Transcript and pointer

The two tools in the panel.

The transcript overlay and its printed form, and the pointer indicator that follows the cursor and the keyboard focus.

These two options fill the Tools group of the settings panel. With both off, the group is not built at all. See Options for the defaults.

The transcript overlay

format:
  revealjs:
    revealjs-plugins:
      - a11y
    revealjs-a11y:
      transcript: true

T opens a full-page document that holds the whole deck as running text, one entry per slide. It traps Tab, closes on Escape, and gives the focus back to where the reader was.

Each entry takes its title from the slide’s first heading, or “Slide 7” when there is none. The body is what is left of the slide after the speaker notes, anything marked aria-hidden, and the heading itself are removed. A slide with nothing left over reads “(No content on this slide.)”.

Writing the transcript yourself

## A chart nobody can read aloud

![](revenue.png){fig-alt="Revenue by quarter."}

::: {.transcript}

Revenue rose each quarter, from 1.2 million in the first to 2.8 million in the fourth.

:::

A .transcript div placed directly on a slide replaces the generated text for that slide. The div is hidden on the slide in the live deck. Use it for a slide whose meaning is in a figure, a video or a layout rather than in its words.

Note

A div you write by hand prints whatever the options say. The stylesheet shows any .transcript div under a slide in print-pdf output, and it asks no question of the configuration, so the div prints with transcript: false as readily as with transcript: true.

The print option decides only whether the plugin generates a transcript for the slides that have none.

The transcript in print

revealjs-a11y:
  transcript:
    print: true

With print: true, the plugin writes the transcript of each slide below that slide in print-pdf output. See Printing for everything else that reaches an export.

transcript: true cannot print. The short form always sets print to false, so the object form above is the only way to ask the plugin for it in the document.

A reader can also switch it on from the panel with Print transcript, and that choice is stored and wins over print: false. It wins until the reader presses Reset All, which clears every stored choice and applies the document options again.

The pointer indicator

revealjs-a11y:
  pointer-indicator:
    size: 120
    colour: "rgba(178, 34, 34, 0.4)"
    shortcut: p

The pointer indicator is a large translucent circle with a blue border. It is off unless you ask for it, and P toggles it once it is enabled.

The name understates it. It follows the mouse, and it also jumps to the centre of whatever takes the keyboard focus. So it marks the reader’s place whether they are pointing or tabbing.

pointer-indicator: true gives the defaults. The object form above sets the three keys, and any object turns the feature on unless you write enabled: false.

The Reference gives the accepted range for size, what happens to a value outside it, and the spellings of the colour key.

The panel adds a switch, a size slider and a colour list once the feature is on. The slider covers 20 px to 200 px in steps of 10, which is narrower than the range the option accepts. The colour list offers four fixed choices.

The pointer is not built for print-pdf output.

Try it

The preview deck sets transcript: true and pointer-indicator: true. Press T for the transcript, then P and move the mouse. Press Tab with the pointer on to watch it follow the focus instead.

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