Accessibility Information
Sakai is a Learning Management System created to assist faculty and students by providing online tools for communication, assessment, content delivery, etc.
Sakai is composed of sites, and each site has a number of tools selected by the site creator. There is also a special site, My Workspace (private to you), where you can access personal information and change your settings.
This document is assistive technology agnostic and will briefly describe the different areas of the interface, point out how they are implemented for accessibility, and go into more depth where extra assistance may be needed.
If you need specific help with accessibility or with your assistive technology, please contact Disability Support Services and/or Information & Technology Services Help Desk.
For additional information visit the Accessibility Working Group on the Confluence Wiki.
Note: The content depicted in images on this page may differ from what you experience, due to your institution's customization of Sakai.
This article describes the following:
- Desktop versus Mobile View in Sakai
- Organization of Sakai
- Important Access Keys for Main Navigation
- Quick Access (Skip to...) Links
- Sites
- Your Profile Picture and Name (Use This Menu to Log Out)
- Favorite Sites List (on Desktop View)
- Tool Menu for the Current Site
- Expand/Collapse Tool Navigation (for Sighted Users, on Desktop View)
- Content Area
- Access Keys to Navigate the Content Area
- Footer
- Rich-Text Editor Accessibility
- Instructions for Enlarging Screen Elements, Modifying Colors/Contrast
- How to Get More Help
If you need specific help with your assistive technology, please refer to your local institution's website to find contact information for groups that can assist you with accessibility accommodations.
Desktop versus Mobile View
Sakai has a responsive design to adapt to different screen sizes, so certain elements only display when an internet browser window is larger than 770 pixels in width. In the descriptions that follow, Desktop View will be used to refer to the display when an internet browser window is larger than 770 pixels in width. Mobile View will refer to the display on smaller windows.
Organization of Sakai
Always present in Sakai are the following:
- Quick access Skip to... links
- One of the following two items, depending on whether or not you are logged into Sakai:
- Before logging in: Login links
- After logging in: the View All Sites menu and your profile picture and name (a menu you access to Log Out)
- List of favorite sites (on Desktop View)
- Tool Menu for the current site
- Expand/Collapse Tool Navigation feature (for sighted users on Desktop View)
- Content area
- Footer
Important Access Keys for Main Navigation
The major elements of a Sakai site can be accessed via Access keys (see note for more information on how to use Access keys):
Content - This access key takes you to the area that contains the site where you are working.
- Landmark: main ("Jump to Content")
- Access key: [C]
Tools - Every Sakai site has a Tool Menu with a list of links to the current site's tools.
- Landmark: navigation ("Tools")
- Access key: [L]
View All Sites menu - After you log in, you can use this menu to access your active sites.
- Landmark: navigation ("My Sites")
- Access key: [W]
Note: The exact keyboard commands to trigger an Access key depend on your computer operating system and internet browser. Commonly used browsers tend to use the following commands:
- Most Windows browsers: Shift + Alt + [the Access key]
- Most Mac browsers: Ctrl + Option + [the Access key]
The information on Access keys in this note provided by WebAIM.org (opens new window). You can learn more about Access keys on their website, Keyboard Accessibility © WebAIM (opens new window).
Quick Access (Skip to...) Links

Location: The quick access links are the first three links on the page. They are announced by text-to-speech software after the page title.
These links enable the user to reach frequently used areas of Sakai.
Pictured above is how one of these (normally invisible) links displays on the page if you navigate using the Tab key on your keyboard in Chrome after logging in to Sakai.
Sites
When logged in on Desktop View, the Sites menu follows the Academic alerts icon.
On Mobile View, the Sites menu appears below your profile icon (described next).
You can expand the Sites menu to access your active sites.
Favorite Sites List (on Desktop View)
- Location: On Desktop View only, the favorite sites list appears after the Tool Menu.
- Landmark: Navigation ("Sites list begins here")
- Heading: Level 1 ("Sites list begins here")
- Access key: [W]
This list contains the links to sites you most commonly use. You can select which sites appear in the list by selecting them as Favorites from the View All Sites menu. Each favorite site's tab will either take you to the site, or if you Tab to the menu and press the Down arrow key, it will supply you with a submenu of that site's tools so that you can go straight to that tool on the selected site.
Using the Up and Down arrow keys, you can navigate the submenu to the site specific tool links. These links can be activated using the Enter key.
If you have a large number of favorite sites in this list, some sites will not be displayed due to space limitations. Any sites not displayed are contained in a submenu accessed via the Sites link.
