2. Structuring a Moodle course with minimal accessibility barriers

Consistency within the course

In order to make them more convenient for all users, Moodle courses should be set up in a sensible, understandable and consistent manner. This does not mean that every course needs to have the same structure. However, care should be taken to ensure that each Moodle course has a sensible and consistent structure and offers a clear overall experience.

The image below is an example of an unstructured course. Some important information is not available centrally within the topic at the top, for example. The individual topic sections are also not arranged chronologically. In general, it is not clear to the participants in this example which resources are relevant and when they are to be worked on.

In the following, we would like to show you how you can design your course consistently.

Start page

Headings and paragraphs

These are examples of headline styles in the default version:

Heading (large)

Heading (medium)

Heading (small)

Pre-formatted

Paragraph (default)

Bullet points

You should also use the functions provided by the Atto editor to format both unordered and ordered lists.

Arranging resources

Within the same course, the sequence of content that is used repeatedly should always be similar. This makes it easier to find resources.

Example: you have a section for each week or each topic within your course. You make material available at regular intervals, e.g. the lecture slides, a text that is to be read and prepared, an exercise sheet and other resources. Arrange these resources in the same order for each topic/each week wherever possible. This allows resources to be found faster and more reliably.

Naming resources and activities

The resources are not only to be arranged systematically, but also named using a fixed pattern. When choosing a name, it is important to include significant key words that indicate what exactly the resource in question is, e.g. ‘Slides Lecture 1 held 28 June 2022 topic xy’.
Furthermore, people who use screen readers often search the website for certain key words and formats. Using key words can help them find what they are looking for.

Font families and font sizes

An easily readable font without serifs in an appropriate size should be used (e.g. Arial).

Moodle provides an option to adapt the font size. Try to avoid using particularly small font sizes.

Colours and contrasts

Colour contrast

Adequate colour contrast is necessary for many partially sighted users to properly perceive visual content. This also applies to individuals with colour vision deficiency or colour blindness. Therefore, you should use contrast-rich colours for texts and captions, ideally with a 3:1 ratio. You can use the colour contrast checker to assess your Moodle course (see Tools). The following sentence illustrates the significance of colour contrasts: as opposed to the previous text, this sentence is low contrast and thus difficult to read for users with both partial and full sight.

In your Moodle course, various colours are available in both the default or the Atto editor (‘paintbrush’ icon). The shades of blue combined with the black default font colour constitute a suitable contrast ratio. If you need further colours, select the relevant word and click the greyscale ‘paintbrush’ icon within the colour selection menu. Another dialog window opens in which you can assign further font colours:

Bear in mind that a suitable colour contrast ratio is required if documents or content are to be printed in black and white or read on monochrome screens such as e-paper displays.

Colour selection