Structuring Content with Headings in the Canvas Rich Content Editor
When creating content in the Canvas Rich Content Editor, use headings to structure your text. This helps all users, including individuals with blindness or low vision who rely on screen readers, to understand and navigate your content effectively.
Why Use Headings?
Headings provide a clear structure that enhances both usability and accessibility:
For sighted users, headings visually break up large blocks of text, making it easier to scan and locate key information.
For screen reader users, headings serve as navigation markers, allowing them to jump between sections and create a mental map of the content. Without proper headings, screen readers must read through an entire page without clear structure, making navigation difficult.
How to Add Headings in Canvas
While bold or enlarged text may look like headings to sighted users, screen readers do not recognize formatting alone. Instead, they rely on HTML heading tags to convey structure.
To add headings in the Canvas Rich Content Editor:
Highlight the text you want to format as a heading.
Click the Paragraph drop-down menu.
Select the appropriate heading level (e.g., Heading 2, Heading 3).
Proper Heading Structure
Headings should be used hierarchically to structure content:
The page title in Canvas is automatically set as Heading 1 (H1), which is the highest-level heading.
The main topics within the content should be Heading 2 (H2).
Subsections should be Heading 3 (H3), followed by Heading 4 (H4) for further subcategories.
Note:
Do not skip heading levels when going down the hierarchy (e.g., H2 → H3 → H4).
Skipping levels when moving back up is acceptable (e.g., H4 → H2).
Example of Proper Page Structure:
H2: Courses
H3: Undergraduate Courses
H4: Required Courses
H4: Optional Courses
H3: Graduate Courses
H4: Required Courses
H4: Optional Courses
H2: Faculty