Accessibility Guidelines for Deposits

Accessibility Guidelines for Deposits Kim Ferguson (KBF Consulting, DANS-KNAW) – CC BY SA 4.0 Version 1.5, November 29, 2025 | DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17764359 Slide deck checklist This is a seven-point checklist for creating accessible documents, focusing on slide decks (see other checklist for documents). This guide refers to the Microsoft Accessibility Checker tool built into Microsoft Office Suite and has additional documentation 1 to aid its use. I recommend that final slide decks are appraised in Microsoft PowerPoint with the Accessibility Checker, as Google Slides does not implement numerous accessibility features. 1. Slide Structure:  Use a logical and consistent slide structure, where slides are a balance of informative text and images, but not too image-heavy or too reliant on narrative explanation.  Use slide titles and headings to organize content, ensuring that no slide titles are repeated. Slide titles can sit outside of the visible slide area in order to have this information present while not appearing while presenting the slide.  Ensure a clear reading order of elements using the Selection Pane tool, where the order of items in the slide are arranged in the tool from base at the bottom to the top (explanation in Accessibility Checker dialogue box).  When possible, use speaker notes for additional context and details. Licence information should be in the title slide rather than in the speaker notes, including the appropriate licence. 2. Text Formatting:  Use readable fonts, such as sans-serif (e.g., Arial, Calibri).  Use at least 18pt font size for body text.  Use built-in bullets or numbered list features rather than manual formatting.  Use a high contrast between text and background.  Avoid using italics, underlines, or all caps for emphasis. 3. Colour and Contrast:  Ensure text and background have sufficient colour contrast.  Use Microsoft's Accessibility Checker to check for contrast issues, though this cannot check for contrast within imported images, only elements created within PowerPoint 1 ‘Improve Accessibility with the Accessibility Checker - Microsoft Support’. n.d. Accessed 26 October 2023. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/improve-accessibility-with-the-accessibility-checker-a16f6de0-2f39-4a2b8bd8-5ad801426c7f.  When possible, check images used or generated for colour suitability with regards to colour vision deficiency (colour blindness). This can be achieved in Microsoft PowerPoint using the Accessibility menu, as well as online tools such as Visolve 2 , where images can be altered if the licence allows and this is communicated. 4. Alternative Text for Images:  Add descriptive alternative text to all images, charts, and graphics. For assistance on generating descriptive alternative text, refer to the W3C Alt Decision Tree 3 .  Use Microsoft Accessibility Checker to ensure images have appropriate alt text, including any that may have AI-generated alt text or incorrectly attributed alt text.  Where appropriate, designate decorative elements using the “Mark as decorative” feature in the Alt text dialogue box for images and visual elements or groupings 5. Hyperlinks:  Use descriptive hyperlink text (e.g., "Read more about accessibility" instead of "Click here").  Ensure that hyperlinks are distinguishable and not solely reliant on colour, such as with underlining. 6. Multimedia and Audio:  Provide transcripts and captions for audio and video content. 7. Multiple file formats to disseminate  If produced in Microsoft PowerPoint, after a final check with the Accessibility Checker, export as PDF (Use “Export” option rather than print as PDF to ensure accessible properties are included) and then save as an open format of choice (.odp). These three formats (.pdf, .pptx, and .odp) can be uploaded to the same repository entry, where the .pdf is the stable, reference version.  If produced in Google Slides, a final Accessibility Check in Microsoft PowerPoint is recommended as a large amount of features will not be available in Google-exported formats. 2 Ryobi Systems Co., Ltd. n.d. ‘Visolve - the Assistive Software for People with Color Blindness’. Accessed 26 October 2023. https://www.ryobi.co.jp/products/visolve/en/. 3 Initiative (WAI), W3C Web Accessibility. n.d. ‘An Alt Decision Tree’. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Accessed 26 October 2023. https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/decision-tree/. Further References: Karcher, Sebastian, Theresa Anderson, Randy Colon, and Abigail Goben. 