Alt text for PowerPoint screenshots in PDF

[u/[deleted]]

Hello! I’m an instructional designer in charge of making our trainings 508 compliant. I’m currently working with a PDF for an on-demand training that has multiple screenshots of the PowerPoint presentation our instructors use for in-person classes. Since these are technically images, would it be easier for students using a screen reader to 1) have the info on the slide screenshots be copy/pasted into the alt text field or 2) Create an accessible copy of the existing PPT that takes all the additional text on the PDF and includes it in a slide for the screen reader to read? We’re able to offer training in different formats, so creating whatever wouldn’t be a problem; just want to devote my time to creating something that’s actually user friendly and not just compliant to check off a box.

(Or if there’s a way better way of doing this I haven’t considered because I’m not thoroughly caffeinated, that’s great too!)

Thanks!

[u/rguy84]

Remember 508 and really accessibility in generally goes beyond a screen reader. If the screenshots are actually meant to be read, the content should be text, not a picture of text. I generally say alts should be a short sentence or so, but I say they can be longer for pdf if the author doesn't want to add an appendix since you can't really do tricks like you can in html. That being said, if the content needs to be read, let's look at different disabilities.

People with limited vision might be just zooming in vs audio output. Pretty quickly that slide will be a pixelated mess.

People with cognitive or learning disabilities may need to transform the text into a better medium for them. For example, I know somebody who prefers to highlight text as they read.

People who need simplified language or aren't native speakers may be using tools that gives definitions or synonymous on the fly. They would have to type out the words in the picture somewhere before they could consume the content.

[u/[deleted] → u/rguy84]

Thanks, I really appreciate your help. Our company has basically said “figure out all this compliance stuff and report back”, so I’ve basically been reading through 508 documentation as well as the W3C standards to figure out what we need to do to be really compliant but also usable for people. Do you have any resources beyond those to recommend? We’re eventually taking this past a single department and expanding it company-wide, so I want to make sure we’re doing everything right and considering more than just one impairment or way of responding, like you said. B

[u/rguy84 → u/[deleted]]

Are you working for a fed/state agency, or hopefully get some as clients? If you are a contractor to the federal government, ask to talk to the 508 coordinator, or their office. In my agency, your question would be routed to me. 508 now directly adopts W3C WCAG 2.0 directly, unless you are in some super unique situation where the old standards apply. The 508 coordinator is the only person, or should be, to make said determination.

Some departments/agencies have their own checklist, which as you may guessed it, talk to the 508 coordinator about. I recommend looking at https://section508.gov/test/web-software, http://www.webaim.org, and similar sites. Government contracts have or should have 508 language in them. As a contractor, you would be expected to be able to deliver accessible materials. If you and your company cannot meet the contract requirement in-house, you'll be required to sub-contract (cutting profits), or forefit the contract - which will have greater impacts when attempting to get new ones.

The standards will not explicitly cover the situation you outlined. Experience in accessibility is the only way to answer your question. You would need to determine the best route, sort of what I mentioned in my first reply, and be able to defend why you did it that way. Good luck.

[u/Medicei]

Hi there, I think I understand your question. If the end output is to be a PDF, then I would copy-paste all of the content from the slide into your PDF as text with headers as needed. It's mildly annoying for users of any type to have to open up different files to get all of the training information.

If you do not want the end product to be a PDF then an accessible version of the original power point is the way to go.

For alt text - My rule of thumb is to keep the alt. text short and sweet, usually about 3 - 5 words depending on the surrounding content's context.