Accessibility issue in Canvas Guides web pages

[AnishBhatia]

Hello,

The Canvas Guides are a fantastic resource. I work with faculty to help them work in Canvas, so they are an indispensable resource. Unfortunately, most guide pages have numerous web accessibility issues. Are there any plans for accessibility updates?

For example, I frequently recommend the Canvas Studio Guide. The WAVE accessibility report for that page shows some issues. While I and the faculty I work with are grateful for the resources, having it made accessible would be even better. Thanks!

[Ron_Bowman]

@AnishBhatia -

I am not sure where you should send your concern on this matter.  Posting it on the forum makes others aware of it, but I am not sure if it will get to the correct people at instructure.

By the way, it would be helpful to explain/show what the issues are.  Personally, I do not have accessibility issues, so I always look for examples of what issues there are.  That way I can hopefully do better at avoiding those mistakes with my own work.

In reading your post, all I got was there are issues, but I have no idea what they are.

[KristinL]

Hi @AnishBhatia -

Like @Ron_Bowman, I'd like to learn more about the accessibility issues you've identified! I know that our Documentation Specialists take a lot of time as they work with their lessons and documents to make sure they are accessible for people who use Instructure products.

Thank you for the screenshot. That does clearly show that there are places for improvement. Do you find that pages with video guides (like the one you linked) are the ones that display the accessibility errors the most frequently? 

I look forward to collaborating, and I promise to share the outcomes of this conversation directly with the Documentation Specialists on my team so we can improve our resources throughout the Community.

[AnishBhatia]

Thanks for the replies, @KristinL  and @Ron_Bowman.

Here are some of the specific accessibility issues as detailed by WAVE:

• empty buttons
• empty links
• contrast errors
• occasional missing alternative text

I tested several pages. Many have the same repeating errors in the navigation area above the main content, so this could prevent some screen readers from navigating the page correctly. The contrast errors also repeat, so most of these problems could probably be fixed with style and template updates.

[KristinL · Accepted solution]

Thank you @AnishBhatia for the reply!

The Community Team spent a bit of time exploring this yesterday, and we also saw these alerts when we ran WAVE on our pages. However, WAVE is a tool with algorithms that are designed to do its best to point out potential issues. When we reviewed the alerts, we found that many are not issues when explored deeper in the context of our pages and our host website (Khoros). For example, the empty buttons actually have content and empty links are actually tied to Javascript but are caught by filters.

For additional peace of mind, we work closely with Instructure's a11y team. However, if we find issues that inhibit Community Members from navigating our pages, we will continue to partner with our a11y team to address what needs fixing.

If you're building resources for those on your campus, are our printer-friendly versions of lessons helpful? Often you can hover over the three dots menu and then view the printer-friendly version which has a unique URL to a simplified page.