PowerPoint accessibility

One of my clients is considering using PowerPoint as a development tool. Although they will probably convert the PowerPoint to Flash and distribute in this way, they also want to make the PowerPoint files available for users who wish to make modifications to the materials.

In investigating the various issues associated with PowerPoint, they uncovered this list of accessibility issues and some suggested solutions; they are happy that I share these with you:

Accessibility challenge	Disability	Solution(s)
Each container in a slide will be read by a screen reader in the order it was created, not the order in which it appears.(e.g. a text box that is added last to the slide will be read last even if it is found at the top of the page).	Sight	Make sure the content you see in the outline view reflects the order of the content on the slide. If it is not visible in the outline (e.g. a text box), check the reading order with a screen reader or export it to HTML and look at the order of the text in the source code.
Only true headings and titles will convey semantic meaning to a screen reader user.	Sight	Use the formatting palette to ensure that all intended headings are true headings, lists are true lists, etc. Ensure that all titles are in title boxes for any slide layout.
Images must include an alternative description (alt text) to be meaningful to a screen reader user.	Sight	Windows users: Right Click the image, select Format Picture (or select Format > Picture from the menu bar), click the Web tab and enter the description in the box labelled Alternative text. Mac user: There is no way to create alt text for an image in MS Office for Mac. This must be done in Office for Windows, or you must convert it to HTML and add the alt text manually.
Embedded video or audio clips must be captioned.	Hearing	Make sure all audio or video is captioned before you embed it into PowerPoint. When appropriate, include a transcript.
Complex charts or tables may not contain proper headings or long descriptions.	Sight	If the user has MS Office, it may be possible to interpret the data in Excel. It may be difficult or impossible to make tables and charts accessible within PowerPoint presentations, consider converting to HTML instead.
Poor colour contrast, especially between the background and the text.	Colour blindness, sight	Ensure sufficient colour contrast between text and background. Ensure sufficient contrast in charts and images.
Animations may cause a screen reader to re-read a slide.	Sight	Limit the use of animations.
Large file size may make it difficult to download a file.	N/A	Reduce file size by importing correctly sized images instead of resizing them in PowerPoint. Convert to Flash (which brings different accessibility issues).
Transitions between elements in a slide (e.g. bullet points or words fly on the screen), or between slides, can be distracting and may cause a screen reader to reread a slide.	Sight	Limit transitions, especially between bullet points. Use simple transitions, like fades, in place of complex ones.
PowerPoint must be installed on the users computer in order for the presentation to be viewed.	N/A	Link to PowerPoint Viewer. Create an HTML or Flash equivalent.