Text Color 

Naming Conventions

Give file titles descriptive and meaningful names, and use consistent naming conventions for your files. Generic wording is confusing to students.

When you add a file to a Canvas module, rename the link to the file to make it more descriptive.

• Example of good file title wording – Reading 1 – Mariana Trench: Earth’s Deepest Place.
• Example of poor file title wording – Marianatrench.pdf.

Consistent Conventions

If you refer to files or assignments in your syllabus, etc., remember to give files and assignments the same name in Canvas modules. For example, if you refer to essay_template in your syllabus, that’s how it should appear in the Canvas module.

Headings Are Used to Chunk Content

Meaningful headings and subheadings clearly identify information to make it easy to visually scan for sighted readers and easy to locate information for people who use screen readers. 

Longer documents, pages, announcements, assignment instructions, discussion prompts, etc., should use headings and subheadings to organize topics and make it easy to scan visually or with a screen reader. 

Heading Wording 

Headings are succinct and meaningful.

Heading Hierarchy 

Alt Text to Describe Images

Alt text (alternative text) is a written description of an image that is read by screen readers to visually impaired users. Alt text also appears when an image fails to load, which provides additional information to all users.

Add an Alt Text description of an image or mark the image as decorative if the image does not convey additional meaning. 

• Descriptions should be under 150 characters
• Do not include phrases like "a picture of." They are unnecessary.

Complex Images

There are three different approaches you can take to document complex images such as charts, graphs, equations, etc.:

• Provide a long description in another location with a link to it that is immediately adjacent to the non-text content

• Provide a long description in text near the non-text content, with a reference to the location of the long description in the short description

• Provide a long description for non-text content that serves the same purpose and presents the same information

Additional Resources

• Adding Alt Text to Canvas Images
• Adding Alt Text to Word and PowerPoint Images
• Alt Decision Tree for help on writing effective alt text. 
• Alt text for different kinds of images
• Video Tutorial – Adding Alt Text Descriptions to Images in Canvas

Link Wording

Create descriptive links that do not rely on the surrounding text for meaning. The link, itself, should convey its purpose and meaning without requiring additional context. For example:

• No - Click here for for more information about the Accessibility Resource Center.
• Yes - Read more about the Accessibility Resource Center.

Note that text for links should not include the URL, itself. For example:

• No - Read more about the Accessibility Resource Center https://uwm.edu/arc/
• No - Read more about the Accessibility Resource Center https://uwm.edu/arc/
• Yes - Read more about the Accessibility Resource Center.

This ensures accessibility for users relying on screen readers and improves usability for everyone.

Link Color & Format 

Underlined Text 

Font Type 

Font Size - Normal Paragraph Text (Body Text)

The following are font size standards for text in paragraphs, bullet points, numbered lists, etc.:  

Line Height

For readability, a line height of 1.5 is typically recommended.

Underlined Text 

• Use tables to display information, such as research findings, schedules, or comparisons.

• Include a caption above a table to summarize its purpose. E.g., Table 1: Comparison of Online Proctoring Tools
  • Table Captions in Word
  • Table Captions in Canvas
    
    
• Use the built-in Header Row option in Word and Canvas to mark the first row of your table as a header row. Complex tables may also contain headers in the left-most column, and these should be marked as headers, too.
  
  
• Provide a text alternative for complex tables
  
  
• Do not merge table cells.
  
  
• Do not use tables for layout, spacing, or aligning text and images.

Abbreviations

Avoid using abbreviations unless they are universally understood by your audience. If you need to use an abbreviation, spell it out the first time it appears on your page, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. 

Acronyms

Spell out acronyms the first time they appear on a page. Afterward, you may use the acronym alone. For example:
For support, contact the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL). The CETL team provides workshops and resources for instructors.

Chunked Content

Sentences and paragraphs are brief and clearly worded. Course content is “chunked” (broken into short paragraphs, sections, and bulleted lists ) to avoid overwhelming your audience.

• Bulleted Lists: Use bulleted lists for items that do not require a specific order. Bullets are ideal for summarizing related points.
• Numbered Lists: Use numbered lists for items or steps that must appear in a specific order. 

Note: Introduce bulleted and numbered lists with a descriptive phrase to provide context.

Dates 

Spell out dates in a full format for clarity, such as  (e.g., January 1, 2025). Avoid using numeric-only formats  (e.g., 01/01/2025) because these can be unclear for users who rely on screen readers or those in regions with different date conventions.

