to ask whether it describes the slide’s main message clearly and concisely.

3.2 Placeholders

There are no blank lines and no empty placeholders (text boxes) in the document.

Further information

What does this mean?
Blank lines and empty placeholders are spaces between text blocks or objects in the document that do not contain any relevant content or information. Blank lines are spaces between lines of text that contain no text. Empty placeholders (text boxes) are empty areas intended to hold text or other content but that have not yet been filled in. Blank lines and empty placeholders should be avoided in a PowerPoint presentation.

Why is this important?
The absence of blank lines and empty placeholders is important because these elements may be interpreted as text by screen readers and text-to-speech software and may be read out as blank. This can lead to confusion and make navigation through the presentation more difficult. If the presentation contains no unnecessary blank lines or empty placeholders, navigation can be more effective and accurate.

How can you implement/check this?
In PowerPoint, it is not possible to display empty placeholders or empty paragraphs directly. However, you can search specifically for spaces within the presentation by pressing Ctrl + F and entering a space.

When creating the presentation, it is important to avoid leaving empty spaces between paragraphs. Instead, it is advisable to use a new text box or a new slide. This helps to prevent empty areas from appearing on the slides.

3.3 Design

The design is simple, for example with no excessive use of transitions, sounds, or graphics.

Further information

What does this mean?
The design of the PowerPoint presentation should be simple and uncluttered, without excessive use of transitions, sounds, or graphics. A simple design is straightforward and minimalist and avoids superfluous or unnecessary elements. It is characterised by a clear and concise layout that focuses on the essentials and conveys a clear message.

Why is this important?
A simple and uncluttered presentation makes it easier to use screen readers and text-to-speech software, as there are fewer distractions. In addition, a clear structure and minimalist design improve the readability and comprehensibility of the presentation for all users, particularly neurodivergent users and users with concentration or learning difficulties.

How can you implement/check this?
To achieve a simple and minimalist design in PowerPoint, use only a small number of transitions and effects. A clear and simple design with an easy-to-read font and a sufficient font size should be preferred. Suitable typefaces are characterised by clear lines, balanced proportions, and distinct letterforms, all of which help to improve readability. Graphics should only be used where they are essential for illustrating the content. Colours should also be used sparingly and with sufficient contrast in order to improve readability (see 1.2).

3.4 Templates

The templates (slide masters) provided in PowerPoint are used, with modifications where necessary. The placeholders are filled according to their purpose.

Further information

What does this mean?
PowerPoint provides ready-made templates known as slide masters. These templates contain placeholders for text, images, and other content, which usually have a specific purpose and structure. Filling these placeholders according to their purpose helps to ensure that the document is well structured and that all information is presented clearly and understandably.

Why is this important?
A clear structure and standardised placeholders are very important for users who rely on text-to-speech software or who need a clear structure in PowerPoint presentations. This makes navigation easier and improves the use of screen readers and text-to-speech software, which can rely on standardised placeholders to identify and read out content.

How can you implement/check this?
To use slide masters in PowerPoint, proceed as follows depending on your operating system:

Mac

1. From the ‘View’ menu, select ‘Slide Master’.
2. Then, in the navigation pane on the left, click on the top slide (‘Edit Master Title Format’) if you want to customise all slides in the same way. Select the relevant slide if you only want to customise specific slide types.

Windows

1. Open your PowerPoint presentation and select the ‘View’ tab in the menu bar.
2. Select ‘Slide Master’ and a new window will open where you can edit various master slides.
3. Select a master slide that matches the layout of your slides.
4. Change the layout by adding or removing placeholders, or by adjusting their size and position.
5. Customise the design and colours of the master slide using the ‘Colour Scheme’ and ‘Fonts’ menus.
6. Save your changes by clicking ‘Close Master View’.

Once you have edited the slide master, all slides in your presentation are automatically updated to display the new layout and design.

 

3.5 Header and Footer

The header, footer, and slide numbers are created using the appropriate placeholders, marked as decorative, and free of relevant information.

Further information

What does this mean?
Headers, footers, and slide numbers in PowerPoint are important orientation elements, but they should not contain any relevant information. Instead, they should be created using placeholders such as Date or Title.

