Creating Accessible Canvas Pages

Overview

This page will show you how to make sure all of your Canvas pages (as well as  assignments, discussions, quiz pages) are accessible. 

You have a choice as to how to engage with the material in this lesson. Remember, the key concepts are always addressed in the text. If you need more info or learn by watching, the videos and resources are great supplements.

 Read: Creating Accessible Canvas Pages

The Content Text Editor

Canvas Rich Content Editor showing formatting text and media embedding options.

The content content editor is available anywhere in Canvas where you can add and format text and multimedia much like you do in Word.

Page Structure

You add structure to a Canvas page by using headings. The page title is a heading 1 (called Header 1 in Canvas), so any content section heading in Canvas will begin with Header 2. To add headings, you simply click on or highlight the line of text, then select the appropriate heading level in order. If the default text size is too large, you can highlight the heading and adjust it using the text size drop-down menu. This short video demonstration illustrates how to apply headings in the Canvas Rich Content Editor (1:20).

You check how text has been formatted by highlighting or clicking on a section of text (while in edit mode). At the bottom of the editing pane, you will see a div >> + p, h2, or h4 appear. These stand for paragraph (normal text, such as this text), heading 2 (section titles), heading 3 (sub-section), or heading 4 (sub-sub section). 

Headings Tips

  • Headings do not need colons at the end. They are self-contained units.
  • Always use headings in order. Do not skip levels.
  • Headings provide structure, not just visual emphasis. After a heading or sub-heading there should always be paragraph text, a  sub-heading, or a sub-sub-heading logically placed. Use bold and text size in paragraph text for for emphasis when a heading does not logically precede content.

Underlining

Avoid underlining for emphasis. Underlining should be reserved for links.

Use the Built-in Lists

Just like headings provide structure to content, the built-in list (bulleted or numbered) tool adds structure by formatting list content as true lists. Users of assistive technology also use lists to navigate content and perceive organization. The list formatting also provides a consistent look and feel.

Alt Text for Images

You are probably sick of hearing about alt text, but guess what - you need it in Canvas, too! Luckily, Canvas makes it easy to add alt text - prompting you to add it when you first upload an image (if you're using add image to the right of the Rich Content Editor). You can also mark an image as decorative (if there is no meaning in the context) by checking the box.
Please, do not mark as decorative if the image communicates meaning in the context.

Upload image to Canvas option showing the alt text field.

If you're adding alt text to existing images, click on the image. select the Image Options button. From the Image Option panel, select the desired image and add alt text or mark as decorative by selecting the checkbox..

Image Options panel showing the alt text field and the Decorative image checkbox, along with the image size.

Tables

Canvas allows you to edit tables in such a way that you can use the Rich Content Editor to add headers to them (as opposed to going into the HTML to do it!). As discussed with Word, tables should have captions and header row/column to assist screen readers in reading the data correctly. Tables should not be used to format/control the layout of your page.

Once you've made your table, do the following to make it accessible: 

  1. Click on the table to select it. Then, click on the Table menu in the Rich Content Editor. 
  2. Select Table properties and check the Caption box. Click OK.
  3. Click at the top of your table to type a caption for the table. TIP: If you do not want to caption to be seen, highlight the caption and change the font color to white.
  4. Highlight the cells of the header row (or column). 
  5. Back on the Table menu, select Cell, then Cell properties.
  6. In the Cell type dropdown menu select Header cells.
  7. Under Scope, select Columns (if the headers are by column). If the first column is a header column, select it, mark as Header cells, then select Rows for the Scope. Click OK to finish. 

You can also review the Canvas Guides for step-by-step instructions on making accessible tables. Links to an external site. 

Captions/Transcripts for Media

Another fun function in Canvas is the ability to easily add in audio and video recordings to each page using the Rich Content Editor. However, if you have a student that is deaf, hard of hearing, or simply doing classwork in a noisy environment, you will want to make sure you also provide captions or a transcript. 

I have learned over the years that my recordings are smoother, clearer, and stick to the point when I use a script. And what's even better - that script can now be used to create captions (for a video) or a transcript (for audio) if you upload the video to YouTube and add the script text to generate the timed captions.. 

For videos directly created in Canvas, feel free to review the Canvas Guide on adding captions to Canvas videos Links to an external site. or at minimum, you can always provide a transcript file. There are free and paid tools, like Panopto, Zoom or phone apps you can use to give you a speech to text transcription if you need it.

Watch: Canvas Accessibility Videos

Create Accessible Canvas Tables (9:14)

Explore: Canvas Accessibility Guides