Using Blackboard Ally, it is easy to identify and fix accessibility issues. Especially when following the guidence within the remediation panel to resolving accessibility issues. Whether the issue is colour contrast, missing alternative text or requiring a heading structure, the guidence here at the remediation station will help you remediate some of the most common accessibility issues.
Skip to the good bit!
Getting started (5 minutes)
Blackboard accessibility is easy to get to grips with! Significantly, the Blackboard Accessibility Summary and the Accessible File Indicators are the main routes to identifying and fixing accessibility issues.
The document has contrast issues.
Impact of this issue
Colour contrast issues are found in documents that contain text with low contrast between the text and its background. This causes the text to be difficult to read, especially for those with visual impairments, poor eyesight or colour blindness.
How to fix
- Open the original file in Microsoft 365.
- The Blackboard accessibility dashboard will show you where the text fragment with insufficient contrast is in this document. Use the preview on the left to help locate it.
- Select the low contrast text and change the colour. On the Home tab, select the Font Colour arrow and choose a colour with more contrast.
- Optional: Use a Colour Contrast Analyser to verify the new colour has at least the AA checks pass, AAA is best
- Repeat these steps for all text with insufficient contrast.
- Consider updating the Style in the Styles menu if the text uses one of the styles (e.g. Normal, Heading 1) to update all instances.
- Save the document and upload the improved file to Blackboard
The document contains images without a description.
Impact of this issue
These documents contain images that don’t have a description or alternative text. As a result people who rely on screen readers or other assistive devices have no mechanism to interpret the image content and purpose. Also, having a clear description for an image can help everyone better understand the context of the image and how it relates to the content.
How to fix
- Open the original file in Microsoft PowerPoint.
- There are 7 images in this presentation that are missing a description.
- Use the preview on the left to help locate them.Right-click the image and select Edit Alt Text… The Alt Text panel opens.
- Enter a clear description for the image in the Description box.
- We recommend verifying the description for accuracy when using the Generate a description for me button.
- A description is not required when the image is purely decorative. If this is the case, select the Mark as decorative tick box.
- Repeat these steps for all images in the document.
- Save the document.
The document does not have a language set.
Impact of this issue
When a document does not have the correct language applied, it cannot be checked against the spelling and grammar rules for that language. An incorrectly-set language will not suggest corrections or enable screen readers to read text in the correct language and accent.
How to fix
- Open the original file in Adobe Acrobat.
- Select the File option, and then Properties.
- Navigate to the Advanced tab.
- Change the document language from the Language drop down option.
- Save the document and upload the improved file to Blackboard.
The document is untagged.
Impact of this issue
Documents are initially made in programs like Word or PowerPoint, then turned into PDFs. Most programs make regular PDFs, not structured ones with hidden tags that define the document’s structure (e.g., table, heading, paragraph). Without these tags, content can be misunderstood. It takes specialist knowledge to tag a PDF accurately, for this reason, HTML and Office documents
Neil Williams, Government Digital Service, 2018
How to fix (access to the file)
- Open the PDF in Microsoft Word 2016.
- Click File from the menu and select Save as or Save a copy. Choose where you want to save the file.
- Within the Save As dialog, click the More options link.
- In the Save As dialog box, choose PDF in the Save as type list.
- Click the Options button in the same dialog box. Make sure the Document structure tag for accessibility tick box is selected.
- Click OK and Save the PDF.
- Upload the improved file to Blackboard.
How to fix (No access to the file)
- Select the accessible file indicator to open the remediation panel in Blackboard.
- Select the How to tag a PDF button.
- Select Yes to the ‘can you provide a bibliographic reference instead’ question.
- Populate the bibliographic information, to references to digital version of the file.
Providing a reference helps to direct students to more accessible formats of the learning resource. Furthermore, it is the publishers responsibility to publish accessible content.
The document does not have any headings.
Impact of this issue
A ‘heading’ isn’t always a heading. Headings can provide structure and clarity. This can help students better understand the content and facilitate reading. Do not only use visual appearance such as text size, bold or underline to mimic a heading. Use a program’s native heading styles to apply headings with the correct tagging.
How to fix
- Open the original file in Microsoft Office.
- Select the text that should become a heading.
- Select the Home tab. In the Styles group, click the appropriate heading level.
