Microsoft PowerPoint course

PowerPoint Lesson 8

Color, Contrast, Fonts, and Accessible Design

First-time setup and success checks

Lesson goal in plain language: Apply a professional design that remains readable with low vision and does not communicate by color alone.

Prepare before step 1

  1. Open the correct application, website, or device screen and wait for its name to be announced.
  2. Open PowerPoint manual and review the matching procedure if any command or term is unfamiliar.
  3. Use only fictional, public, disposable, or instructor-provided practice information. Make a copy before changing an important file.
  4. Read all numbered instructions once before performing them so you know the intended final result.

Commands used or referenced

Alt+Q, Insert+Spacebar,

For a plus-sign command, hold the modifier key, press and release the final key, then release the modifier. For a sequence, press and release each key in order. Stop after every command and listen for the result.

Work and verify

  1. Perform one numbered instruction and stop. Identify the active window, focused control, selected item, cell, slide, message, field, or device area before continuing.
  2. Compare the result with the lesson goal. A sound alone is not enough; verify the name, state, value, location, permission, or content.
  3. If the result is wrong, press Escape once to leave an unexpected menu, identify focus again, and use Undo only when the change is safely reversible.
  4. Save or synchronize at natural stopping points. Use the required filename PowerPoint-Lesson-8.pptx.
  5. Complete the “Before submitting” checklist from top to bottom. Correct missing items before marking the lesson complete.
  6. Close and reopen the practice item, or return to it from the product’s main screen, to prove you can locate and verify the result independently.

Success standard: Explain what each major command did, show the finished result, and recover from one harmless focus or navigation error without another person naming the next key.

Goal

Apply a professional design that remains readable with low vision and does not communicate by color alone.

Skills practiced

Step-by-step instructions

  1. Open PowerPoint-Lesson-7.pptx.
  2. Use Alt+Q to search for Themes and choose a simple built-in theme.
  3. Keep body text large enough to read from a distance. Use approximately 18 points or larger for body text and larger sizes for titles when the layout allows.
  4. Keep strong contrast between text and its background.
  5. Do not place text over a busy image unless a solid background makes it readable.
  6. If a status is shown in red, yellow, or green, also write words such as Needs Action, In Progress, or Complete.
  7. Avoid rapidly flashing content and excessive animations.
  8. Keep the same typeface and heading treatment across slides.
  9. Review each slide at increased zoom and with JAWS object navigation.
  10. Run Check Accessibility and fix contrast or color-use warnings when available.
  11. Save the presentation as PowerPoint-Lesson-8.pptx.

Keyboard help: Press Alt+Q to search PowerPoint commands when Ribbon KeyTips differ. For JAWS help, press Insert+Spacebar, then J, and search for the task.

Your assignment

Apply a consistent, high-contrast design to the employee-resources presentation and ensure no meaning depends on color alone.

Save the finished assignment as PowerPoint-Lesson-8.pptx.

Before submitting