This page was downloaded from http://www.rehab.uiuc.edu/infotechaccess/edtech/course_tools/webct.html in August 2001. the site is at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Universal Design iconCreating Accessible On-line Course Materials with WebCT

Tips for Authors

Authors add course content by inserting their own HTML documents, so it is up to page authors to ensure the accessibility of course content. Some additional suggestions for authors:

  1. If you use the "Add Link" option, always select "Link Opens in Main Window". This will prevent confusion for some users with visual impairments and learning disabilities, and will allow accessible browsers to follow the links.
  2. On the home page, put the icon labels to the left or right of the icons rather than underneath (the default). That way, when visually impaired users access the page using a screen reader, they will get a label following each image rather than a series of images followed by a series of labels. From the home page, select "Organize Icons" and then "Layout". Select the radio button for "Label Position: Left (or Right) of Icon" and press the "Update" button.
  3. WebCT does not currently allow you to add alt text or label icons. However, if you add an image to a header or footer, be sure to include an image caption.

Other Accessibility Issues with WebCT

Even if your course content is fully accessible, you will not be able to make courses on WebCT accessible if you plan to use all of its features. Here are some of the accessibility issues with WebCT:

  1. No alt text for images anywhere. This is especially a problem with the buttons and icons. Without alt text, it is difficult to impossible for some users to find the course material, take quizzes, etc. There is not even the option for users to add labels to icons, and labels exist only on the home page.
  2. External links open in new windows by default. Home Page Reader won't recognize these as links; pwWebSpeak recognizes that they are links, but can't follow them. Even in standard browsers, pop-up windows can be very disorienting to some users.
  3. List of links option allows course author to open external pages within the WebCT frame or in a new window. Both of these options have accessibility issues.
  4. There are a number of accessibility problems associated with the use of frames:
  5. Not all of the code is standard HTML:
  6. Uses physical styles, such as <CENTER>, <FONT>, <B>, and <I> tags, to format text instead of using web style sheets.
  7. Neither Home Page Reader nor pwWebSpeak can access the main bulletin board frame at all, which means users can not read any bulletin board messages. These browsers also can not access all of the bulletin board functions. For example, users can not compose a message. The entire bulletin board feature is basically worthless to a user accessing this site with one of these two accessible browsers.
  8. Often when using the accessible browsers, users will hit a screen where the only text is "Please click on one of the areas above." This text is sandwiched between two images, which the user has no access to.
  9. In course content listing, arrows to expand and compress outlines do not work with Home Page Reader. Outline begins fully expanded. Compression works, but then outline can not be expanded again. With pwWebSpeak, outline begins fully compressed, but can be expanded and compressed again (as long as the user knows what to do; the link has no alt text).

Contact us at infotechaccess@server.rehab.uiuic.edu

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