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Ok so here's a thread of tips for making your #vVMSG2021 talk #accessible, most of these will help everyone understand what you are presenting so YAY 
Please add your own tips, resources & preferences as I am by no means an expert!
@vmsg_uk
Please add your own tips, resources & preferences as I am by no means an expert!
@vmsg_uk
For #vVMSG2021 we have to submit a recording of our presentation.
Some features discussed below for screen readers will not function the same once your talk is an MP4 BUT are all useful for making accessible presentations in future & will make your video easier to watch.
Some features discussed below for screen readers will not function the same once your talk is an MP4 BUT are all useful for making accessible presentations in future & will make your video easier to watch.
Key points to consider:
- Readability
- Screen readers
- symbols
- alt-text
- tables
- Considerations for dyslexic & colourblind viewers
- Captioning & audio
Ok let's do this....
- Readability
- Screen readers
- symbols
- alt-text
- tables
- Considerations for dyslexic & colourblind viewers
- Captioning & audio
Ok let's do this....
Readability:
Use Sans Serif fonts e.g. Arial, calibri, comic sans, verdana
Point 18 font at a minimum
Headings should be 20% bigger than sub-headings & main text
Avoid CAPS or small caps
High contrast background to text colour. Avoid black on white, can be dazzling.
Use Sans Serif fonts e.g. Arial, calibri, comic sans, verdana
Point 18 font at a minimum
Headings should be 20% bigger than sub-headings & main text
Avoid CAPS or small caps
High contrast background to text colour. Avoid black on white, can be dazzling.
Screen Readers:
Use slide layout provided by PowerPoint, this ensures the Reading Order is sensible, e.g. all slides will have an official title.
You can check & edit the reading order of each slide
using instructions here:
http://bit.ly/2WvUjxi
plus lots of other tips!
Use slide layout provided by PowerPoint, this ensures the Reading Order is sensible, e.g. all slides will have an official title.
You can check & edit the reading order of each slide
using instructions here:
http://bit.ly/2WvUjxi
plus lots of other tips!
Screen Readers continued:
Most screen readers do not read all symbols out loud. there are 17 "safe" symbols you can use.
Link to full discussion at the bottom of this tweet but they include;
@ & ° % œ Œ Ÿ and /
Full list here: http://bit.ly/2KkIckr
Most screen readers do not read all symbols out loud. there are 17 "safe" symbols you can use.
Link to full discussion at the bottom of this tweet but they include;
@ & ° % œ Œ Ÿ and /
Full list here: http://bit.ly/2KkIckr
Screen Readers continued:
Something I learned today...
Merged or split cells in tables & nested tables can confuse screen readers, meaning all the data in the table is lost to the audience member.
Keep the data in your tables to the bare minimum to avoid this problem.
Something I learned today...
Merged or split cells in tables & nested tables can confuse screen readers, meaning all the data in the table is lost to the audience member.
Keep the data in your tables to the bare minimum to avoid this problem.
Screen Readers, Alt-text
In powerpoint you can add alt-text to all your images/ diagrams/ flow charts/ visual objects.
You should absolutely do this!
They reccommend not giving the image a title, just a brief description. Or if it's just for decoration, label it as such
In powerpoint you can add alt-text to all your images/ diagrams/ flow charts/ visual objects.
You should absolutely do this!
They reccommend not giving the image a title, just a brief description. Or if it's just for decoration, label it as such
For tips on how to make a PowerPoint presentation accessible, click the link here: http://bit.ly/2WvUjxi
Speaking of links! Make sure they say what they are in the link text visible on screen (easier to do when there's no character limit)
Speaking of links! Make sure they say what they are in the link text visible on screen (easier to do when there's no character limit)
Many of the readability tips above help dyslexic audiences but there are a few more:
Use line spacing of 1.5
Avoid excessive underline or italics
Lines no more than 60 - 70 characters
Left align without justification
Avoid abbreviations
Word spacing 3.5x character spacing
Use line spacing of 1.5
Avoid excessive underline or italics
Lines no more than 60 - 70 characters
Left align without justification
Avoid abbreviations
Word spacing 3.5x character spacing
Use bold text alongside colour change to highlight key text for users with colourblindness. Use underlining sparely.
In PowerPoint you can apply filters to check how your slides look to others - see links in above tweets.
