Leverage Built-In Tools in the Rich Content Editor

Screen readers navigate throughout the page using headings. Headings need to be formatted using the built-in Rich Content Editor tool. No matter what the authoring program is (whether it is Canvas or a Microsoft Word document for example) built-in tools place a unique "tag" on text or pictures that relay crucial information to screen readers like the heading level, the reading order, and defines whether an object is a text or an image. These tags help students access and navigate your instructional material.

Manually formatting "the look" of a heading such as applying larger sized text creates inaccessible instructional materials as it lacks the unique tagging that only the built-in rich content editors can provide.

Navigating Your Course!

Below are several pictures that demonstrate how two different screen readers, JAWS and NVDA, navigate using hyperlinks as well as headings from this Canvas Accessibility micro course. This is to show participants how accessible markup can lead to better usability with screen-readers.

Heading Navigation with JAWS and NVDA

JAWS

Headings list in JAWS

NVDA

Headings list in NVDA

List Navigation with JAWS and NVDA

JAWS

list with JAWS

NVDA

List View in NVDA

Both screen readers can search blocks of information in various ways, providing your students with increased navigation power. Empower your students to be independent learners!