MS PowerPoint Chapter 1: Text and Fonts

Owned by Daniel LaGrow, created
Last updated: Nov 15, 2024
5 min read

Instructions

Section 1.1: Fonts

Microsoft PowerPoint gives you hundreds of 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,

  1. Go to the Home tab.

    Home Tab in Microsoft PowerPoint. The tab has an orange line underneath.

  2. In the Font section, click the Font dropdown box.

    The font section in Microsoft PowerPoint with the font dropdown box highlighted in a red box.

  3. Finally, choose the font you would like.

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

These fonts are very easy to read. There are many fonts like them available in Microsoft PowerPoint, but when choosing a new font, try to find one that is similar to these and is easy 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.

  1. To change your font size, go to the Home Tab.

  2. In the font section, select the font size button and select the size font 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.

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

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 as bold, italic or underlined, but very few people change these settings. A good rule is to use bold text, italics, or underlined text sparingly.

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.

Section 1.6: NVDA Settings for Text

When a screen reader reads text with strikethrough, the text will be read like normal text. So when you use strikethrough, 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.

  1. In NVDA, go to the Preference Tab, the click Document Formatting.

  2. Select the Font Attributes check box in the pop up box.

  3. In JAWS, you can examine the font attributes at the cursor, including whether or not there is strikethrough, 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 communicated in regular text as well. This must be done so the screen readers will read the symbol properly to the reader. Here is a list of 17 symbols and special characters that are good to use.

  • The AT Symbol

  • The Ampersand

  • Slash

  • Copyright

  • Registered

  • Trademark

  • Paragraph

  • US Dollar

  • Euro

  • British Pound

  • Japanese Yen

  • Percent

  • Bullet

  • Degrees

  • One Half

  • One Fourth

  • Three Fourths

Section 1.8: Creating Symbols

To create symbols,

  1. Go to the Insert Tab.

  2. Go to the Symbols section and click Symbol.

  3. A dropdown menu will appear, click more symbols to get a wider variety of symbols to choose from.

Examples of Using Symbols

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