1. Guidelines for Designing an Accessible PowerPoint Presentation Bonnie Robinson, Research Associate October 1, 2010

2. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Why worry about this? Best Practice Reach the largest audience possible Meet ADA Section 508 guidelines

3. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Proper Formatting Select a slide design from the templates. –Use one of the CCIDS templates The font & type information is already set. Be cautious about going more than 3 levels deep (this line is the third level) Use the appropriate layout for each slide. –Do not use text boxes!

4. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Selecting a Slide Design Choose template with high background/text contrast. Avoid “busy” backgrounds. Use Sans Serif fonts such as Arial, Tahoma and Verdana. Use a unique title for each slide.

5. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Unwise Slide Choices Use high contrast colors. Avoid red. Work within color families. Default colors are not always best. Excessive color change distracts from content. Maintain design consistency throughout.

6. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Guidelines for Bulleted Text Use 40 to 44 point fonts for titles. Use 28 to 38 point fonts for bullets. Keep bullets to 8 to 10 words. Use 5 or 6 lines of text per slide. Use punctuation at end of bullets. Avoid italics, use bold or “quotes.”

7. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Using Pictures and Graphics It is perfectly okay to use pictures and graphics in your PPT presentation. Provide a description of the picture or graphic: –Alternative text –Use of a hidden slide –Describe in notes section.

8. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Description of previous slide Photo of a bathroom with the floor painted with a view of the ground from an airplane. This might give a sighted person walking into this room the illusion that they are falling out of an airplane.

9. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Handouts Two (2) slides per page. Notes pages as handouts. Outline view. Use good color contrast for paper/print. Ensure font size is at least 14 point.

10. The University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies Thank you! For more information, please contact: Bonnie Robinson, Research Associate University of Maine Center for Community Inclusion & Disability Studies 5717 Corbett Hall, Room 114 Orono, ME 04469-5717 207/581-1384 (V/TTY) 800/203-6957 e-mail: bonnie.robinson@umit.maine.edubonnie.robinson@umit.maine.edu