Check figures using this link: http://bit.ly/2WuLKDg
In PowerPoint you can apply filters to check how your slides look to others - see links in above tweets.
Check figures using this link: http://bit.ly/2WuLKDg
Once you have what you think is an accessible presentation you can run it through the PowerPoint accessibility checker, this will highlight any issues with screen-reader readability.
Instructions on how to find this tool here: http://bit.ly/2J04mHU
Instructions on how to find this tool here: http://bit.ly/2J04mHU
For those of you new to Alt-text, here is a quick guide on how to write "good" alt-text. I know I need some serious practice on this one.... https://supercooldesign.co.uk/blog/how-to-write-good-alt-text
CAPTIONS!
There are a multitude of ways to generate captions, unfortunately auto-generated captions are never accurate enough. Captions are not considered truly accessible unless they are >95% accurate. This is particularly difficult for scientific language...tbc
There are a multitude of ways to generate captions, unfortunately auto-generated captions are never accurate enough. Captions are not considered truly accessible unless they are >95% accurate. This is particularly difficult for scientific language...tbc
My top free captioning service is #YouTube if you create a YouTube channel you can upload your video & wait 24-48 hours for it to generate captions. Set the video to private while you wait.
Sometimes the audio is too complex for YouTube & captions will never appear... t.b.c
Sometimes the audio is too complex for YouTube & captions will never appear... t.b.c
YouTube continued:
BUT as long as it's a basic audio track your transcript should appear
It's then easy to edit the captions to remove references to "rear arse" & "eyes tops"
(What was @VolcanoJenni saying??)
YouTube captioning Instructions: http://bit.ly/38gqzKy
BUT as long as it's a basic audio track your transcript should appear
It's then easy to edit the captions to remove references to "rear arse" & "eyes tops"
(What was @VolcanoJenni saying??)
YouTube captioning Instructions: http://bit.ly/38gqzKy
Captions using #Otter
A free account on Otter gives you enough minutes of audio transcription for a 10 minute talk.
I haven't played with this a lot but it has an editing feature & you can download the timecoded file afterwards to add to your video. https://otter.ai/pricing
A free account on Otter gives you enough minutes of audio transcription for a 10 minute talk.
I haven't played with this a lot but it has an editing feature & you can download the timecoded file afterwards to add to your video. https://otter.ai/pricing
Captions with #Camtasia
You can import a timecoded transcript aka a .srt file (that you maybe generated in Otter/ YouTube) or you can manually add your captions as you listen to the audio on your screen record.
Here is a handy video on how to do this: https://bit.ly/3nBajKv
You can import a timecoded transcript aka a .srt file (that you maybe generated in Otter/ YouTube) or you can manually add your captions as you listen to the audio on your screen record.
Here is a handy video on how to do this: https://bit.ly/3nBajKv
Software such as Echo360 & panopto also have an auto-caption feature
For Echo360 your institution must have subscribed to the auto-transcript service but its super easy to edit once you have it, link here: https://bit.ly/3r3H5Ge
Panopto instructions: https://bit.ly/3aoGjOn
For Echo360 your institution must have subscribed to the auto-transcript service but its super easy to edit once you have it, link here: https://bit.ly/3r3H5Ge
Panopto instructions: https://bit.ly/3aoGjOn
If you're adding captions make sure to check:
Punctuation
Technical language
That the captions don't cover key information in your powerpoint slide in the final video you put together.
OR if you want to pay some great people to do your captions check out @AAT_transcribes!
Punctuation
Technical language
That the captions don't cover key information in your powerpoint slide in the final video you put together.
OR if you want to pay some great people to do your captions check out @AAT_transcribes!
Finally, here is a quick checklist of ways to make sure your videos are accessible, some of this may be out of our control this time, but it's all good to know! https://www.boia.org/blog/checklist-for-creating-accessible-videos
So that's it, seems like a lot but small changes can make a big difference.
Get a template & use it for all your talks, it will be easier after the first time
Please add stuff I missed, I hope this is helpful!
@vmsg_uk #accessibility #GoodLuck
Get a template & use it for all your talks, it will be easier after the first time
Please add stuff I missed, I hope this is helpful!
@vmsg_uk #accessibility #GoodLuck
@UnrollThread can you help us out with this one? It's a long old thread.
