Transcript of video:
(00:02) Introduction to Accessible Google Slides
This video is about creating accessible Google Slides presentations and our website will have a link to this that you could use as a template. First tip is that every slides presentation needs a title slide. You need to have a title so that the screen reader can understand what the presentation is about.
(00:22) Title Slides and Layout
In order to make sure that you have a title under layout, you can see that this title is this title slide is a title slide. And so I have a title, but you only want one title slide. It's kind of like your headings in Google Docs. You only want one title. Then for all these other ones, you want to make sure you choose a layout that has a title.
(00:43) Unique Slide Titles
So title and body is what I have chosen for all the rest of these slides. So this particular one has a title of slide layout tips and then I have a list. So each slide needs a title and each title must be unique. So if you need to, you could do part one, part two, but each one needs to be completely unique.
(01:04) Lists, Tables, and Screen Reader Order
If you use lists, only use numbered list if the order of the list matters. So like step one, step two. Otherwise, use bullets. In this particular list, I just don't have bullets for my example.
If you have data and you want to put it in a table, that's great but only use tables for data and make sure you have a header row and don't merge cells. Screen readers have a hard time with that.
Check that your text boxes and images appear in the correct order for a screen reader by tabbing through the slide.
(01:44) Arranging Content for Screen Readers
Well, this is a pretty simple slide layout. Remember, I only had the title, the body, and a picture, but that's the order that I want it to go in. And so, you can tab through those, and it'll show you the order that it will go in. And if you need to readjust that order, you can come up to the arrange order and make those changes.
(02:00) URLs and Descriptive Links
I know that we always provide shortened URLs with our presentations. And so just some recommendations on what to do there. You could use bit.ly, you could use our s.esu10.org shortener that's on ODIE. They're friendly to screen readers. They can have descriptive back halves. You can also highlight text and make that a link by clicking up here and inserting a link. But make sure you use a descriptive text and not say just click here.
(02:48) Font Size and Font Types
And then never use this really big long URL like in a Google doc. Font size for slides, we want to go between 18 to 24 for the minimum. Ideal would be 24. You can go larger than that. And you can see that 24 point is not that huge.
There are four main types of font. Serif, sans serif, script, and display on a screen. Sans serif is better for readability.
(03:14) Choosing Fonts Wisely
When you're building your presentations, don't use any more than three fonts at a maximum. I like to use just two. I pick the same for my titles or my headers. And then my body, I choose a different font. And then I really don't use flare, but you could use flare.
(03:34) Examples and Readability
Nothing important content-wise there. Here's some examples of three different fonts. The same sentence all the same size. And you can see just the difference of how the characters are spaced. Some other good readable fonts are in this list.
(04:26) Considerations When Choosing Fonts
One thing to keep in mind is that whatever font style you like, if you're providing some content where the capital I and the lowercase L and the one might all look the same, you might want to change your font style.
Make sure there's enough spacing between the letters. Limit your font style choices because every time you change it in a document, it makes the person that's reading it have to think about that.
(04:50) Color Contrast and Resources
Also, you must consider color contrast. We're going to talk more about that later, but keep in mind that color contrast ratio must be 4.5 to 1 at the minimum. And also don't rely on color alone to convey meaning.
Our resources hub is A11Y.ESU10.org. You can go there to find more information about the why, what, and how of digital accessibility.