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Creating Accessible Webcourses@UCF Pages

Why Create Pages?

Pages are the preferred format to present content in your online course since they have HTML code behind the scenes and can be opened quickly using any internet browser, do not require additional software in order to view them, and can be easily navigated by assistive technologies such as screen readers.

Pages have a Rich Content Editor (RCE) that allows you to easily edit and format text. You may use the tools in the RCE to properly format your content (e.g., apply headings styles) to ensure that your course materials are accessible to all students. The RCE also allows you to easily embed multimedia elements (e.g., images, equations, videos) and includes built-in accessibility features, such as the ability to add alt text to images.

Best Practices

  • If you have a lot of content on one page, consider “chunking” or dividing the material into multiple documents. This creates more manageable “bite size pieces” for your students to absorb and requires less page scrolling.
  • Consider adding action icons (e.g., Do This, Read This, Watch This, etc.) to your course pages to bring attention to a specific area of text or media.
  • Follow the Formatting Checklist below (headings, lists, tables, etc.) to apply styles and add an invisible “tag” that identifies the different parts of your document. Changing the text font size and color does not apply the same “tag” as the formatting styles listed below.

Options to Build Pages Accessibly

There are a few options you may choose from to build accessible Pages in your course. Whichever option you choose, please be sure to review the Formatting Checklist below.

  1. Use the Webcourses@UCF Templater Tool.
    • You may utilize the Templater tool to import content pages (e.g., Syllabus, Course Expectations, Module Overview) that are pre-formatted for accessibility. You can then use the rich content editor to modify the pages.
    • If you copy/paste text from a Word document or another file type onto a template page, be sure to use the clear formatting tool in the rich content editor after pasting the text to remove any extraneous html code that is brought over.
  2. Create a new page and build from scratch.
    • As mentioned above, if you copy/paste text from a Word document or another file type onto a page, be sure to use the clear formatting tool in the rich content editor after pasting the text to remove any extraneous html code that is brought over.
  3. Use the Import DOCX or HTML tool.
    • The Import DOCX or HTML tool in Webcourses@UCF allows you to easily convert .docx, .pptx, and .html files to a Page in your course.

How to Build Pages Accessibly

Follow the formatting checklist below to properly format content in Webcourses@UCF Pages. Applying the formatting styles below (headings, lists, tables, etc.) adds an invisible “tag” that identifies the different parts of your document. Changing the text font size and color does not apply the same “tag” as the formatting styles listed below.

Formatting Checklist

  1. Use the built-in rich content editor to apply heading and list styles to the page.
  2. Use tables appropriately (e.g., to display data, not for page layout) and apply column or row headings.
  3. Provide alternative text for all images in your document.
  4. Insert meaningful hyperlink text for all URLs.
  5. Use the built-in equation editor in Webcourses@UCF.
  6. Use bold or italic text to display emphasis. Please do not use underlined words. Underlined text on a web page indicates hyperlinks.
  7. Use colors appropriately and use high color contrast.

How to Check if it is Accessible

Help

If you need assistance with the process of creating and formatting pages in your online course, please contact Webcourses@UCF Support.