Creating PowerPoint Templates

Introduction: Creating PowerPoint templates brought to you by the General Services Administration and the Office of Government-Wide Policy.

Voice Over (VO): A PowerPoint slide master gives you control over how presentations look, allowing you to create a standard style,

VO: as well as helping others create accessible presentations.

VO: While the slide master is a powerful set of tools, it's easy for both beginners and experts to use.

VO: A slide master acts as a template, giving you, or your users, a suite of preset slide styles from which to build a presentation.

VO: Each slide master is made up of different layouts.

VO: While the slide master controls the look and feel of the presentation as a whole, each layout represents a different configuration for individual slides.

VO: For example, a slide with an image or a two-column list.

VO: You can create as many or as few layouts as you'd like.

VO: Consider creating multiple templates with many different configurations of placeholders.

VO: This will make it more likely that users will find what they need to build in the template,

VO: and less likely that they will create what they need by adding text boxes or inserting blank slides of their own.

VO: To open the slide master, select the View tab in the ribbon, and then select the Slide Master option from the Master Views group.

VO: Once the slide master is open, you'll find the master slide as well as all of the layouts along the left side of the screen,

VO: in place of the slide thumbnails seen in the Normal View.

VO: Edits to the text in the slide master will carry over to each of the layouts, though you can also customize text on each layout.

VO: For example, if you create a layout that uses a colored background, you may want to change your standard footer text

VO: in order to ensure adequate color contrast between the text and background,

VO: or change the location of your default text box so that it doesn't appear over an image placeholder.

VO: In the Edit Master group, you'll find commands to insert new layouts.

VO: You can also insert a new slide master.

VO: Like layouts, you can create as many as you'd like, but we'll just use one master for today.

VO: The slide master will appear at the top, with the various layouts below and indented.

VO: To insert a new layout, just select the Insert Layout command.

VO: You should then select Rename and give your new layout a descriptive name.

VO: We'll call this layout Slide with Table.

VO: We can add placeholders for the slide's content.

VO: In the Master Layout group of the ribbon, you'll find the Insert Placeholder command.

VO: Select that and choose from the different placeholders available.

VO: Choose the one that best fits your layout.

VO: Since we're creating a layout for a table, we'll add a Table Placeholder.

VO: We'll also add placeholder text for a table title and a caption.

VO: Always use the built-in tools to create content, whether it's a table, a bulleted list, or headings.

VO: This is also a good time to build the foundation for a proper reading order.

VO: Reading order is set in the Selection pane, which can be found in the Arrange group of the ribbon.

VO: Once open, the selection pane will list each piece of content on the slide.

VO: In the order, it was placed on the slide.

VO: Assistive technology will read items from the bottom up, so the first thing in the reading order, the title, should be at the bottom.

VO: In the newest version of Microsoft PowerPoint, Office 365, you can also check the reading order using the Reading Order pane,

VO: which can be found in the Review tab of the ribbon in the Accessibility group.

VO: In the Reading Order pane, the order is listed from the top to bottom, opposite of the selection pane.

VO: Consider including a note for your users that explains this.

VO: Items can be moved by dragging and dropping, or by selecting them and using the up and down arrows,

VO: regardless of whether you're using the selection pane or the reading order pane.

VO: Once you've added or removed your layouts, you can continue to fine-tune your SlideMaster.

VO: You can set up default fonts, colors, and slide backgrounds from the Backgrounds group of the ribbon's SlideMaster tab.

VO: You can add a standard background by selecting the Background Styles option, and then selecting Format Background.

VO: From there, you can change the color, apply effects, or add an image.

VO: Since most presentations are text-based, it's best to select a background that is simple in order to ensure good contrast with the slide's text.

VO: While PowerPoint has several default color schemes built in, keep in mind that not all will be conducive to color contrast standards.

VO: You can create your own color scheme, or customize one of the included schemes to ensure that the various colors used

VO: will provide adequate contrast for the presentation's text.

VO: If you use multiple background colors, remember that the color set in your color scheme will be the same on all slides,

VO: so ensure that you've selected colors that work against all of your backgrounds.

VO: Any standard features like agency or department logos can also be placed on the SlideMaster, and will appear on each slide.

VO: Because these will be in the background, though, be sure to include any relevant information as text on the title slide,

VO: or include these as an image on the cover slide in the presentation, rather than in the layouts.

VO: If your presentation includes any essential information or notices, such as classified or confidential watermarks,

VO: ensure that those are also on the cover slide in the presentation, and not in the layout.

VO: It may be helpful to include some tips and disclaimers for each of your layouts,

VO: so that your users will understand how to use them to build accessible slides.

VO: Close the SlideMaster to return to the standard editing mode.

VO: You can add slides based on your new layouts by selecting "New Slide" from the Slides group in the Ribbon's Home tab.

VO: You'll be able to select which layout you'd like to add.

VO: Let's add our table layout we created earlier.

VO: We now have a new slide in our presentation based on our layout.

VO: Notice that all of the features we added to the SlideMaster and the layout are included.

VO: Now, let's add some accessibility tips for our users.

VO: We want to make sure the tables they build using this layout are accessible tables,

VO: so they need to know how to define the header row in order to ensure assistive technology can understand the table.

VO: You may also want to remind users that complex tables, tables with merged or split cells,

VO: cannot be made accessible in PowerPoint, and they'll need to use only tables with a regular number of rows and columns.

VO: Consider what other accessibility tips may be relevant and add them as needed.

VO: For example, if you have a layout for charts or graphs, add a note to ensure that the content isn't color dependent.

VO: For layouts that are image-based, remind users to add descriptive alt text or mark their decorative objects accordingly.

VO: You may also want to include instructions to only add slides using the "New Slide" command

VO: and to only use the placeholder elements rather than adding text boxes manually,

VO: which can present an accessibility challenge.

VO: Also, remind users to give each slide a unique title.

VO: Images are one of the most common content types in presentations.

VO: PowerPoint has a content placeholder for images that will allow your users to easily add images to the presentation.

VO: Consider adding some instructions for your users on how to use these placeholders.

VO: Also, remind users that meaningful images require alt text and that decorative images should be properly marked.

VO: Office 365 has added a "Mark as Decorative" option in the alt text pane.

VO: Use this for decorative images.

VO: If your agency is using an older version of PowerPoint, use the "Null" tag.

VO: That's two sets of quotation marks for decorative images.

VO: SmartArt is another design component that's very common.

VO: SmartArt designs require fully descriptive alt text, however.

VO: So include a note for your users as a reminder.

VO: Once you're happy with your template, you're ready to finalize it.

VO: Now would be a good time to revisit the reading order on each of your layouts,

VO: just to make sure your users' slides will be set up to read correctly.

VO: You should also run the built-in accessibility checker and address any issues.

VO: Your users should do the same, so go ahead and add a note for them to check accessibility before they save.

VO: Once you're ready to save, select "Save As" from the file menu

VO: and select "Powerpoint Template" from the options.

VO: You're all done, and your users are ready to create accessible presentations using your template.