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Instructions

Section 1.1: Fonts

Google Slides gives you 25 different fonts to choose from. Many of them are accessible to use, but others should be avoided. You should always choose fonts that are easy to read and are not very fancy. To change fonts,

Click on your slide's text box, then go to the Main Tool Bar.
Select the Font dropdown menu.
Select a font you want to use.

When using fonts, you want to use fonts that are easily readable and not distracting or fancy. Fonts like Times New Roman, Verdana and Georgia are examples of good fonts to use. It is not recommended to use fonts like Pacifico, Caveat, or Amatic SC.

A list of harder to read fonts, including Caveat, Pacifico, Lobster, Amatic SC, and Comfortaa.

While these fonts look more interesting, they are very hard to read for some users.

A list of easier to read fonts, including Times New Roman, Verdana, Arial, Georgia, and Trebuchet MS.

These fonts are much easier for people to read.

Section 1.2: Font Size

To keep things simple and easy to read, make sure the font is over 18 points in size.

To change your font size,

Click on your slide's text box, then go to the Main Tool Bar.
Select the font size button and select the font size you want.

Section 1.3: Capitalization

Screen readers do not recognize capitalized letters, so there is no point to relying on capital letters to emphasize text.

A slide for an upcoming science exam. Content that is in all caps are covered in the exam.

This example shows unnecessary capitalization in letters. Screen readers will not emphasize the text even when it is in all caps.

A slide for an upcoming science exam. The content that is covered in the exam has the word covered next to it.

This example shows a new way to show the important content. Screen readers will read the (covered) label and tell the reader that it will be on the test.

Section 1.4: Bold, Italic, Strikethrough, and Underlined Text

Screen readers by default do not recognize text that is bold, italic, strikethrough, or underlined. The text will be read as normal text. There are settings available in NVDA to make the text be read with these attributes. However, very few people change these settings in NVDA. A good rule is to use bold text, italics, or underlined text sparingly.

A list of students who made a school play audition. The students who made it are listed in bold.

This example only shows the text bolded. The screen reader will not read the bold text and understand how its important.

A list of students who made a school play audition. The students who made it are listed in bold and have call back next to their names.

This example shows the text bolded and has an addition queue. The “(callback)” queue will be read by screen readers, thus helping the reader to understand the content.

Section 1.5: Highlighting

When highlighting, it is important to be sure it is not the only way to convey meaning. Screen readers will not recognize the highlighted text as highlighted text. So it will only read it as normal text. This will be confusing to someone with visual disabilities.

A list of students who made a school play audition. The students who made it are highlighted.

This example only highlights the text and does not provide an additional queue. The screen reader will not be able to tell the reader that the highlighted text means something.

A list of students who made a school play audition. The students who made it are highlighted with the word callback next to their name.

This example gives a second queue for the screen reader to read. This will help a reader understand the meaning and context behind a highlighted text.

Section 1.6: NVDA Settings for Text

When you use text that has a font attribute, be sure to modify the settings in the screen readers. This will allow the screen reader to tell the reader of any bold, italic, strikethrough, or underlined text. To change the settings,

In NVDA, go to the Preference Tab, the click Document Formatting.
Select the Font Attributes check box in the pop up box.
In JAWS, you can examine the font attributes at the cursor, including whether or not there is strikethrough. This can be done by pressing INSERT + F.

Section 1.7: Symbols and Special Characters

You can use many different symbols and special characters. However, they must always be shown in regular text as well. This must be done so the screen readers will read the symbol properly to the reader.

To create a symbol or special character,

Go to the Insert Tab.
Go to the Symbols section and click Symbol.
A dropdown menu will appear, click more symbols to get a wider variety of symbols to choose from.

Example of using symbols…

Example of Symbols for Section 6, Page 25, Paragraph 1.

This example only shows the symbols and fails to explain to the readers what the symbols mean. Screen readers will not read the symbol without an additional queue.

Symbols for Section and Paragraph used in a sentence.

This example shows two ways to type in information and give the same outcomes for readers. You can just type it in text. Another way is to type the symbols, then type in the text in parenthesis. Both ways give readers and screen readers an easier understanding of the information provided.