Placeholders in PowerPoint are predefined text boxes or symbols that are automatically filled with specific content, such as slide numbers, the date, or the time. In headers and footers, placeholders can be used to display recurring elements such as a company logo or the presentation title on every slide. Slide number placeholders, for example, help viewers orient themselves within the presentation.

Headers, footers, and slide numbers should be labelled according to their content. In PowerPoint, they can be marked as decorative to indicate that they do not contain any essential presentation content and can therefore be skipped by screen readers and text-to-speech software.

Why is this important?
It is important to keep headers and footers free of relevant information because screen readers and text-to-speech software often do not read out information in headers and footers, meaning that important information may be missed. If headers and footers are read out, this can disrupt the reading flow because they are repeated on every slide.

How can you implement/check this?
To create headers and footers using placeholders, proceed as follows depending on your operating system:

Mac

1. Click on ‘Insert’ in the menu bar.
2. Select ‘Header & Footer’ from the menu. A pop-up window will appear.
3. Here, you can choose what you want to appear in the header and footer, and whether the content should also be displayed on the title slide.
4. Once you have clicked ‘Apply to All’, the corresponding text boxes will appear on the slides.

You can mark the header and/or footer as decorative. To do this, select the footer text box. Right-click to bring up a menu. Select ‘Display Alt Text…’ and a window will appear on the right-hand side. There, tick the ‘Mark as decorative’ option.

 

Windows

1. Click on ‘Insert’ in the menu bar.
2. Select ‘Header and Footer’ from the menu.
3. Tick the ‘Header’ and/or ‘Footer’ checkboxes.
4. Use placeholders such as ‘Date’ or ‘Title’ and mark the elements as decorative.
5. Click on ‘Slide Number’ and select the desired position and formatting.
6. Save your changes.

You can mark the header and/or footer as decorative by selecting the footer text box. Right-click to open the menu and select the ‘Display Alt Text…’ option. A window will appear on the right-hand side. Here you can select the ‘Mark as decorative’ option.

 

3.6 Reading Order

The reading order of the elements on a slide is logical, with the exception of decorative elements.

Further information

What does this mean?
It is important to arrange the content on PowerPoint slides in an intended and logical reading order so that the elements on a slide can be read aloud in a meaningful and understandable sequence. Elements such as headings, text, graphics, and other media should be organised in a clear structure and reading order. The reading order should correspond to the visual arrangement of the elements on the slide.

Why is this important?
A logical reading order is important to ensure that users who rely on screen readers or text-to-speech software have the content of a slide read aloud in a comprehensible way. If the reading order is not logical, this can lead to confusion and make access to the content more difficult or even impossible, because the screen reader or text-to-speech software will read the content in a jumbled order. As a result, relationships within a slide may be lost and references may be misunderstood.

How can you implement/check this?
To ensure that the reading order is logical, the elements on a slide should, where possible, be created in the order in which they are intended to be read. Headings and text should also be organised in a clear and understandable structure. If graphics or other media are used, they should be linked clearly to the corresponding text or headings so that their meaning is easy to understand. In addition, care should be taken to ensure a clear visual arrangement of the elements so that the reading order matches the visual layout.

The reading order within a slide can be checked as follows:

Mac (not accessible)

1. Select the slide you want to check.
2. Go to Arrange in the top menu bar and select Reorder Objects.
3. A new window will appear. Here, the objects are displayed diagonally one after another on individual transparent layers. The order should be read from front (1) to back.
4. Hold down the left mouse button and drag the objects to the position where the corresponding element should appear in the reading order.
5. Then click OK.
6. Make sure that the title is at the front (1) and the footer is at the back of the reading order.

Windows

1. Select the slide for which you want to check the reading order.
2. Click the Review tab.
3. Select Reading Order Pane from the Check Accessibility section.
4. The Reading Order Pane window will open. In this window, you will see a list of all elements on the slide in the order in which they are read.
5. Check whether the order is logical and easy to follow.
6. If the order is not suitable, click the element in the list that you want to move and drag it to the desired position.
7. Check the reading order again to make sure that it is now logical and clear.
8. Repeat this process for each slide in your presentation.