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Canvas offers a free, Accessibility Checker! All you have to do is use it :-)

Using the Checker

To use the checker, simply go to the Check Accessibility Icon in the Rich Content Editor. This is the man in the circle. Click on the icon , and you will be given an overview of your content's accessibility.

RCE with Accessibility Checker Highlighted

What It Does....

All components verify the following accessibility rules:

Table captions: Tables should include a caption describing the contents of the table.
Table header scope: Tables headers should specify the scope and the appropriate structure.
Table header: Tables should include at least one header.
Sequential headings: Heading levels should not be skipped (e.g. H2 to H4). However, the tool does not check if the first header starts with H2 or whether the headings are sequential with the rest of the content in the page. Tables do not begin with H1, which is designated for the page title.
Heading paragraphs: Headings should not contain more than 120 characters.
Image alt text: Images should include an alt attribute describing the image content.
Image alt filename: Image filenames should not be used as the alt attribute describing the image content. Currently, files uploaded directly to Canvas create a redirect that does not properly verify image filenames.
Image alt length: Alt attribute text should not contain more than 120 characters.
Adjacent links: Adjacent links with the same URL should be a single link. This rule verifies link errors where the link text may include spaces and break the link into multiple links.
Large text contrast: Text larger than 18pt (or bold 14pt) should display a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1.
Small text contrast: Text smaller than 18pt (or bold 14pt) should display a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1.

More Info

Content taken from Canvas Beta Release Notes 10-17

Note: The Accessibility Checker is a great tool, but it does not catch everything. If you embed inaccessible content or don't use Headings to chunk the content in your pages, for example, these issues won't be caught!

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