Slide titles should be unique in PowerPoint for Accessibility
Slide titles should be unique. Every slide in the slide deck should have a purposeful name. It’s easy to use duplicate titles but do your best to avoid duplicates.
Slide titles are easy to manage if using an accessible slide theme.
Video Guide
Why should I have unique slide titles?
People who rely on assistive technology to review presentations will often navigate by the heading or title structure. If you end up converting the document to another format like PDF, the slide titles will come through as headings.
Failing Example
In the example below there are 5 different slides that share the exact same title.
Passing Example
In order to apply unique slide titles simply add a number to the end of each slide. The quickest method to change the title of a slide is to edit in outline view.
- Select View
- Select Outline View
Then simply add a number or change the title altogether. The image below shows an outline view of a presentation with numbers added to make slide titles independent.
Note
The built-in accessibility checker within PowerPoint is exceptional at notifying of this error. Would you rather hide the slide titles?
Let me be your champion for inclusion. I offer tailored solutions (and self-paced courses!) to ensure your documents meet and exceed compliance expectations. For more detailed insights, tutorials, and in-depth discussions on accessibility and related topics, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel: The Accessibility Guy on YouTube. Subscribe for regular updates!
jaws and nvda read the title twice. Can that be fixed?
Do you mean specifically in PowerPoint? Ive noticed this happens when titles are more than one line on the page. In PDF – it would be fixed by adjusting the actual text, but im not sure exactly how to fix that from happening in PowerPoint.
[…] Give every slide a unique title. […]
[…] slide titles can confuse screen reader users. A simple solution is to add unique identifiers like numbers to each slide title. This practice, as demonstrated in one of our earlier videos, improves navigation and comprehension […]
[…] these simple steps will effectively add slide numbers to your PowerPoint presentation, enhancing its accessibility and navigability. Remember, sometimes the solution to a […]
[…] issues. Objects are exported individually, lacking alternative text, and crucially, none of the slides have titles. The disorganized reading order further complicates accessibility, posing difficulties for screen […]
[…] Adding Titles: Give each slide a clear, descriptive title. […]