A11yBoard Google Slides Extension Aids Blind Slide Creators

Author: University of Washington
Published: 2023/10/30 - Updated: 2026/05/26
Publication Type: Product Release, Update

Contents: Synopsis - Definition - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates - Related Publications

Synopsis: This research, presented at ASSETS 2023 in New York on October 25 by a team led by University of Washington professor Jacob O. Wobbrock and doctoral student Zhuohao (Jerry) Zhang, introduces A11yBoard for Google Slides - a browser extension and companion phone app that combines audio, touch, gesture, speech recognition and search so that blind users can both understand and construct complex slide layouts. The work addresses a long standing accessibility gap in slideshow tools like Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint, which rely on Z-order navigation that fails to convey how objects are arranged in two-dimensional space for screen reader users. The project is particularly relevant to blind and low vision professionals, students and educators who need to author - not just consume - presentation content, and the report outlines testing with blind users and planned future integration of a large language model to allow natural language editing commands.

At a Glance

• 1 - A11yBoard pairs a desktop computer with a mobile device, letting a user touch a textbox to hear its color and position read aloud, then issue voice commands such as shrinking the box or left-aligning it with the slide title
• 2 - Co-author Gene S-H Kim, a blind undergraduate at Stanford University, helped refine the interface, and two additional blind testers reported they could recreate slides without ongoing back-and-forth with sighted collaborators, only needing sighted assistance at the end
• 3 - Current limitations identified by testers include difficulty maintaining continuous awareness of object positions during edits, the lack of batch actions for repeated alignments and no cross-device undo or redo support due to Google Slides constraints

Topic Definition: A11yBoard for Google Slides

A11yBoard for Google Slides is an accessibility research project developed at the University of Washington that takes the form of a browser extension paired with a companion phone app, enabling blind and low vision users to navigate, understand and edit slide presentations beyond what conventional screen readers allow. By combining audio descriptions, touch input, gestures, speech recognition and search across a linked desktop and mobile device, it conveys the two-dimensional spatial relationships between objects on a slide - position, size, color and alignment - and lets users move, resize and arrange those objects through voice and touch commands. The tool is designed not only to make existing presentations more readable, but to allow blind users to independently create visually rich slide content of their own.

Introduction

A11yBoard Google Slides Extension Makes Presentation Software More Accessible for the Blind

Screen readers, which convert digital text to audio, can make computers more accessible to many disabled users - including those who are blind, low vision or dyslexic. Yet slideshow software, such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides, isn't designed to make screen reader output coherent. Such programs typically rely on Z-order - which follows the way objects are layered on a slide - when a screen reader navigates through the contents. Since the Z-order doesn't adequately convey how a slide is laid out in two-dimensional space, slideshow software can be inaccessible to people with disabilities.

Main Content

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created A11yBoard for Google Slides, a browser extension and phone app that allows blind users to navigate through complex slide layouts and text. Combining a desktop computer with a mobile device, A11yBoard lets users work with audio, touch, gesture, speech recognition and search to understand where different objects are located on a slide and move these objects around to create rich layouts. For instance, a user can touch a textbox on the screen, and the screen reader will describe its color and position. Then, using a voice command, the user can shrink that textbox and left-align it with the slide's title.

The team presented its research Oct. 25 at ASSETS 2023 in New York. A11yBoard is not yet available to the public.

"For a long time and even now, accessibility has often been thought of as, 'We're doing a good job if we enable blind folks to use modern products.' Absolutely, that's a priority," said senior author Jacob O. Wobbrock, a UW professor in the Information School. "But that is only half of our aim, because that's only letting blind folks use what others create. We want to empower people to create their own content, beyond a PowerPoint slide that's just a title and a text box."

A11yBoard for Google Slides builds on a line of research in Wobbrock's lab exploring how blind users interact with "artboards" - digital canvases on which users work with objects such as textboxes, shapes, images and diagrams. Slideshow software relies on a series of these artboards. When lead author Zhuohao (Jerry) Zhang, a UW doctoral student in the iSchool, joined Wobbrock's lab, the two sought a solution to the accessibility flaws in creativity tools, like slideshow software. Drawing on earlier research from Wobbrock's lab on the problems blind people have using artboards, Wobbrock and Zhang presented a prototype of A11yBoard in April. They then worked to create a solution that's deployable through existing software, settling on a Google Slides extension.

For the current paper, the researchers worked with co-author Gene S-H Kim, an undergraduate at Stanford University, who is blind, to improve the interface. The team tested it with two other blind users, having them recreate slides. The testers both noted that A11yBoard greatly improved their ability to understand visual content and to create slides themselves without constant back-and-forth iterations with collaborators; they needed to involve a sighted assistant only at the end of the process.

The testers also highlighted spots for improvement: Remaining continuously aware of objects' positions while trying to edit them still presented a challenge, and users were forced to do each action individually, such as aligning several visual groups from left to right, instead completing these repeated actions in batches. Because of how Google Slides functions, the app's current version also does not allow users to undo or redo edits across different devices.

Ultimately, the researchers plan to release the app to the public. But first they plan to integrate a large language model, such as GPT, into the program.

"That will potentially help blind people author slides more efficiently, using natural language commands like, 'Align these five boxes using their left edge,'" Zhang said. "Even as an accessibility researcher, I'm always amazed at how inaccessible these commonplace tools can be. So with A11yBoard we've set out to change that."

This research was funded in part by the University of Washington's Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (UW CREATE).

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by University of Washington and published on 2023/10/30, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.