Make A Webpage Method

As discussed in Methods to Put Online, there are six methods for putting a PowerPoint presentation online. As most of the methods do not result in complete accessibility and require some type of manual editing, the "Make Webpage" method is recommended to achieve an accessible PowerPoint presentation. Dependent upon the length and complexity of the presentation there are benefits and drawbacks for using:

Separate webpages for each slide in the presentation,
Or, one webpage for the entire presentation.

Separate Webpages for Each Slide

Creating separate webpages for each slide in the PowerPoint presentation results in as many files as there are slides. Each webpage offers a "Next" and a "Previous" link to facilitate sequential navigation through the presentation (see Image 1).

Image 1: Conceptual idea of "separate webpages" for each slide

Benefits to Using "Separate Webpages"

Download time is faster because the webpage contains text and graphics for one slide in the presentation.
A user seeking a particular slide can directly access and view only that slide.
The sequential navigation to the next or previous slide is often easier to use and similar to how PowerPoint is typically viewed.

Drawbacks to Using "Separate Webpages"

A user has to search within each webpage to locate specific information.
When the slides are reordered or changed, the navigational links and slide numbers must be reconstructed for each webpage .
Results in more files which are harder to manage and publish to a course management system (i.e. Blackboard or WebCT).

One Webpage for the Entire Presentation

Creating "one webpage" for the entire PowerPoint presentation results in one file that contains all the slides. The webpage offers a set of links to facilitate navigation to any slide within that one webpage (see Image 2).

Image 2: Conceptual idea of "one webpage for the presentation"

Benefits to Using "One Webpage"

One search is needed to locate specific information within the presentation.
Users can examine the entire presentation as a whole unit.
Easier for the user to download and store a copy of the presentation for later access.
When slides are reordered or changed, the navigational links and slide numbers must be reconstructed in one webpage.
Results in less files which are easier to manage and publish to a course management system (i.e. Blackboard or WebCT).

Drawbacks to Using "One Webpage"

Download time is longer because the entire presentation is contained in one webpage.
The page-down navigation to the next slide or the page-up navigation to the previous slide may be more difficult to use. To improve the usability of this navigation, provide links on the webpage that allow a user to "skip" to each slide in the webpage or designate the "tab order" for each slide.

The next page will discuss the set-up processes of creating folders and saving the slides as images when using the "Make Webpage" method to achieve an accessible PowerPoint presentation.

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Third Party Tools

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Save Slides as Images