Creating accessible content with the formatting toolbar

The formatting toolbar lets you control the appearance of selected text when creating items or source material. The formatting toolbar allows you to change the content type on certain entry fields from text to equation, image, or table. You can use the formatting toolbar to create accessible content for candidates with accessibility requirements.

This article explains how to create accessible content with the formatting toolbar.

Table of Contents

Finding the formatting toolbar

The formatting toolbar is available in the following locations:

• Item question stems.
• Answer options for the following question types:
  • Multiple Choice.
  • Multiple Response.
  • Either/Or.
  • Advanced Short Answer (HTML subjects only).
  • Advanced Numerical Entry (HTML subjects only).
• Introduction Page, Information Page, and Finish Page text fields.
• HTML source material text fields.

To reveal the formatting toolbar, select the text field. For more information, read Using the formatting toolbar.

Changing text colour

To change the colour of text using the formatting toolbar, select Text Colour and choose from the options available.

Using special characters

Special characters are non-standard letters (Ω), symbols (©), and punctuation marks (¡) that cannot be found on a typical keyboard. You can add special characters to content using the formatting toolbar. Special characters added to content using the formatting toolbar can be pronounced correctly by a screen reader.

Select Insert Special Character Ω on the formatting toolbar to open the Select Special Character dialog.

Choose a character from Select Special Character to add it to your content. Special characters are added at the cursor’s location. For more information, read About special characters.

Using equations and mathematical symbols

You can add equations and mathematical symbols to content using the formatting toolbar.

To create and edit equations, select Equation Editor (Mixed subjects) or WIRIS EDITOR math  (HTML subjects). For more information, read ‘Creating equations’ in Using the formatting toolbar.

Using tables

There are two types of table: layout and data. Layout tables are used to present information such as text or an image. Data tables are used to display tabular data and include row and column headers. Screen readers can interpret data tables with row and column headers, allowing candidates to easily understand table contents.

To create and edit tables, select Table Editor . For more information, read ‘Creating tables’ in Using the formatting toolbar. See an example of a data table below.