Checklist for Google Slides

Google Slides are very hard to make accessible. But the requirements below will help.

You can test the document using the tests in the Manual Testing column.

Area Requirement Manual Testing

Media

Images have alternative text.

Right-click on the image. Select Alt Text. Ensure that both the title and description duplicate in text the meaning of the image.

Contrast

Use a Slide Theme with good contrast between foreground and background colors.

Visually inspect the text/background combinations. If any look suspiciously low contrast, use one of the evaluation methods suggested by WebAIM to verify whether the ratio meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards.

Structure

  • Slides all use predefined layouts. If a custom text block is added, it must include alternative text as if it were an image.

  • Each slide has a title, and where meaningful, a subtitle

  • Click on the custom text block as an object, then right-click, and then choose the Alt Text option. See if there is something sufficiently descriptive in the Description field.

  • Visually inspect each slide for a visible title at the top of the slide.

Tabs

Tab order follows the natural reading order.

 Load the page and use just the Tab key (to go forward) and Shift-Tab (to go backward) to traverse the page. Note where the focus moves and see if it follows the natural reading order.

Tables

Tables are very simple in nature and the first row has column headings

Visually determine that the first row has text that would logically be headings. Visually determine that table is simple in nature – no column or row spans, no nested tables.

Good Practice

There are copious speaker notes. These will be read by screen readers and will help immensely.

Visually check the speaker notes to see if they provide additional context.