DIY Accessibility Checking
Accessibility testing tools provide a good baseline check for accessibility of HTML web pages, PDFs and Microsoft Office 2010 documents, but the documents still need a human to check the pages and ask these questions:
- Are headings used to give the document structure?
- Are embedded media and any interactive widgets on the page, keyboard accessible?
- Does the ALT text for images and graphics clearly represent the meaning the instructor wants to convey with the image?
- Is the navigation easy to follow and understand?
D2L Brightspace
“The Accessibility Checker makes it easier than ever to improve the accessibility of your content pages. The following article outlines seven simple tips to build more accessible content topics with the help of Accessibility Checker.”
Improve Your Course with Brightspace Accessibility Checker
Microsoft Office
You can use a the accessibility checker that is built into your favorite Office products to check documents yourself. For more information on how to use this tool, go to:
- Windows: Use the Accessibility Checker on your Windows desktop to find accessibility issues
- Mac: Use the Accessibility Checker on your Mac to find and resolve accessibility issues
Google Docs
Grackle Docs is an accessibility checker for Google Docs. It’s an Add-On for the Chrome browser. Download the Add-on and then in any Google Doc, go to the Add-Ons menu and select Grackle Docs and then select Launch.
Adobe Acrobat (PDF)
Note: In Adobe Reader, you can use the Read Out Loud feature to see how readers who use the text to speech conversion tool experience it.
Color Contrast
How to Install and Use the Colour Analyzer tool
- Download Colour Contrast Analyzer Tool
- Open the Colour_Contrast_Analyzer application
- Make sure you are in the Result — Luminosity mode, not the contrast result for color blindness.
- Click the Foreground eye dropper tool, hover over and click the foreground color to select it.
- Click the Background eye dropper tool, hover over and click the background color.
- If you have a 12 pixel font color you are testing for color contrast, you must get a Pass (AA). If you have font larger than that, you must get a Pass (AA) in the Large Text field.
Video: How-to Install the Colour Contrast Analyzer
Video: How to use the Colour Contrast Analyzer tool
Screen Reader Software
- Claws Screen Reader Emulator: (Firefox add-on) Claws will show you in a text format how a screen reader will read the page.
- Read-out-loud feature in Acrobat Reader can quickly check to see if your PDF is screen reader friendly.
- NVDA: Free open-source screen reader software for Windows.