Seven Accessible Canvas Practices

Shaped by accessibility efforts across higher education, these 7 core practices are arranged from quick, easy wins to improvements requiring more time or planning. Each practice makes Canvas courses easy and intuitive to navigate for students and instructors. For more tools and resources, visit CELT: Accessibility in Canvas.

Lists

Break up text with formatted lists

Use Canvas: Bulleted and Numbered Lists to format lists.
Avoid manually creating lists with symbols or dashes.
Format sequences, steps, and procedures as lists to break up walls of text.

Do this!

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3

Not this!

*Item 1

*Item 2

*Item 3

Color

Use high contrast colors between foreground and background

Check for contrast issues for text in the Canvas Accessibility Checker under the Rich Content Editor.
Ensure readability with color, such as use dark text on light, solid backgrounds. Avoid difficult to read highlight colors, such as red on black text.
Avoid using color alone to highlight or emphasize important information. Bold text with light highlights to provide additional emphasis, ensuring highlights do not have to be seen.

Do this!

Reply to another post by integrating foundational theories from your readings.

Not this!

Reply to another post by integrating foundational theories from your readings.

What a student might see:

Do this!

Reply to another post by integrating foundational theories from your readings.

Not this!

Reply to another post by integrating foundational theories from your readings.

Headings

Structure content with heading styles

Create a hierarchy of topics with the Canvas: Heading Styles to ensure logical order and chunking information.
The ISU Course Template starts with titles at Heading 2 (H2). After the title, use H3 for main sections, then H4 for their subsections. Without the template's title, main sections start at H2.
Do not bold or enlarge fonts to make them appear as headings.

Do this!

Topic 1 (H3)

Subtopic 1A (H4)

Text (Paragraph)

Subtopic 1B (H4)

Text (Paragraph)

Topic 2 (H3)

Text (Paragraph)

Not this!

Topic 1

Subtopic 1A

Text

Subtopic 1B

Text

Topic 2

Text

Tables

Use simple table structures with headers

Avoid decorative tables with merged or nested cells for layout.
Set column or row headers in Canvas: Cell Properties to define the structure.
Check the Canvas: Show Caption box to add a clear label or describe the table's purpose.

Do this!

Grade Distribution Table
Components	Percentage
Assignments	20%
Labs	20%
Quizzes	25%
Midterm exam	15%
Final exam	20%

Not this!

Caption
Grade Distribution
Coursework	Assignments	20%
	Labs	20%
	Quizzes	20%
Exams	Midterm	15%
Exams	Final	20%

Video

Provide accurate closed captions for videos

Use Canvas Studio: Caption Editor to correct auto-captions and publish them.
Studio's search and replace tool can help fix repeated errors that are crucial for understanding, such as concepts, technical terms, and proper names.
Record in a quiet space with a microphone close to your voice to increase accuracy of auto-captions.

Do this!

Let’s walk through Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, starting with physiological needs.

Not this!

let’s walk through mass lose hiarchy of knees starting with phisio logical needs

Images

Add meaningful alternative text (alt text) to images

Add concise, purposeful text in the Canvas: Alt Text field when you embed an image to identify the content and its key information. Replace alt text that defaults to the file name.
Keep it succinct and relevant. Avoid “image of” and include only what’s important for learning.
If the image adds no instructional value, check the “Decorative Image” box.
For complex visuals (like charts, graphs, or maps), describe their purpose and key takeaways in the surrounding text.

Example Canvas Page

Water moves through the environment in a continuous cycle. Water evaporates from oceans and lakes or is released by plants, then rises and condenses into clouds. It falls as rain or snow, then either runs off into surface water or filters into the ground as groundwater. From there, it may return through springs or be taken up by plants, continuing the cycle.

You’ll use this understanding in your upcoming activity to trace how a single raindrop might travel through these different stages.

Do this!

Alt Text

Water cycle diagram showing evaporation, condensation, precipitation, runoff, infiltration, groundwater, and transpiration.

Not this!

Alt Text

WaterUSGSdiagram.jpg

Ready to take these accessibility practices to the next level? Check out the Quick Start Guide to Accessible Course Materials next!

Seven Accessible Canvas Practices

Links

Write clear, descriptive link text

Do this!

Not this!

Lists

Break up text with formatted lists

Do this!

Not this!

Color

Use high contrast colors between foreground and background

Do this!

Not this!

What a student might see:

Do this!

Not this!

Headings

Structure content with heading styles

Do this!

Topic 1 (H3)

Subtopic 1A (H4)

Subtopic 1B (H4)

Topic 2 (H3)

Not this!

Tables

Use simple table structures with headers

Do this!

Not this!

Video

Provide accurate closed captions for videos

Do this!

Not this!

Images

Add meaningful alternative text (alt text) to images

Example Canvas Page

Do this!

Not this!