Organizing Information: Introduction to 
Reading Order 

KATIE ALLEN: Welcome to our accessibility tutorial on organizing 
information accessibly. My name is Katie Allen, and I'm a 
program associate from the Vera Institute of Justice. This video is 
about organizing content accessibly in electronic and web- based 
materials, for survivors with disabilities. 

In this video, I'll discuss and demonstrate how to organize 
information in an accessible way in Microsoft PowerPoint and 
Word. I'll define and explain reading order, and what it means for 
the accessibility of your materials. And we'll show how to check 
for accessible reading order in Microsoft Office. 

Well- organized content is more accessible for all survivors and 
anyone who has experienced trauma. Survivors with disabilities 
that impact attention, reading, and visual comprehension, mental 
processing, and vision, especially benefit from accessible content 
organization. 

Many blind survivors and survivors with low vision navigate 
electronic content using assistive technologies, like screen 
readers and refreshable Braille displays. Screen readers read 
written text and other information from a computer aloud using 


speech. Refreshable Braille displays convert and communicate 
written text and other information on a computer using Braille. 

Screenwriters are also helpful for survivors with intellectual 
disabilities and learning disabilities, as well as for anyone who 
cannot read. Reading order is particularly important for survivors 
who use assistive technology, because assistive technology uses 
reading order to read the content in a document or web page in 
order. 

In this video, we'll focus on reading order, what it means and how 
to organize content in Microsoft Office to make sure your 
documents' reading order is arranged accessibly. If we create 
materials without considering reading order, many survivors with 
disabilities will not be able to access our materials and websites. 

In PowerPoint, slide layouts determine reading order. We choose 
slide layouts when we create new slides in PowerPoint 
presentations. It's important to choose a slide layout that fits the 
content of the slide. We want to avoid using blank slides and 
adding text boxes and images into them. Instead, choose a 
layout that includes space for text and images. 

For example, on this slide, I'm showing an image of a two- 
content slide layout. There's a title and two content placeholders. 
A survivor who is using a screen reader would read the title first, 


and then the content in the first place holder, and then the 
content in the second place holder. That's reading order. 

The place holders are the boxes that say Click to Add Text. If you 
leave one of the place holders empty, the blank place holder will 
still be read aloud, which makes the reading order confusing. If 
you add more than two pieces of content to a two- content 
layout, it can also confuse the reading order. 

In both cases, a survivor who is using assistive technology might 
either miss information or read the information out of order. For 
example, if you want to have a title, an image, and text, you 
would choose this two-content layout. Or if you wanted to have a 
title with two images, you would choose this two-content layout. 

But if you want to add two pictures and two pieces of text on 
your side, you would choose four- content layout. If you don't see 
the layout you need in your list of options, you can create your 
own layout. And I'll demonstrate how to create your own layout 
now. 

We can create a layout for four pieces of content. You create your 
own slide layout in the Master Slide deck. To get to the Master 
Slide deck, go to View and click Slide Master. 

In the Master Slide view, click Insert layout. Within this blank 
master slide, you can customize the layout. To customize the 


layout, click Insert Place Holder and select Content from the 
dropdown list. You can add as many placeholders as you need for 
this slide. 

In this example, I've added four placeholders for four pieces of 
content. So now you can choose this layout in your presentation. 
So we'll close the Master Slide view. 

And we'll go to New Slide and Layouts. And then you can select 
the layout that you want to use for this slide. 

I selected the layout that I just customized, which has four 
content placeholders. This slide is an example of the four- content 
placeholder layout, with two images and two blocks of text. You 
can also check the reading order of your slides in PowerPoint. 

You can check the reading order by viewing the Selection pane. 
This Selection pane shows each piece of slide content on the 
slide. In the selection pane, the reading order is listed from 
bottom to top, so that a screen reader would first read the 
content on the bottom of the list, and then go to the top. And I'll 
show you what I mean. 

So in your toolbar, you go to Arrange and click the dropdown 
arrow, and select Selection Pane at the bottom of your list. This is 
the Selection Pane on your sidebar. You'll notice that the objects 
on your slide are listed in order from bottom to top. So a screen 


reader would first read the title, and then the content 
placeholders, and then the slide number. 

Reading order is important in written materials as well. In 
Microsoft Word, you want to consider how objects like images and 
text boxes are placed in line with the text. This is also an element 
of reading order. Microsoft Word is limited in its purpose. It's not 
a design program. And that means what some of us might think 
of as more appealing visual design elements are just not 
accessible in Word. And I have an example on this document. 

This shows some text and an image of a refreshable Braille 
display. This first example is accessible. The image is in line with 
the text. The second example is not accessible. It shows text 
wrapping around an image. A screen reader would not be able to 
detect the image wrapped in text, because it's not in line. 

So to fix an image that's not in line with text, you can click on 
that image that's not in line, and go to Picture Format. And click 
on the menu option Wrap Text and the dropdown arrow next to 
it. Then you'd select the option In Line With Text. Now you'll 
notice that our image is in line with the text, just as it is in the 
first example. 

Headings are another important element of reading order. 
Microsoft Word has built-in headings that keep the document 
structured accessibly. Headings help guide people visually 


through topics and subtopics, using color, bold, italics, and font 
size. Headings are also accessible for blind survivors and 
survivors who use screen readers, because assistive technology 
detects headings too, but only if you use the built in heading 
structures in Microsoft Word. 

