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Creating Accessible Educational Materials

Overview

Page structure helps readers understand how the content they are reading is organized. It is easier for users to find topics of interest if they are marked with a heading. Try to avoid using tables, because they can be difficult to read for people who use Magnifier. Instead, use paragraphs with headings. 

Page Regions

Creating and labeling page regions helps guide those who are using screen readers to understand the structure of the content. 

Labels also help define different areas of the page that might look similar. 

How to Implement Page Regions

Word

  1. Go to insert and choose either header of footer. 
  2. Choose the style. 
  3. Add or change text for the header or footer. 

PowerPoint 

  1. Go to insert and click header & footer. 
  2. Make sure slide is selected and choose from the different options. 
  3. Click Apply or Apply all. 

Canvas and Study

  1. Click text, then click insert. 
  2. Choose header or text 

or 

  1. Click text, then click insert.
  2. Choose footer. 

 

 

Heading Ranks

Headings are ranked 1- 6. Heading 1 is the most important and 6 is the least. A new section is started if a heading has an equal or higher rank. Heading with lower ranks start a subsection. Don't skip a heading level, as this can make your document harder to follow. If you want to skip a heading because you like the style of a different heading better, insert the correct heading level and then restyle the heading font.

How to Implement Headings

Word

  1. Type the text you want into a Word document.

  2. Select a sentence that you want to add a header to.

  3. Select Home > Styles (or press Alt+H, then L), and then select the heading you want, such as the Heading 1 button. 

PowerPoint 

  1. If you must use a table, place your cursor in the table. 
  2. On the Table Design tab, in the Table Styles Options group, select the Header Row checkbox. 

  3. Type your column headings.

Canvas 

  1. Click Edit. 
  2. In the rich content editor, highlight the text you wish to give a heading tag. 
  3. Click the style box at the content editor’s top-left.