Overview
Many features in the D2L Brightspace can be adjusted to improve access for individuals. It's recommended that individuals who use screen readers, screen magnifiers, or navigate primarily by keyboard, review the accessibility topics to help ensure that the features and settings they use best support their needs.
Optimizing personal account settings for assistive technology
The Account Settings page contains several tabs, depending on the role you have within the D2L Brightspace. You can adjust the settings in these tabs to meet your personal needs; however, the following settings might be of particular interest if you are using assistive technology devices or software applications.
In the Account Settings tab, consider the following configuration options:
- The Font Size options adjust the appearance of text Brightspace Learning Environment. Choose options that provide the best results for your needs. To adjust the size of icons, you can use a magnification tool such as the zoom feature built into most browsers.
- To automatically detect embedded videos, turn on the Optimize video presentation for programmatically-driven assistive technologies option.
In the Discussions tab, consider the following configuration options:
- To simplify the layout of discussion lists, turn off the Always show the Discussions List pane option.
- Additionally, you can clear (unselect) the Show the preview pane when viewing topics in grid view.
Using Magnifier and zoom functionality
In some cases, users who have difficulty reading online and users with fine motor skills difficulty use magnifiers and zoom functionality to increase the target for selectable content such as links, icons, and form fields.
To increase the size of content in D2L Brightspace:
- Use the Account Settings tool to increase the system font size. This increases system fonts only, not icons, other graphics, or user-created content.
- Use an assistive technology or browser that supports zooming in. This increases the magnification of the entire page. This option works well in the D2L Brightspace as images and navigation panels resize well.
- Use a screen magnifier to magnify a portion of the page, such as the area around the cursor. Some users prefer screen magnifiers because they preserve the layout of the page, but allow you to focus on the content in a specific area.
- If you are using equations built with Equation Editor, double-click on inline equations to view them at a larger size.
Navigating D2L Brightspace using a keyboard
Individuals who navigate D2L Brightspace using a keyboard or assistive technologies that emulate a keyboard can use keyboard shortcuts and other navigation tips to more easily use D2L Brightspace.
Using keyboard navigation
Certain keyboard keys have specific actions you can use to navigate the system
- Use the Tab key on your keyboard to navigate through the options on a page. Use Shift+Tab to return to a previous option. D2L Brightspace highlights page elements that you can interact with (such as links, fields, and buttons) as you tab through them, which makes it easier for you to complete tasks and select options.
- Press Enter or Return to select a link or button.
- Use the Down Arrow and Up Arrow keys to navigate drop-down lists that have an Apply or Go button to select the option.
- Use Alt+Down Arrow keys (Windows and Linux) or Options+Down Arrow keys (Mac) to open drop-down lists that do not have an Apply or Go button, and then use Up Arrow, Down Arrow, and Enter keys to select an item from the drop-down list.
- Use the Enter or Return key to open a menu (such as a context menu, an alert, or the course selector list). Then, use the Tab or Enter key to select a link.
- Use the Space Bar to select a check box or radio button option.
- Use the Down Arrow and Up Arrow keys to change a radio button option.
- Do not use Alt+F4 to close pop-up windows or pages. This action closes your browser window.
Using browser access keys
Different browsers use different keystroke combinations to activate access key shortcuts.
- For Firefox: Use Alt + Shift + [accesskey] (Windows/Linux) or Control + [Accesskey] (Mac).
- For Chrome: Use Alt + [accesskey] (Windows/Linux), or Control + Option + [Accesskey] (Mac).
- For Safari: Use Alt + [accesskey] (Windows/Linux), or Control + Option + [Accesskey] (Mac).
Navigating the HTML Editor with a keyboard
There are different keyboard shortcuts that perform different navigation tasks in the HTML Editor:
- Use the Tab key and Shift + Tab to navigate through the options in the HTML editor.
- Use the Shift + Arrow keys to highlight content in the main area of the editor.
- Use the Shift + Alt + Q keys to jump to the top tool menu of the editor.
- Use the Shift + Alt + Z keys to jump to the main content area of the editor.
- Use the Shift + Alt + X keys to jump to the element path for the editor.