2022. ‘Slides for: Curating for Accessibility’. Presented at the IDCC 2022, June 15. https://zenodo.org/records/6644046. University Library Klagenfurt. n.d. ‘Accessible Media – Accessibility Services, University Library Klagenfurt (Checklist for Accessible Slides)’. University Library Klagenfurt (blog). Accessed 26 October 2023. https://www.aau.at/en/university-libraryklagenfurt/use-and-service/accessibility-services/accessible-media/. Document checklist This is a seven-point checklist for creating accessible documents, focusing on text-based documents (see other checklist for slide decks). This guide refers to the Microsoft Accessibility Checker tool built into Microsoft Office Suite and has additional documentation 4 to aid its use. 1. Document Formatting:  Use proper headings (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) for document sections to create a clear hierarchy. This can be adjusted in the Styles menu in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.  Use lists (bulleted or numbered) to organize content instead of manual formatting.  Specify the document language in the document properties to assist screen readers. This is in the Tools menu of Microsoft Word and File menu of Google Docs. 2. Text Formatting:  Use sans-serif fonts (e.g., Arial or Calibri) for improved readability.  Ensure text is at least 12pt for body text and 18pt for headings.  Use the Style options of Strong or Emphasis for highlighting content instead of bold and italic.  Avoid underlining text as it can be confused with hyperlinks. 3. Table Formatting:  For each table used, the header row needs to be defined and captions should be used for data tables.  Avoid using merged cells in tables, as this complicates table navigation. 4. Alternative Text for Images:  Add descriptive alternative text to all images, charts, and graphics. For assistance on generating descriptive alternative text, refer to the W3C Alt Decision Tree 5 .  Use Microsoft Accessibility Checker to ensure images have appropriate alt text, including any that may have AI-generated alt text or incorrectly attributed alt text. 5. Hyperlinks:  Use descriptive hyperlink text (e.g., "Read more about accessibility" instead of "Click here"). 4 ‘Improve Accessibility with the Accessibility Checker - Microsoft Support’. n.d. Accessed 26 October 2023. https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/improve-accessibility-with-the-accessibility-checker-a16f6de0-2f39-4a2b8bd8-5ad801426c7f. 5 Initiative (WAI), W3C Web Accessibility. n.d. ‘An Alt Decision Tree’. Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Accessed 26 October 2023. https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/images/decision-tree/.  Ensure that hyperlinks are distinguishable and not solely reliant on colour, such as with underlining. 6. Colour Contrast and Colour Choice:  Maintain a high contrast between text and background colours to ensure readability.  Use the Microsoft Accessibility Checker to identify and fix contrast issues.  When possible, check images used or generated for colour suitability with regards to colour vision deficiency (colour blindness). This can be achieved in Microsoft PowerPoint using the Accessibility menu, as well as online tools such as Visolve 6 , where images can be altered if the licence allows and this is communicated. 7. Multiple file formats to disseminate  If produced in Microsoft Word, after a final check with the Accessibility Checker, export as PDF (Use “Save As” option rather than print as PDF to ensure accessible properties are included) as well as open format of choice (.rtf, .odt). These three formats (.pdf, .docx or .doc, and .odt or .rtf) can be uploaded to the same repository entry, where the .pdf is the stable, reference version.  If produced in Google Docs, a final Accessibility Check in Microsoft Word is recommended as a large amount of features will not be available in Googleexported formats. Further References: Blumesberger, Susanne, Sonja Edler, Eva Gergely, Doris Haslinger, and Denise Trieb. 2022. ‘Guidelines on Preparing Accessible Content for Repositories: Format PDF’. https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1594526. https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail/o:1594526. Karcher, Sebastian, Theresa Anderson, Randy Colon, and Abigail Goben. 2022. ‘Slides for: Curating for Accessibility’. Presented at the IDCC 2022, June 15. https://zenodo.org/records/6644046. 6 Ryobi Systems Co., Ltd. n.d. ‘Visolve - the Assistive Software for People with Color Blindness’. Accessed 26 October 2023. https://www.ryobi.co.jp/products/visolve/en/.