The rich content editor in Canvas is one tool that you should become familiar with.
The icons above the pages where you add text, allow you to add headings to your page
(much like you do in Word), add images, add tables, videos, lists, etc.
Page Structure
Just as you do in Word, you add structure to a Canvas page by using headings. The
page title is Heading 1, so any section heading in Canvas will begin with Heading
2. To add headings, you simply highlight the line of text, then select the appropriate
heading.
Alt Text for Images
Sick of hearing about alt text? Guess what - you need it in Canvas, too! Luckily,
Canvas makes it easy to add alt text - prompting you to add it when you first add
your image (if you're using the rich content editor).
To add alt text to exiting images, click on the image, then click on the image editor
icon in the rich content editor to access the alt text field.
If the image is decorative, remove all content from the alt text field - this will
ensure that a screen reader skips over it. The default alt text is the file name,
which can be quite confusing. Leaving the alt text field blank will render the alt
text as alt="", which a screen reader will view as intentional, rather than simply
leaving out the alt text. Note: other web editing software may behave differently.
Tables
Canvas allows you to edit tables in such a way that you can use the rich content editor
to add headings to them (as opposed to going into the HTML to do it!). As discussed
with Word, tables should have captions and headings to assist screen readers in reading
the data correctly. Tables should not be used to format/control the layout of your
page.
Once you've made your table, do the following to make it accessible:
Click on the table to select it. Then, click on the table icon in the rich content
editor.
Select Table properties and check "caption". Click "Ok".
Click at the top of your table to type a caption for the table.
Highlight the cells of the header row (or column).
Select "Cell", then "cell properties" from the table menu in the rich content editor.
Select "header cells" from the Cell type dropdown menu.
Select "columns" (if the headings are by column as below. If it's arranged by row,
select rows. If you do both, select both options.) from the scope dropdown menu. Click
"Ok".