Guide
Reading order: Google Slides
Is the reading order of your Google Slides accessible with a screen reader? Learn how to create and check the reading order.
Just like a story sequence has an order – the beginning, middle and end – educational materials should also be read in a logical order. When you visually read through a document, web page or slide presentation, you follow a logical order that matches the visual content on the page: this logical order is typically left to right and top to bottom. But does your screen reader always read items in the correct order? Well, it depends on how the resource was created!
While reading order does apply to documents, web pages and slides in a slide presentation, in this post, we are specifically looking at the reading order of slides in a Google Slides presentation.
Why is reading order important?
Reading order determines the order in which assistive technology will read the content. Logical reading order refers to the sequential arrangement of content in a document, slide or webs page that allows students to comprehend the information in a coherent and meaningful way. Not everyone navigates using a mouse or trackpad. Students who use a screen reader or who have motor disabilities often rely on keyboard navigation. As the student navigates through the slide, the items on the screen should be announced in the correct order, making it easier for the student to understand and follow the given content. For example, if viewing a slide, the title of the slide is given first, providing a quick snippet stating what that slide is about. Depending on the slide, the text content is often given next and then the alt text description of the image. If the order is wrong and the alt text is announced first, the student may struggle trying to figure out the context or what the goal of the slide is. Hearing the title first provides the context and helps the student to mentally organize the information of the slide and how this slide’s content fits into the whole slide presentation.
Google Slide reading order
The reading order in a slide presentation is a way of putting the various elements on each slide in the correct order. The preset layouts all have the correct reading order.
Do NOT add a textbox to a Google Slide. The screen reader will NOT announce the content that is in a manually added textbox in Google Slides! You must use a preset layout.
To test the Google Slide reading order
- Go to the filmstrip on the left side
- Select the thumbnail of the desired slide
- Use the Tab key to move through the reading order on the slide
To change the Google Slide reading order
- Right click on the desired element on the slide that you want to move in front of the element it is currently behind
- Select reading order
- Select “Bring to front”
Note: “Send to Back” will make the selected element the first thing that the screen reader will announce on that slide.
How to set the reading order of a Google Slides YouTube video by The Accessibility Guy:
Resources
- Creating Accessible Google Slides
- Navigating Google Slides with JAWS
- Creating accessible materials and classroom strategies: summary page
- Reading order: PowerPoint presentations
Published August 2024.
By Diane Brauner
Back to Paths to Technology’s Home page
