Day 12: Design Slides with an Accessible Reading Order

Create a short PowerPoint deck with an accessible reading order.

Screen readers cannot automatically read content on a slide in the order it appears visually. Instead, screen readers read content in the order the elements were placed on the slide.

Follow these steps to check and change the reading order:

1. Open PowerPoint.
2. Open your presentation.
3. On the task menu, go to “Home.”
4. Go to “Arrange.”
5. Go to “Selection Pane.
6. The selection pane will appear on the right. This will show all objects on the slide. The reading order for the elements will be shown bottom to top.

Changing the reading order:

1. Decide whether to rearrange one or multiple items.
2. To reorder an item, simply click and drag elements. On Windows, the up/down arrow buttons can also be used to reorder items.
3. To move multiple objects, select them by pressing “Ctrl” while clicking each object. Then drag them up or down.

The reading order can also be checked with the Microsoft Accessibility Checker:

1. Navigate to the “Review” tab.
2. Select “Check Accessibility.”
3. Navigate to the “Warning List.”
4. Select the “Check Reading Order” category.
5. Within this list, move your cursor to a slide number.
6. Choose the corresponding drop-down arrow for that slide.
7. Navigate to “Recommended Actions.”
8. Among the “Recommended Actions,” choose “Verify Object Order.”
9. The “Reading Order” will open.
10. Review the reading order recognizing the objects will appear in the order a screen reader will read them. Specifically, each object will have a number next to it, unless it is marked as decorative.
11. Determine if you need to revise the order by asking yourself whether someone could understand your content if the objects were read to them in this order.

If you found today’s challenge useful, let us know by tagging #ABD21DayChallenge and #AccessibleByDesign.