Headings for Organization and Clarity

Meaningful headings and subheadings should be used to organize content by main concepts and provide context to guide readers. Properly structured headings improve readability and navgation, particularly for screen reader users and those scanning visually. Use heading levels (e.g., H1, H2, H3) consistently to represent the hierarchy of the content. For example:

• H1: Main Topic
• H2: Subtopic
• H3: Details/Supporting Information

Headings should follow a logical hierarchy (H1 → H2 → H3) without skipping levels because skipping levels can cause accessibility issues for screen readers.

Jargon

Choose simple, descriptive language that will be accessible to the widest audience. If you need to use jargon, be sure to define it clearly the first time it appears on the page. 

Heading Hierarchy 

Canvas Heading Styles 

In order for screen readers to recognize your headings in Canvas pages, announcements, and discussions, you must apply the Canvas heading level styles to your headings in the content editor rather than simply manually making your heading text large and bold. Note that the default settings in the Canvas heading styles are already accessible. 

Video Tutorial - Applying Canvas Heading Styles

Module Creation

One module is created for each week, course meeting, topic, or unit of the class – whichever works best for your course.

Module Naming Conventions

For visual and functional consistency, modules and their contents should maintain the same naming conventions and layout throughout the course.

Text Headers in all modules are worded in the same manner and appear in the same order (e.g., Each module might have text headers such as: Topics, Readings, and Homework).

Module Contents

• Modules should contain links to all assignments, discussions, quizzes, and resources for the week, unit, etc.
• Module items should be clearly labeled with meaningful titles. You can rename module items as necessary.
• Do one of the following for modules with a large amount of content:
  • Text headers should be added to modules to provide context for items, and items are indented under the text header to indicate a hierarchy OR
  • Links to readings and resources could be moved to a single page in the module to streamline the module’s content.

Module Order

Modules and content in modules should be arranged in a logical order. Assignments in modules should be arranged chronologically, as they will be completed.

Module Publishing

Modules and their items should be published in a consistent way - either all together or on a predictable schedule.

Streamline Course Navigation

Hide Canvas navigation items not being used by students to remove clutter and streamline navigation for students. Adding too many paths to the same assignment or resource can confuse students.

Recommendation - In your Canvas course, go to Settings > Navigation and enable the following navigation elements and disable (hide) other navigation elements:

• Announcements (Even when enabled, the eye slash icon appears next to Announcements until you post your first announcement to the class.)
• Grades
• People
• Syllabus (Enable only if you plan to use the Canvas-generated syllabus. Disable if you plan on uploading a syllabus file to a module instead.)
• Collaborations (Enable only if you plan to create collaborative Office 365 documents. in your Canvas class.)
• Zoom
• Search
• Attendance (Enable only if you plan to use the Canvas Roll Call attendance-taking tool.)

View Your Course as a Student

Review your Canvas course as a test student with Student View.

Scan for Broken Links

Check your course for broken links with Link Validator.

Use UDOIT and the Canvas Accessibility Checker

Check your course for accessibility problems with UDOIT and the Canvas Accessibility Checker. 

Important: These tools are guides, not certifications. They check for common accessibility issues but are not comprehensive. If they do not find accessibility issues, it does not guarantee full accessibility, and the tools may also flag potential issues that are not actually accessibility problems. Additionally, these tools do not scan the contents of your videos or resource files.

Uploading Your Videos

Videos you have recorded  should be uploaded to My Media in Canvas. Uploading a video to My Media will generate automatic captions that can be edited.

Editing My Media Video Captions

While machine-generated captions are automatically generated for videos you upload to My Media, you should review and edit your video captions to correct errors in order to make your videos accessible.

Downloading My Media Video Transcripts

You can optionally download a plain text file of the transcript of your My Media video.

Additional Support

Contact the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) with video captioning questions.

The following are resources for determining if the files you upload to your Canvas class are accessible:

Word Accessibility

PowerPoint Accessibility

Excel Accessibility

PDF Accessibility

Captions for Live Meetings

In Zoom, you can assign a person to type manual captions, or you can enable automated (machine-generated) captions for your live meeting.

Transcription for Cloud Recordings

Enable audio transcriptions for your Zoom cloud recordings.

Interpreter

The Zoom meeting host can enable the following features:

• Language Interpretation – Allows host to assign language interpreters. Interpreters will have their own audio channels in the Zoom meeting for the language they are translating to.
• Sign Language Interpretation View - Allows hosts to assign users as sign language interpreters. Sign language interpreters are shown in dedicated video channels that are pinned and spotlighted. 

For additional information and assistance, contact:

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CETL)

The Accessibility Resource Center