Canvas Accessibility Checker - List Errors

Lists are a way to organize content in a logical, structured manner. They can take the form of bulleted lists (for unordered items) or numbered lists (for sequential steps). When lists are created using proper formatting, assistive technologies can identify them as lists. Be sure to use the Canvas list feature, since manually entering symbols like dashes will not be recognized by assistive technology.

If Canvas identifies something it thinks may be a list, it will create an issue in the Accessibility Checker. In the example below, the number one is used, but it is not actually formatted as a list:

Screenshot of a Canvas Accessibility Checker demo page with an "Objectives" section with a few numbered items beneath it. The first item is highlighted with a black box and is not formatted in a list with the rest of the items. The Accessibility Checker panel on the right describes the issue: "Lists should be formatted as lists." Beneath is a checkbox option to "Format as a list".

To fix the error, select the box next to format as a list and click Apply. Sometimes you may need to adjust the items in the list so they are all in one list.

Screenshot of a Canvas Accessibility Checker demo page with an "Objectives" section with a few numbered items beneath it. The first item is formatted as a list, and the rest of the items are formatted as a separate list.

Note: Sometimes the Accessibility Checker will flag names such as “R. Hughes” as a possible list if it is at the beginning of a paragraph. Unfortunately, there is not a way to dismiss this issue from the Accessibility Checker. However, if the item shouldn’t be a list, you can ignore this error.