Editing PowerPoint Accessibility Best Practices (section)

== Reading order ==

Reading order as applied to PowerPoint presentations can be interpreted differently by different screen readers, i.e. there is no ultimate control over how it comes out. 

Slides show up under '''Check Reading Order''' in the '''Accessibility Checker''' when content is placed outside of the slide template's placeholder fields. So long as content is only edited within placeholder fields, reading order will not need to be confirmed.<ref>[http://jebswebs.net/blog/2012/09/powerpoint-reading-order/ PowerPoint Reading Order] - JessWebs: Accessible Web Design</ref>

=== Some things that influence reading order: ===

* If a slide does not contain any custom elements, it won’t show up under Check Reading Order. '''Taking this into consideration in the design phase will save the compliance operator this task while making the document compliant.'''
* '''Slide placeholder text boxes.''' PowerPoint recommends slide templates over adding text directly into a slide. This way the text will be visible in the Outline View and reading order can be confirmed there.
* It appears that the '''slide title''' will always be read out first, regardless of where that text is placed within the Selection Pane stack.
* '''Order in which elements are added to a slide.''' By default the elements added first are also read first. (They are also the furthest back in front-to-back reading order (have the lowest z-index) which also corresponds to reading order.)
* '''Z-index'''. Safest assumption is that a screen reader will read elements furthest back first, and then read elements in ascending order towards the front. (E.g. if one element is layered on top of another, the element underneath is read first followed by the element on top.)
* '''Tab order'''. With no elements selected the Tab key can be used to select successive elements on a slide. This Tab order corresponds to reading order. Tab order of slide elements should correspond with their Z-index arrangement.
* '''Order within the Selection pane.'''
** '''Home tab''' > '''Arrange''' > '''Selection Pane''' (<kbd>Alt</kbd>+<kbd>F10</kbd><ref>[https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Keyboard-shortcuts-for-working-with-shapes-text-boxes-and-WordArt-8b4743d7-579e-457b-9bf0-e556bd271639#tblID0EABBACAAA Keyboard shortcuts for working with shapes, text boxes, and WordArt: Keyboard shortcuts for use in the Selection pane] - Office Support</ref>)
** All of the elements in a slide will be displayed in the Selection Pane. The elements at the bottom of the list are read off first. 
** The order within the Selection Pane corresponds to Z-index.
** Navigate through the elements in the slide using <kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>Up Arrow</kbd> and <kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>Down Arrow</kbd> keys after selected an individual item, either in the content window or in the Selection Pane. (Use <kbd>Tab</kbd> and <kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>Tab</kbd> to navigate through items in the Content Pane.)
** Move elements up and down in the stack with <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>F</kbd> and <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>Shift</kbd>+<kbd>B</kbd>.
** N.B. The '''Selection Pane''' must be active to use the keyboard commands described above. To make the '''Selection Pane''' active, press <kbd>F6</kbd>. The selected item(s) in the Selection Pane will change from a darker orange background color to a lighter orange background color when they are selected.<ref>[https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Keyboard-shortcuts-for-working-with-shapes-text-boxes-and-WordArt-8b4743d7-579e-457b-9bf0-e556bd271639#tblID0EABBACAAA Keyboard shortcuts for working with shapes, text boxes, and WordArt: Keyboard shortcuts for use in the Selection pane] - Office Support</ref>
* The arrangement of elements on the slide can have an influence on screen readers also if the screen reader attempts to read the elements from left to right and from top to bottom.

=== Basic reading order confirmation ===

# Slides that use a custom layout that deviates from the slide template placeholders will appear under Check Reading Order. The fact that they appear under Check Reading Order doesn’t necessarily mean that their reading order is incorrect; just that they require manual review. There is no way of marking a slide’s reading order as having been &ldquo;confirmed&rdquo;.
# Arrange the elements appropriately in the Selection Pane, keeping in mind that the screen reader will read from the bottom of the stack to the top.
## Navigate to a slide.
## '''Home tab''' > '''Select''' > '''Select All'''
## '''Drawing Tools: Format''' tab > '''Arrange''' > '''Selection Pane'''<br />[[file:Powerpoint-selection-pane.png]]
# Export a PDF and confirm reading order in the PDF.<br />''N.B. The PDF is for confirmation purposes only. It is not a file that should be distributed to the client as a compliant end-product document.''
## '''View''' > '''Read Out Loud''' > '''Activate Read Out Loud'''
## '''View''' > '''Read Out Loud''' > '''Read This Page Only''' -or- '''Read To End Of Document'''
## '''Tags Panel''' > navigate to the slide > expand the slide’s node > visually confirm order of tags within the slide
# Export as RTF and confirm reading order in the RTF. 
## '''Export as PDF''' 
## Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.
## '''Save As&hellip;''' and select .rtf as the format. 
## Open the .rtf document (in Windows, the default program is MS Word).
## Read the document out loud using the Speak function.