Re: Microsoft PowerPoint accessibility

Phil
I had a project in which I had to convert large volumes of PowerPoints into
an HTML-based solution a couple of years ago, and discovered that text
contained in the master template text zones were rendered out fairly true to
the headings/normal text styles as sequential text. Any blocks of text or
images that overlaid a page (i.e., not part of the master text block zones),
were often ignored or placed in a position where it may have been out of
context.

Thus:
If the Master templates are used for placing text and images, without blocks
of text, etc being pasted/nested on top, a text-equivalent version is more
than reasonably accessible. (Assuming of course that all multi-media items
have been given 'ALT' treatment, i.e., text equivalents have been provided.

Kind regards
Harry


On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 1:35 PM, <accessys@smart.net> wrote:

>
> I much prefer OpenOffice.org  presentation, exactly the same output, even
> runs on powerpoint but has far more options and it is completely free and
> runs exactly the same on all operating systems (cross platform)  why build
> for windows when for  less work and money you can build for
> "apple/windows/linux/unix and others"
>
> and personally it seems even more accessible
>
> Bob
>
>
> On Fri, 13 Aug 2010, Phil Spencer wrote:
>
>  Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:53:29 +0100
>> From: Phil Spencer <spencer_phil@hotmail.com>
>> To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
>> Subject: Microsoft PowerPoint accessibility
>> Resent-Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:54:04 +0000
>> Resent-From: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm interested in the general accessibility of Microsoft PowerPoint for
>> the creation and editing of presentations. Thus far the information I've
>> found on the web has been inconclusive, and I think the opinions of a
>> wider group would be very useful.
>>
>> As part of a project I'm working on we're considering PowerPoint as part
>> of a solution for the creation and editing of presentations. The rough idea
>> is that there will be a web based library of pre-approved PowerPoint slides
>> that users can package together to make a custom presentation, which they
>> can further edit or customise offline using PowerPoint. However, if despite
>> our best efforts to ensure the web based part of the solution is accessible
>> it turns out that PowerPoint itself is a problem for some users then perhaps
>> it's better that we consider some other options.
>>
>> Does anyone have any knowledge of how well PowerPoint works with different
>> assisitive technologies?
>>
>> How "accessible" is PowerPoint considered to be in practice as an
>> authoring tool?
>>
>> Or does anyone know of any resources discussing these issues?
>>
>> Any thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome.
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> Phil Spencer.
>>
>>
>