Don’t Click Here No More
Did you know “Click here” or “More” links can be problematic for people using screen readers? On the UC Berkeley Digital Accessibility site, the authors explain:
- “People who are blind or have low vision often skim through content by having screen reader software read a list of links on the page. A link that just says ‘more’ wouldn’t tell them where that link goes or provide clues about surrounding text.”
- “People who use speech recognition software need to speak the link text to ‘click’ on it. Imagine what this experience might be like if there are multiple instances of ‘click here’ on one page.” Or a very long URL that they need to speak.
They also point out that link text should provide a clear understanding of where a link goes while being as brief as possible. For example:
- Wrong: To help save birds, click here
- Wrong: To help save birds, learn about Bird Alliance of Portland’s Lights Out program at https://betterallies.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cc808df089bf312fc1a37916d&id=d969254aec&e=f8b2faf253
- Correct: To help save birds, learn about Bird Alliance of Portland’s Lights Out program
Here are some alternatives to "click here" and "read more":
- "Learn more about [topic]"
- "Explore our [resource]"
- "Discover [specific information]"
- "Find out more about [subject]"
- "Access the full [document/article]"
Sources: UC Berkeley, Better Allies Newsletter, Microsoft CoPilot
Want to get started with Accessibility? Join ITSS throughout March, April, and May at our Accessibility Jumpstarts
Undelete your Canvas Content
“Oh No, I didn’t mean to do that!” A Canvas user with an teacher role will accidentally (or intentionally) delete a page, assignment, or document in their course. Luckily, you can undo that deletion with the help of a little tip.
From your web browser address bar on the home page of your course, place your cursor after the course ID number (which is typically 6 digits) and type "undelete".
Example: https://canvas.umn.edu/courses/######/undelete
The "Restore Delete Items" page will allow you to bring back pages deleted or removed.
Canvas Discussion @Mention Feature
Canvas released a new @Mention feature for discussions that can encourage students & instructors to tag and reply to each other using @theirname.
Instructors who have used the @mention feature report that this feature feels intuitive or familiar to students who engage in social media discussions. Using this approach can promote curiosity and deepen class discussions when specific users are mentioned by their username within the flow of their reply.
When asking students to reply to other student posts using the this feature, try the following sample language including the link to the @Mention feature instructions:
“Choose two posts on the board from your class members. In a reply to their post, tag them using @theirname and then respectfully respond to their post with [insert instructor's response suggestion here].
HINT: Want to know who is replying to your post? Set your course New Mention notifications so that you know when you have been tagged.”
Before implementing this feature in your discussions, note:
- Mentioning users is not supported in anonymous discussions.
- Mentioning users is related to a course role permission. If you are not able to mention users, the required permission may not be enabled for your role.
- When you mention a user and their Discussions - New Mention notification setting is enabled, the user is notified.