Courses: Rich Text Editor and Accessibility
What Does It Do?
You can use the Accessibility Checker in the CKEditor toolbar to inspect the accessibility level of content created in the editor and immediately solve any issues that are found.
The Accessibility Checker presents any accessibility issues with each item in the text box, one at a time. For many issues, the Accessibility Checker gives you a "Quick fix" option. If a "Quick fix" is not available, the checker will describe what needs to be done to fix the issue. This feature is very helpful although it cannot ensure your course content is 100% accessible.
The Sakai community is committed to accessibility; visit the Sakai LMS accessibility statement to learn more. The community regularly reviews the platform for compliance and works with institutions and vendors to address any issues that are discovered so the service is usable by people with different abilities.
How You Can Use It
- Help your course meet accessibility standards by quickly adding alternative text (ALT text) to images. ALT text is what a screen reader reads to an individual when it encounters an image.
- Ensure that your paragraph formatting and headings are optimized for screen reader accessibility.
- Use the CKEditor Accessibility Checker to quickly add headers to tables. Users of screen readers cannot read tables the same way sighted users do. While sighted users can tell at a glance what column and row a given cell is associated with, a screen reader user needs a table to include appropriate headers and captions so that they can match up content in columns and rows.
Instructions:
- Create your content in the CKEditor.
- Click the Accessibility Checker icon (looks like a little human inside a circle).
- Select the "Quick fix" option created by the Accessibility Checker to correct accessibility issues.
Category | Issue | Steps |
---|---|---|
Image without Description |
All images need to have an alternative or ALT text description to explain the purpose, context, or content of the image. Do not start the description with an opening like "Image of" or "Picture of." A screen reader will introduce the object as an image, so you will produce redundancy for those using assistive technologies. Focus on the context. For longer descriptions, consider whether it would be best to introduce the image, art, or photograph with the text on the page to benefit all learners. The exception to the rule is a picture or image that serves a purely decorative purpose with no meaning or value other than aesthetic design appeal. Decorative images should have a blank description so that assistive technology will skip over the object on the page. An example of a decorative image might be an image of a fancy scribble to act as a visual separator on a page. Other than being a design element, it offers no substance or value. |
|
Missing Heading |
Structuring your document with headings helps users of assistive technology navigate the page and "skim" content to get to what they need. To accomplish this, we must use the formal heading style (e.g. Heading 1-9). Sometimes we make the mistake of simply bolding text and increasing the font size, which is not the same as a true heading. The accessibility checker will do its best to find possible situations where formatting was used rather than the official heading style. |
|
Table Missing Headers |
All data tables need clear headers that explain the data or information expected within each column, row, or both. This helps all learners since it eliminates a fundamental assumption that content and structure is "obvious." A "horizontal" header sets the first row as the header row which defines the content for each column. A "vertical" header sets the headers in the first column that explains the contents for each row. The choice of "both" allows you to define the first row (column headers) and first column (row headers). |
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Manually Check for Issues |
While the accessibility checker is very helpful, it does not catch everything. As instructors, we must follow best practices and check for common issues manually by reviewing our own content.
The above items are the most common issues to review. |
Reading Order
Links
Lists
Color Contrast
Color and Meaning
Videos
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See Also