Community

Hi @scottdennis , There is already a Related Tags (tag cloud) widget in the sidebar.  You could probably use that do guide your choices.  By the way, that widget isn't accessible. It lists all tags alphabetically, and sighted users can see visually which tags are most popular based on their relative font weight.  Those weights aren't communicated at all to non-visual users. Also, the less popular tags are faded out by lightening the font-weight and decreasing the opacity which significantly impedes their readability. I like your idea of adding labels, in part just because it will provide a more accessible alternative to the Related Tags widget.  ... View more

Congratulations @gbeckmann & colleagues on the favorable rating from WebAIM! I know that's been a goal for a while now so I'm sure it's nice to see some tangible reward for your efforts, beyond of course the benefits for Canvas users of providing an accessible interface. Regarding the VPAT, I especially appreciate your transparency. At the University of Washington, we educate people who are making IT purchasing decisions to consider the VPAT a conversation starter. It won't give us a full understanding of whether and how particular user groups will be able to interact with the product, but it provides a starting point, helping us to know where to look as we evaluate products and what questions we should be asking the vendor. If a product claims 100% accessibility (i.e., rated "Supports" on all success criteria) that's a red flag for us, and generally is an indication that the vendor is either not being transparent or they don't really understand the success criteria. So I consider it a positive that your VPAT includes many success criteria that are rated "Partially supports", and the exceptions are documented (in general terms) in the Remarks and Explanations column. Acknowledging your shortcomings is a key first step in fixing them, and I trust that the exceptions have been logged and Instructure will be addressing those soon. Again, congratulations! And thanks for your ongoing commitment to providing a product that everyone can use. ... View more

Thanks for this update @peytoncraighill, and especially for looking into math accessibility.  Regarding that specifically, if I'm not mistaken you're already deploying MathJax; you just aren't using it effectively.  When a math equation is added via the RCE, the output rendered to the Canvas page, as you mentioned, includes an image with LaTeX as alt text. However, the image is accompanied by the formula in MathML. Here's example code, showing the Quadratic Formula (simplified for purposes of this illustration): <p> <img class="equation_image" alt="LaTeX: x=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}"> <span class="hidden-readable"> <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <!-- math formula goes here --> </math> </span> </p> The "hidden-readable" class positions the math formula off-screen to the left so it's hidden from sighted users but accessible to screen reader users. If I remove that class in my browser's HTML inspector, the math formula becomes visible, and it is indeed rendered using MathJax.  If I right click on the formula, a MathJax menu appears, from which I can (among other things) select "About MathJax" to see that you're using MathJax v2.7.5. The visible formula, rendered as it is with MathJax, has a variety of features that make it far superior than an image for rendering math.  And for screen reader users, they can already access the MathML but it's currently obstructed by the image. Advanced math students may know LaTeX, but for those who don't, the alt text is extremely confusing and users often don't get past what they perceive to be noise in order to discover the accessible MathML formula.  From my perspective, since you're already producing MathML + MathJax as output, the solution might be as simple as this: Remove the image. Remove the "hidden-readable" class from the <span> that contains the math formula, so everyone can see it.   ... View more