- If you don’t see the heading level you are looking for, click the arrows to browse the full list of preset styles.
- Always choose “Heading 1” for level 1 headings, “Heading 2” for section headings, “Heading 3” for subsection headings, etc. “Normal” is used for paragraphs.
- Repeat these steps for all the text that should become headings.
The document is missing a title.
Impact of this issue
A PDF title is a more descriptive and meaningful version of the file name. PDF titles are often visible in the PDF window or tab. This visibility makes it easier to distinguish multiple PDFs before diving in and can aid in increasing web discoverability.
How to fix
- Open the original file in Adobe Acrobat.
- Select the File option, and then Properties.
- Navigate to the Description tab.
- Add your PDF title to the Title field, along with any other document metadata you think is important.
- Save the document and upload the improved file to Blackboard.
The image does not have a description.
Impact of this issue
An image description, sometimes referred to as ‘alternative description’ or ‘alt text’, is a textual alternative for an image. It makes it easier to connect the image to its context and allows students with visual impairments to perceive the image. Descriptions should be brief and convey the full meaning of the image. They should not be the same as the file name as this is often not descriptive enough.
How to fix
- Select the accessible file indicator to open the remediation panel in Blackboard.
- Add an image description into the Add image description field.
- Select Add
- If the image is purely decorative you mark this as decorative.
- Select the Indicate the image is decorative button.
The document has tables that don’t have any headers.
Impact of this issue
Table headers help readers understand how tables are organised into columns and rows. Avoid using text and cell formatting, such as making the text big or bold to mimic the visual appearance of a table header, as this provides no underlying information about the structure of the table.
How to fix
- Open the file in Microsoft Word.
- There are table(s) in this document that is missing headers. Use the file preview in the remediation panel to help locate it.
- Ensure the text in the first row of the table functions as a title and identifies what each column is for. E.g.: Week, Topic, Date and so on.
- Select the first row of the table by placing your cursor in the first row.
- Click on the Design tab and enable the Header Row checkbox.
- Right-click the first row of the table and select Table Properties. The Table Properties dialog box appears.
- On the Row tab, ensure Repeat as header row at the top of each page is selected. Click OK.
- Table headers are ignored when ‘Repeat as header row at the top of each page’ is not selected.
- Repeat these steps for all tables in the document.
- Save the document.
The document is scanned but not OCRed.
Impact of this issue
This is a critical issue. Scanned documents are created when a paper-based document, often already printed, is digitised using a scanner. The scanning process essentially takes a picture of every page and bundles it together into a PDF or other format. While the content will look like text, it’s just an image of the text. The file then contains no metadata, which makes the file very difficult to navigate, to search, and to interact with using assistive technologies.
How to fix (access to the file)
- Select the View menu from the file toolbar.
- Select the Tools menu.
- Open the Accessibility tool.
- Select the Tags toolbar to open the document tagging panel.
- If No Tags available is displayed, right-click and select Create Tags Root.
- Right-click the Tags root and select New Tag to begin tagging your document.
- Select the type you want to create, headings, paragraphs and, figures are common tagging types.
Tagging a PDF is time-consuming and difficult to do accurately, it is often a better use of time to find a HTML equivalent of the learning resource.
How to fix (No access to the file)
- Select the accessible file indicator to open the remediation panel in Blackboard or open the file through the Blackboard accessibility summary.
- Select the How to tag a PDF button.
- Select Yes to the ‘can you provide a bibliographic reference instead?’ question.
- Populate the bibliographic information, to references to digital version of the file.
- Select the Add reference button to save this information.
The HTML content contains text with insufficient contrast.
Impact of this issue
Colour contrast is the difference in brightness between the text colour and its background. Sufficient contrast is necessary to ensure readability of the text. In HTML content this can often be changed immediately within the WYSIWYG editor.
How to fix
- Select the accessible file indicator to open the remediation panel in Blackboard or open the content item through the Blackboard accessibility summary.
- Check the live file preview to identify the text fragments with insufficient contrast.
- Apply one of the recommended colours from the remediation panel.
- If applicable to all your text fragments check the Apply to all occurrences checkbox.
- Select Apply.
- Repeat these steps for any other content items with the same issue.
Don’t see your accessibility issue listed?
If your accessibility issue is not listed, let me know in the comments and I’ll update the guide.