CANVAS - Accessibility Checker: What it can do for you

CANVAS - Accessibility Checker: What it can do for you

What the Accessibility Checker can do for you

Introduction

The Accessibility Checker is a powerful tool within Canvas’ Rich Content Editor that allows you to run a quick accessibility test on content you have created within the Editor, including text, images, and hyperlinks. Anywhere the Rich Content Editor is found — when you are creating a Canvas content page, an Assignment prompt, a Discussion prompt, or the like — the Accessibility Checker will appear in the toolbar, normally at the far right. With this tool, you can catch common errors that make Web content difficult to access for users with disabilities, and you can easily correct those errors as well before you save and publish your content. Once you have entered content into the Rich Content Editor, just click the Accessibility Checker icon to receive instant feedback.

Example 1: Creating Accessible Text

Text that is too small, too light, or of a color that does not contrast well with its background may be difficult to read for users with visual impairments. The Accessibility Checker can detect these problems and give you a chance to correct them
     



Example 2: Creating an Accessible Table

To be accessible for users with screen-readers, all tables should have a caption that describes their contents, and a row or column that is designated as the table header for the screen-reader to identify. If you create a table using the Table tool in the Rich Content Editor that lacks these attributes and then click the Accessibility Checker icon, it will warn you.

Example 3: Accessible Images

Images uploaded using the Rich Content Editor should have alternative text (alt text) describing their content for use by screen readers, unless they are specifically designated as decorative. The Accessibility Checker will flag pictures that lack alt text, but in fact Canvas’ image uploader is designed to prevent you from uploading pictures that lack alt text in the first place, even without the use of the Checker.

The Accessibility Checker verifies the following accessibility rules:

  1. Adjacent links: Adjacent links with the same URL should be a single link. This rule verifies link errors where the link text may include spaces and break the link into multiple links.
  2. Heading paragraphs: Headings should not contain more than 120 characters.
  3. Image alt text: Images should include an alt attribute describing the image content.
  4. Image alt filename: Image filenames should not be used as the alt attribute describing the image content. Currently, files uploaded directly to Canvas create a redirect that does not properly verify image filenames.
  5. Image alt length: Alt attribute text is recommended to contain fewer than 120 characters.
  6. Large text contrast: Text larger than 18pt (or bold 14pt) should display a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1.
  7. Lists: Lists should be formatted as lists.
  8. Sequential headings: Heading levels should not be skipped (e.g. H2 to H4), However, the tool does not check if the first header starts with H2 or whether the headings are sequential with the rest of the content in the page. tables do not begin with H1, which is designated for the page title.
  9. Small text contrast: Text smaller than 18pt (or bold 14pt) should display a minimum contrast ratio of 4:5:1.
  10. Table captions: Tables should include a caption describing the contents of the table.
  11. Table header scope: Table headers should specify scope and the appropriate structure.
  12. Table header: Tables should include at least one header.

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