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Accessibility checkers

In this collection

  1. What is accessible digital content?
  2. Assistive and inclusive technology
  3. Accessible text
  4. Accessible text – Language
  5. Accessible images
  6. Accessible tables
  7. Accessible colour
  8. Accessible links
  9. Accessibility checkers

Microsoft applications such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, and the ANU learning management system (LMS) have accessibility checkers that you can use to improve the accessibility of your digital content.

It is important to remember, however, that these checkers may not pick up all the accessibility issues with your content. Use the information in this resource collection to ensure that you know how to create accessible content or can pick up accessibility issues yourself.

Canvas (LMS) accessibility checker

The Canvas accessibility checker is available when you are creating or editing content in the Rich Content Editor, i.e. in Pages, Discussions, Assessment instructions etc. It does not check other content such as uploaded PDF files, PowerPoint slides or Word documents.

How do you run the Canvas accessibility checker?

You can find detailed instructions for using the Canvas accessibility checker in the Canvas How do I use the Accessibility Checker in the Rich Content Editor? (external site) guide.

Here are brief instructions:

  • Open your Canvas content (page, discussion, annoucement, assessment) in edit mode
  • Check the Accessibility Checker icon – you will see a number next to the icon if there are accessibility issues
  • Select the icon to open a sidebar which displays the accessibility issue and an explanation of the issue
  • Fix the issue
  • Use the Next button to move to the next issue if applicable
  • Save the changes to your content
Canvas Rich Content Editor – Accessibility Checker

What does the Canvas accessibility checker look for?

The Canvas accessibility checker will look for issues such as:

  • Skipped heading levels
  • Long headings
  • Images without alt text image descriptions
  • Long image alt text
  • Low contrast for large and small text
  • Missing table captions and headings

Microsoft 365 application accessibility checkers

The ANU Enterprise Microsoft 365 apps Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote have built in accessibility checkers that you should use to make your content more accessible for your students.

Word documents and PowerPoint slides are the most common digital learning content file types. Here are some key things you should be checking for when creating these files.

You can find detailed instructions for using the Microsoft accessibility checkers on the Microsoft Support pages Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker (external site) and Rules for the Accessibility Checker (external site).

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Accessible links