The rest of the sites you may be a member of can also be found in the Home > Membership or Home > Worksite Setup area.
Content Area
The content comes after the Tool Menu.
- Location: On Desktop View, the content displays to the right of the Tool Menu. On Mobile View, the content appears underneath the Tools link.
- Landmark: Main
- Heading: Level 1 "Content begins here"
- Access key: [C]
At the top of the content area for most tools, you will find:
- The title of the tool you are currently viewing. This is also a Refresh Tool link that returns you to the main page of the tool when clicked. Pictured above is an example of an Assignments (Refresh Tool) link.
- The title will be followed by a Help button, which opens a new tab or window (depending on your internet browser preferences) with help documentation for the current tool.
Rich-Text Editor Accessibility
In most areas of Sakai where text can be entered, you can use the Rich-Text Editor to edit and format your text, and to add links, images, or media.
Steps to access the Rich-Text Editor's toolbar with a keyboard are included in What are some keyboard shortcuts for the Rich Text Editor?
To operate the rich text editor:
Basic Navigation
- Alt+0 – opens Accessibility Instructions within the editor.
- Tab or arrow down into the editor edit field to edit content. When you are done you can tab or arrow down out of the editor.
- Alt+F10 – enters the toolbar or the tab list of the currently open dialog window.
- Shift+F10 – opens the context menu of an element inside the editing area.
- Alt+F11 – enters the elements path.
Navigating Toolbar
- Alt+- (minus) – collapses and restores the toolbar.
- Tab and Shift+Tab – move focus forward and backward among the toolbar button groups.
- Left Arrow and Right Arrow – move focus forward and backward among the toolbar buttons within a group, respectively.
- Enter and Space – activates a selected toolbar feature.
- Escape – puts the focus back to the editing area without executing any commands.
Navigating Dialog Window
- Tab and Shift+Tab
- when dialog window tabs are not in focus, these keyboard shortcuts move focus among input element of the dialog window.
- when a dialog window tab is in focus, Tab and Shift+Tab cycle through dialog window tabs.
- Left Arrow and Right Arrow – when a dialog window tab is in focus, the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys can be used to cycle between tabs just like Tab and Shift+Tab.
- Enter
- while inside the dialog window, when a single-line text input is in focus, is equivalent to pressing the OK button.
- while inside the dialog window, when a dialog window tab is in focus, puts the focus back to the first input element inside that tab.
- Escape – while inside the dialog window is equivalent to clicking the Cancel or Close buttons.
Navigating Context Menus
- Tab, Shift+Tab – cycle through menu items forward or Shift+Tab to cycle backwards.
- Down Arrow and Up Arrow – can be used to cycle between menu items just like Tab and Shift+Tab, respectively.
- Right Arrow and Left Arrow
- when the context menu item contains a submenu, the Right Arrow lets you enter the submenu.
- to return to the parent context menu, use the Left Arrow.
- Enter and Space – activate a menu item or open a submenu.
- Escape
- Closes a context menu without executing any command.
- When inside a submenu, closes the submenu and returns focus to the parent context menu. Press Esc again to close it.
Navigating Toolbar Drop-down Lists
- Down Arrow, Enter, and Space – enter the drop-down list once it is selected on the toolbar.
- Tab, Shift+Tab – cycle through list items forward or Shift+Tab to cycle backwards.
- Down Arrow and Up Arrow – can be used to cycle between list items just like Tab and Shift+Tab, respectively.
- Enter and Space – activate a feature selected from the drop-down list and put the focus back to the editing area.
- Escape – closes a drop-down list without introducing any changes.
Editor Hotkeys
- When focus is in the editor you can use these shortcut keys:
- Bold - Control/Command b
- Italics - Control/Command i
- Underline - Control/Command u
- To add a link
- highlight the link text (shift + arrow keys)
- then press Control/Command + l
- fill in the link information
Note: For a complete list of all keyboard commands, please see the CKEditor Accessibility Guide.
Instructions for Enlarging Screen Elements, Modifying Colors/Contrast
You can use the browser's zooming function to increase text size. Sakai will work well up to 200% zoom.
If you need a higher level of magnification, or if you need to have the cursor/pointer augmented, you may be more comfortable using a third-party magnifier such as MAGic (opens new window) or ZoomText (opens new window).
To change color and contrast settings, use the operating system settings, browser settings, or your preferred browser plug-ins.
Getting More Help
If you need specific help with accessibility or with your assistive technology, please contact Disability Support Services and/or Information & Technology Services Help Desk.