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Re: Controlling Heading tags in PowerPoint

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From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Jan 29, 2015 12:11PM

Joseph, Office for Mac OS is a completely different code base from Office for Windows. Unfortunately, that has meant that Office for Mac has not supported accessibility nearly so well as Office for Windows does.

That might no longer be the case (I'm still using Office 2008 for Mac), but because you mention that you're working in both environments, my guess is that the accessibility you build in on the PC is lost whenever you save the file in Mac OS.

If that's the case, you would encounter the problem you're describing—headings turning into art and having to be converted back to headings one by one.

I think the same would happen even if you create the PowerPoint in Windows but create the PDF in Mac OS. I have no experience with that approach.

Cliff Tyllick
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services

Sent from my iPhone
Although its spellcheck often saves me, all goofs in sent messages are its fault.

> On Jan 26, 2015, at 5:21 PM, Joseph Feria-Galicia < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> Thank you for the quick reply Bevi.
>
> I've reviewed the link you provided and I agree the best practice is to use
> a template with specific placeholders. That's exactly what I'm trying to
> do. And yes, I understand, the title placeholder automatically becomes an
> H1. However, somehow, my title placeholder is now exporting as an "Art"
> tag once I exported to Adobe Acrobat. Shouldn't there be an easy way to
> change the Art tag to H1 in PowerPoint, rather than in Acrobat? How about
> changing and H1 tag to H2 on secondary pages (otherwise I end up with
> multiple H1 tags in a single document). There must be some way to retag
> PowerPoint containers rather than having to build a new template from
> scratch. Any other suggestions?
>
> On Mon, Jan 26, 2015 at 3:05 PM, Chagnon | PubCom < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
>> It sounds like a review of how to make PPT files accessible would help you
>> keep the headings straight. Microsoft has decent guidance here:
>> https://support.office.microsoft.com/en-us/article/Creating-accessible-PowerPoint-presentations-6f7772b2-2f33-4bd2-8ca7-dae3b2b3ef25
>>
>> The basic guidelines are:
>> Use a template for all PPTs, whether it's a built-in template or a
>> customized one. Templates control a good deal of the accessibility.
>> Use the placeholders for your content. Don't go add an random object to a
>> slide.
>> The slide title placeholder automatically becomes H1.
>> I know there are obstacles for creating accessible PDFs from Mac/Word, but
>> is that the same case for Mac/PowerPoint? You might have to migrate to
>> Windows.
>>
>> If you need to do that much fixing in Acrobat, then you really should
>> build a better template, one that meets your presentation needs as well as
>> your accessibility requirements. Not tough to do, but it does have a
>> learning curve.
>>
>> --Bevi Chagnon
>>
>> — — —
>> Bevi Chagnon | www.PubCom.com
>> Consultants, Trainers, Designers, and Developers
>> For publishing technologies
>> | Acrobat PDF | Digital Media | XML and Automated Workflows
>> | GPO | Print | Desktop Publishing | Sec. 508 Accessibility | EPUBs
>> — — —
>>
>>
>> >> >> >
>
>
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