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Use the checklist below to guide you as you create and edit course content to meet the U.S. Department of Justice's accessibility standards. Please note this checklist is not exhaustive and should not be used as a substitute for understanding and applying the WCAG 2.1 AA technical standard to your digital course content.
Legend: ⓘ = More Information | ✓ = Applicable | ✓ = Applicable and How-to Link Included | - = Not Applicable
| Checklist Item | Canvas | MS Word | MS PPT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Styles are used to define headings and other document structures ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ |
| Tables are used only for tabular data, not for formatting ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tables include defined headers and captions ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| Table cells are not merged for formatting and are not merged unnecessarily ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Table rows do not break across pages ⓘ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ |
| Tables include alt-text descriptions and/or captions ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| Images used to convey information include short descriptive alt text ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Complex diagrams and charts include a short description as an alt text and an additional long description as a paragraph alongside the image or included using the appropriate programming code if supported ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| Images not used to convey information are marked as decorative ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hyperlinks are textual, descriptive, and underlined ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hyperlinks to required course materials hosted outside Canvas are reviewed to ensure accessibility or an accessible alternative is provided | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Underlining is not used for emphasis or any other formatting ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in formatting is used for unordered and ordered lists ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in formatting is used for columns ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| Built-in formatting is used for page breaks and paragraph spacing ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓* |
| Color is used in conjunction with other formatting to convey meaning ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| Colored text is easy to read on colored background (4.5:1 ratio or better) ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| Patterned or picture backgrounds are avoided ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Accessibility is verified using built-in accessibility checker ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Accessibility is verified using Ally ⓘ | ✓ | - | - | - |
| Unused and duplicated files are removed from Canvas course ⓘ | ✓ | - | - | - |
| Video and audio have accurate captions (auto-captions corrected) ⓘ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - |
| Audio-only media includes a transcript ⓘ | ✓ | - | - | - |
| Audio description is provided for visual information needed to understand the content ⓘ | ✓ | - | - | - |
| Document metadata is completed, especially title ⓘ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Presentation slides have unique titles ⓘ | - | - | ✓ | - |
| Presentation slides use built-in layouts ⓘ | - | - | ✓ | - |
| Object reading order on presentation slides is verified ⓘ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ |
| PDF is not composed of scanned book pages or documents ⓘ | - | - | - | ✓ |
| PDF is not created using “Print to PDF” but is saved as a PDF ⓘ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓* |
| PDF internal structures (tags) are defined and verified ⓘ | - | - | - | ✓ |
| Files have descriptive names that are easy to identify without opening ⓘ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Language is specified for the document ⓘ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
*While this checklist item is applicable to PDFs, the issue should be addressed in the source document prior to converting the document to PDF format.
Prefer working with a printable Word document? You can customize and print the Course Materials Checklist above by downloading a digital, Microsoft Word version of the list.