These headings are like hidden labels for survivors, so they can 
navigate accessibly through a document. This document shows a 
list of the built-in headings in Microsoft Word. How do you know 
what heading to use and when? Well, you want to use the 
headings in order. You'll notice that the title is first, "All About 
Cats", and then a Heading 1, Introduction, another Heading 1, 
Types of Cats, and then Heading 2 under Heading 1, and when it 
applies, Heading 3 under Heading 2, and so on. 

So we'll open the Styles pane on the sidebar, so you can see the 
headings listed. Here, you can view the list of headings and their 
styles. To designate a heading, you can type your heading, and 
then highlight it, and select the heading that you want it to be in 
the Styles pane. I'll type a new heading under Cat Food, and I'll 
call it Healthy Cat Food. 

Now I'll highlight the words. I want this to be Heading 2, because 
it's listed under a Heading 1. So I'll select Heading 2. Now my 
headings are listed accessibly for survivors who are using 
assistive technology, as well as survivors who are navigating this 
document visually. 


The next part of reading order is page numbers and slide 
numbers. Page numbers in Microsoft Word are easy to add. They 
make it easier for survivors to reference and search for 
information in your materials. You can add page numbers in 
Microsoft Word by going to the Insert menu and selecting Page 
Numbers from the dropdown list. 

You can add slide numbers in PowerPoint as well. You can do this 
most consistently in the Master slide deck that we talked about 
earlier. You can go to View and click Slide Master. And then go to 
Insert and click Slide Number. Then you slide numbers will 
appear on every slide consistently. 

The last part of reading order that we'll discuss today is bulleted 
lists. Bulleted lists and numbered lists are helpful for survivors to 
navigate print and electronic materials, visually and non-visually 
if you use the built in bulleted and numbered lists in Microsoft 
Office. So much like headers, if you create your own bullets by 
using the "dash" key (-), they will not be accessible for survivors 
using screen readers and other assistive technology. 

I'll demonstrate, in our heading document, how to add bullet 
points using the built-in bullet lists in Microsoft Office. In the 
Home tab, under the Bullets dropdown list, you can select the 
format for your bullets. 


This first in comments section is called Filled Round Bullets, which 
is what we have used throughout our presentation today. So 
you'll highlight what you want to create a list, go the bullet 
dropdown list, and select the bullet. 

Now that we've discussed some elements of accessible content, 
organization, we'll briefly go over how to check for access in your 
document in Word or PowerPoint, so that some of the accessibility 
issues can be flagged for you to fix. Microsoft Office Accessibility 
Checker Tool will flag some accessibility issues in your document. 
But it's not comprehensive. So we cannot rely on it for complete 
accessibility. 

The tool will flag errors, warnings, and tips, including those 
related to inaccessible reading order. I'll share an example of how 
to check, and what results you might get. So to check for 
accessibility in your PowerPoint document, you go to Tools in the 
top menu bar and select Check Accessibility. A sidebar will come 
up on the side of your presentation that says Accessibility 
Checker, and it will list your results. It will also tell you how to fix 
the errors, warnings, and tips. 

So we have a warning that says "check reading order", and tells 
us that this issue occurs on slide 9. In the results, we'll click the 
slide 9. It will take us to the slide, and tell us why we should fix 
this and how to fix it. And Microsoft PowerPoint says, "Why fix? 
People who cannot view the slide will here slide text shapes and 


content, read back in a specific order. You should verify that the 
reading order and labels will make sense in the order that they 
will be read back." 

So to recap, there are many elements related to accessible 
document organization. But this video focused on reading order. 
Many survivors who are blind or have other disabilities use screen 
readers or refreshable Braille displays to read electronic and web- 
based materials. Reading order impacts how survivors read and 
navigate your electronic and web- based materials. 

Reading order considerations include using appropriate slide 
layouts in PowerPoint, making sure objects are in line with the 
text in Word, using Word's built-in heading structure, adding slide 
numbers and page numbers, and using the built-in bulleted and 
numbered lists. 

This video on organizing information and reading order is part of 
the Disability and Deaf Resource Center series of "how-to" videos, 
to help your agency increase accessibility of your services, 
outreach, and programs to reach survivors with disabilities. This 
"how-to" video series includes videos about how to improve 
accessibility of outreach, educational, training, and intake 
materials. 

We also have videos about general accessibility guidelines to 
ground this work. The Vera Institute of Justice Center on 


Victimization and Safety created this video series with a grant 
from the Office of Violence Against Women at the Department of 
Justice. The Center on Victimization and Safety at the Vera 
Institute of Justice works to ensure that victims services 
effectively identify, reach, and meet the needs of marginalized 
crime survivors. 

We work with survivors to build and strengthen the capacity of 
communities, organizations, and providers, to respond effectively 
to and prevent sexual violence, domestic violence, and other 
forms of abuse against people with disabilities and D/deaf people. 
Ending abuse of people with disabilities and D/deaf people is a 
team effort, so contact us for support. The End Abuse email 
address is cvs@vera.org. The End Abuse phone number is 212-
376-3096. And the End Abuse toll free phone number is 855-274-
8222.