6. Accessibility for all!
If you've read through 1-5, accessibility was weaved into almost every page.
Web design and accessibility principles share the same goals: can students quickly and effectively access information?
Formatting
Applying accessibility is like learning how to format a research paper using MLA or APA Style. There are specific techniques and formatting that need to be applied in order for all students to access your information.
Let's discuss a couple of formatting that impact students who have disabilities:
Limit Italics, underline, and bold
These are examples of emphasis formatting that can actually interfere and disrupt students' ability to customize their own style preferences. Here is some guidance:
- Do not style sentences and large bodies of text with either of these emphasis formatting: it is very difficult to read a whole paragraph of italics or bold.
- Limit bolding to one or two words. Again, it is difficult to read and may disrupt how students of disabilities interpret your content with their assistive technologies.
- Reserve underlining for hyperlinks. Due to some California Community Colleges using different hyperlinks aside from the universal standard blue hyperlink, it may cause some confusion.
Limit highlighting
Highlighting is another emphasis technique. The purpose of highlighting is to draw attention to important information in a text. Effective highlighting is effective because it first asks the reader to pick out the important parts, and then gives an effective way to review that information later.
Used in excess, any emphasis technique or combination of emphasis techniques can lose their ability to emphasize and become busy and distracting. Used in excess, any emphasis technique or combination of emphasis techniques can cause readers to be reluctant to read a text, if not avoid it altogether.
Also, if using the highlighting technique, limit the amount of color highlighting to 1-2 colors throughout the course and be consistent. Too much color is distracting and diminishes the intended relevance. Also, please ensure there is enough color contrast to allow for readability.
Consider using HTML codes for emphasis
Codes can be very helpful. Remember to be consistent! Peruse the 7th Shelf: Emphasis HTML Codes.
"Notice how all of the quotes are in these shadow boxes that have the same color? Notice how I also used center-alignment for the text."
-Liesl
Save caps lock for acronyms
Capitalized words can be perceived as unfriendly. Some assistive technologies like screen readers may actually read aloud each capitalized letter like an acronym.
Mobile-Users
Enroll yourself as a student in your course if possible and download the Student Canvas app Links to an external site. to review what your students see.
On the subject of mobile course viewing, did you know that more than half of all websites accessed are now opened on mobile devices?
In fact, according to Statista, last 2018, 52.2% of all website traffic across the globe came from mobile usage. This was an increase from 50.3% of the previous year. And what does this mean? Well, it obviously translates to more students visiting your course using their mobile phones. So, you have to ensure that your mobile course is as optimized as your desktop site.
In this day and age, your website has to be mobile friendly! If permitting, consider placing content into Canvas pages rather than attaching as a document such as a PDF or a Microsoft Word Doc. Students will need to download additional apps in order to access your content.
Effective website design includes making sure your site is easily visible on all different operating systems, browsers, and devices. Flexible, responsive designs are necessary to maximize your conversions. If you build your content in Canvas, that is all you need to do!