Accessibility Statement for Instructure (Canvas) Website

Website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

This accessibility statement applies to the University of Edinburgh’s Canvas instance: 

https://edinburgh.instructure.com/

This website is run by the University of Edinburgh. It uses the third party system Canvas. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this application. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • Change colours, contrast levels and fonts;
  • Zoom in up to 400% (but without reflow)
  • Navigate most of the application using just a keyboard;
  • Listen to most of the application using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver);
  • Operate most areas with speech-to-text assistive technology (including Dragon NaturallySpeaking).

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use without changing what the text means.

Customising the website

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:

AbilityNet - My Computer My Way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance

If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:

Information on SensusAccess

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • Reflow issues occur above 175% zoom, particularly with large font settings, causing two-dimensional scrolling for some users.
  • Colour contrasts do not always meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards.
  • Some pop-ups are triggered without proper user alerts.
  • Data validation and error suggestions are inconsistent and not implemented for all content.
  • Invalid login notification banner disappears automatically, which the user can not stop, pause, hide or control.
  • One area of the website (Rich Content Editor menu) cannot be fully navigated using keyboard alone.
  • Alternative text is missing for some non-text content.
  • Browser-based customizations do not always apply successfully.
  • The mobile (Android) app has issues with gesture-based navigation.
  • Some information is conveyed by colour alone (e.g., calendar and links).
  • Text occasionally appears within an image and / or non-text content.
  • The text size is small in places.
  • Some ARIA attributes and elements are invalid, improperly referenced, unnamed, or unsupported, including broken references or empty headers.
  • Web addresses may not be presented as meaningful hyperlinks.
  • Some video content may not have human-corrected captions and / or audio description.
  • Some links may not have meaningful hypertext

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:

Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language Service

Contact Scotland BSL runs a service for British Sign Language Users and all of Scotland's public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates from 8.00am to 12.00am, 7 days a week.

Contact Scotland BSL service details

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its websites and applications accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance Status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations

The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:

  • Not all non-text items have alternative text;
  • Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text e.g there are missing form label errors, there are issuers with table layout
  • Colour contrast defaults do not in all areas meet the minimum AA requirements.
  • Images of text exist in some placeholder images when no live content is available yet; this impacts all users (e.g., “no grades yet”; “no conversations to show”)
  • Reflow does not operate successfully to 400% across all areas, with some tables and graphs necessitating scrolling in two dimensions.
  • There is one specific area not accessible via keyboard
  • Some notifications appear as temporary pop-ups that the user cannot control.
  • The purpose of each link can not be determined from the link text alone
  • Target Size does not always meet 44x44 CSS; some actionable fields are smaller than the minimum 24x24CSS; however exception criteria apply: users are able to resize using zoom functionalities; actionable fields may lose border spacing but will not intersect
  • Pop-ups can appear without the user being alerted.
  • Where there are multiple errors present on a page, an error flag will only show against one error at any time
  • Suggestions for error corrections are not provided for all items requiring user input
  • The site is not fully compatible with assistive software e.g. ARIA commands do not have an accessible name, ARIA attributes to do not confirm to valid values, elements do not only use supported ARIA attributes, there are broken ARIA references and broken ARIA menus.

Course staff upload teaching materials directly into Canvas and it is not possible to guarantee it is accessible despite guidance being provided.  For example:

We aim to improve our websites accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below ('What we're doing to improve accessibility') on how we are improving our site accessibility. 

At this time, we believe most issues are outwith our control and we have advised the supplier. The supplier has informed us they will continue to make accessibility improvements during 2026 and we will continue to liaise with them regarding this.  We expect any issues within our control to be resolved or significantly improved by June 2027.

Disproportionate burden

We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

At this time we believe no content is outwith the scope of the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

At this time, we believe most issues are outwith our control and we have advised the supplier. The supplier has informed us they will continue to make accessibility improvements during 2026 and we will continue to liaise with them regarding this.  We expect any issues within our control to be resolved or significantly improved by June 2027.

We are working to improve accessibility of this site by:

  • Working with the supplier to make priority accessibility fixes 
  • Providing support, guidance and training for staff on how to create accessible teaching content.
  • Providing access to mechanisms for students to create alternative versions of content easily when needed

While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this website.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 1st February 2024. It was last reviewed on 26th May 2026.

The website was last tested during February 2026. The testing was carried out by Micro-Credentials Team of the Digital Learning Applications and Media Section, within Learning Teaching and Web Division of Information Services at the University of Edinburgh using both automated and manual methods. The site was tested on a PC, primarily using Microsoft Edge alongside Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are increasing in popularity and Google Chrome is now the favoured browser for screen readers:

WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey

The aforementioned three browsers have been used in certain questions for reasons of breadth and variety.

We ran automated testing using WAVE WebAIM and AXE and then manual testing that included:

  • Spell check functionality;
  • Scaling using different resolutions and reflow;
  • Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour, etc);
  • Keyboard navigation and keyboard traps;
  • Data validation;
  • Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
  • Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
  • Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
  • Use with screen reading software (for example JAWS);
  • Assistive software (TextHelp Read and Write, Windows Magnifier, ZoomText, Dragon Naturally Speaking, TalkBack and VoiceOver);
  • Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content;
  • Time limits;
  • Compatibility with mobile accessibility functionality (Android and iOS);
  • Any drag functionality and alternatives;
  • Consistent help function;
  • Submission and re-entry of data;
  • Any cognitive tests.

Change Log

Since our initial report, we have undertaken more extensive manual testing with assistive software to get a better understanding of the accessibility issues on this website. This section will receive updates as and when accessibility improvements are made to the website.

May 2026

  • Keyboard navigation has improved, and the only area that is not accessible has a keyboard and screen reader friendly alternative
  • Video and audio content presents options for adding automatic captions and allows for human correction of captions within the platform, yet users may upload non-text content to make this issue persist
  • Images of text have mostly been removed from system, albeit again users may inadvertently upload non-text content with this issue

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