Documentation & Help | Make Sure Your Course Content is Perceivable

Help

Make Sure Your Course Content is Perceivable

Make Sure Your Course Content is Perceivable

The WCAG guidelines are organized by several principles, one of which is that web content must be perceivable. That is, information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive; they cannot be invisible to all of their senses. In almost all cases, this means that the information should be available as text, which can be rendered or transformed into a format that can be perceived.

To produce content that is perceivable by all learners, follow these guidelines.

1. Include Text Alternatives for Non-Text Content

For any non-text content, provide text alternatives so that the content can be changed into other forms that people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols, or simpler language.

For non-text tests or exercises that would be invalid if presented in text, provide text alternatives that at least provide descriptions of the non-text content. Make sure that all images have useful alternative text that screen readers and other assistive technologies can read.

2. Provide Alternatives for Time-Based Media

For time-based media, including pre-recorded audio or video content, provide alternative equivalent information, such as captions, audio descriptions, or pre-recorded sign language interpretation.

3. Make Sure Your Content is Adaptable

Design your course content so that it can be presented in different ways without losing information or structure. If your content includes specific information, structure, and relationships (such as sequence) that are conveyed through the presentation, make sure the same information, structure, and relationships can be programmatically determined or are available in text. HTML is an ideal format in which to publish course content because it provides semantic elements with standardized roles, states, and properties. Users of assistive technologies rely on such semantic elements to effectively and efficiently consume and navigate content. Publish your content in HTML whenever possible.

Make sure your course content does not rely solely on sensory characteristics such as shape, size, visual location, orientation, or sound to be understood by learners.

4. Make It Easier for Learners to See and Hear Content

Make the default presentation as easy to perceive as possible, especially by making it easier for learners to distinguish foreground information from the background, in both visual and audio elements.

For visual elements, techniques include making sure the fonts you use are readable, and that there is sufficient contrast between the foreground and background. Do not use color as the sole means of visually distinguishing an element or conveying critical information. If you must create images that contain text, make sure that the text has good contrast with the background. Images of text cannot be scaled or color corrected as effectively as HTML text. If you choose to override Xen.ed platform’s default font colors, make sure that the foreground and background colors have sufficient contrast.

For audio elements, make sure that foreground sounds are sufficiently louder than background sounds.

Was this article helpful?

How can we help you?

1. Include Text Alternatives for Non-Text Content

2. Provide Alternatives for Time-Based Media

4. Make It Easier for Learners to See and Hear Content