6 Tips for Creating Accessible Moodle Courses
On May 21, we held our eLeDia.summit as part of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Over the course of a day, we explored accessibility in digital learning through a series of webinars. Read helpful information about accessible learning here.
As a partner of Brickfield Education Labs, we work with Moodle administrators every day to help them make their courses more accessible. Six key areas come up time and again—and it is precisely for these that we have summarized the essential tips here. After all, accessibility in Moodle isn’t a niche topic—it’s a hallmark of quality. It makes courses easier to read, more technically robust, and usable in the long term, and it lowers barriers for all learners. Whether people have difficulty concentrating, visual impairments, an unreliable internet connection, or an unfavorable learning environment—everyone should be able to access your material.
1. Layout and Headings – A Guide for Everyone
Headings aren’t just for decoration. They serve as signposts that help readers navigate the text—especially when concentration difficulties or short-term memory issues are involved, and of course when using screen readers. Brickfield sums it up: Headings are indispensable for long pieces of content.
Three things should become part of your routine:
- First: a clear hierarchy. No sudden jumps from H3 to H5—instead, a logical progression: H1 for the course section, H2 for the main topics, and H3 and H4 for in-depth coverage.
- Second: a clear order for the content. Brickfield lists three tried-and-true methods—by importance, chronologically, or alphabetically.
- Third, and this is the classic Moodle twist: If your theme doesn’t display headings the way you want them to, customize the theme —centrally, in the CSS. This is much more sustainable than having every instructor format headings individually in every course.
2. Texts – Contrast, Meaning, Structure
The tips for working with text focus on four key areas that, when combined, make a huge difference:
- Color contrast: As soon as sunlight hits the tablet or a person has slightly impaired vision, insufficient contrast becomes a real barrier. We recommend using the WebAIM Contrast Checker to verify that foreground and background colors meet WCAG thresholds.
- Meaning isn't just about colors: Red and green are popular "yes/no" codes—but they're invisible to color-blind learners and useless in black-and-white printouts. The rule of thumb: Use color, but always include an additional text label ("Pass" / "Fail") or icon.
- Consistent naming conventions: Four links on a page that are all simply labeled “Slides” aren’t helpful to anyone. Descriptive link text like “Week 1 – Introduction” and file names like “course-law-module-3.pdf” instead of “Presentation1.pptx” can be changed in 30 seconds and save learners a lot of time searching.
- Semantisches HTML: Bei Hervorhebungen lohnt der Blick in den Quellcode-Modus des Editors. <strong> bedeutet inhaltliche Betonung. Das verstehen Screenreader. <b> macht den Text nur fett. Bei Listen genauso: echte <ul>/<ol>-Listen statt eingerückter Striche.
3. Images – brief alt text, clear message
In practice, we frequently bring up the following points:
- Before adding alt text, ask yourself this quick question: Does the image convey information, or is it just decorative? Only images that convey information should have alt text—leave the field blank for purely decorative images (or mark them as “decorative”) so that screen readers can skip them.
- If there is text within an image (such as in an infographic), be sure to include it in the alt text—otherwise, the message will be lost on screen reader users.
- Complex images require longer descriptions. These do not necessarily need to be included in full in the alt attribute; they can also appear in the surrounding text or in a collapsible caption.
- If an image is used as a link, the alt text describes the link's destination rather than the image itself.
- Never rely solely on color to convey meaning—the same principle that applies to text also applies to images.
- Pay attention to resolution and contrast: no pixelation, sufficient contrast between the foreground and background, and no flickering or flashing.
One question comes up every time in our training sessions: How long can alt text be? Brickfield’s answer: ideally, under 125 characters. Less is more—as long as the purpose and meaning are clear. For very complex content, you’ll need either a longer description in the body text or supplementary material in another format.
4. Links – meaningful, visible, honest
Hyperlinks are one of the most effective tools for inclusive teaching—they allow for deeper exploration, alternative approaches, and supplementary media. For them to be truly helpful, they need four key features:
- They are recognizable as links. Underlining and distinct color contrast can be customized in Moodle themes using CSS—once set up, these changes apply throughout the entire course.
- Your text is descriptive. “Click here” or “Download” don’t tell you anything—but “Open 2026 Admissions (PDF)” does. Avoid using bare URLs as link text, and always specify the file type when linking to files.
- Links do not open in a new window without warning. If this is necessary—for example, for an external tool—the text “opens in a new window” should be included in the link text so that users don’t lose their way.
- For image links, the alt text describes the destination, not the image itself.
In Moodle, the Brickfield Accessibility Toolkit helps you automatically identify these exact issues in existing courses—a good place to start before you roll out a new course.
5. Multimedia – Subtitles, transcripts, accessible player
Audio and video are now standard features in Moodle courses, and this is precisely where there is significant room for improvement in terms of accessibility. We recommend three measures:
- Use an accessible media player. The standard Moodle player and video.js meet the key requirements: controls are visible, can be operated using a keyboard, and learners can adjust the playback speed themselves.
- Provide subtitles. Whether they are created manually or pre-generated using AI and then edited is secondary—the main thing is that they are there. Platforms like YouTube offer robust tools for this, and VTT files can be embedded directly in Moodle.
- Provide transcripts. A good transcript not only records what is said but also describes what is happening in the video. This helps people with hearing impairments as well as learners who want to skim through the content quickly.
Media accessibility also means that learners should be able to take it with them offline. An MP3 or MP4 file for download, or a PDF with the transcript. These small steps make all the difference in areas with poor network coverage.
6. Tables – for data only, neatly organized
Tables are one of the most common pitfalls. The rules can be summed up in two sentences: Tables should only be used where there is actual tabular data. And: Tables need clean markup.
- Don't use tables for layout. If you need two columns of text side by side, use the column layouts in your theme—not a table without a header, which completely confuses screen readers.
- Jede Tabelle bekommt eine Beschriftung und echte Zeilen- und Spaltenüberschriften. Visuell fette und farbige Kopfzeilen reichen nicht – die Header müssen technisch markiert sein (<th> statt <td>). Im TinyMCE in Moodle geht das über die Tabelleneigenschaften.
- Avoid merged cells. Each cell should belong to exactly one row and one column. Merged cells disrupt the logical reading flow for screen readers.
- Avoid nested tables. Tables within tables are a nightmare for any assistive technology and make the content difficult to follow even for people without disabilities.
If a dataset is so complex that it becomes unreadable in a single table, that’s a sign it needs to be split up. Two clear tables are better than one that no one can understand anymore.
Takeaway: One tip a week—and Moodle becomes more accessible
Six key areas, each with three to five action points—that might seem like a lot at first glance. In practice, it’s manageable. Our suggestion: We recommend working through the topics mentioned in this article step by step—one area per week, a few courses per week that you consistently review. After six weeks, you’ll not only have significantly more accessible content, but also a team that has internalized the principles.
At eLeDia, we are partners with Brickfield Education Labs in German-speaking countries. If you’d like to use the Brickfield Accessibility Toolkit in your Moodle, conduct an audit of your courses, or train your editorial team on alt text, link text, and captions—get in touch with us. We have the toolkit. You have the content. Together, we can turn that into Moodle courses that work for everyone.
We've also compiled the most important quick tips for you in a downloadable document:
Download the PDF with quick tips on accessibility
You can find more information about accessibility in Moodle on our website
