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Reading Canvas, Moodle, and Blackboard with dyslexia
Unlike Netflix or Wikipedia, your university's learning management system is not optional. You cannot switch to a more accessible platform. You get Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, or Brightspace, and you make it work. For dyslexic students, that means finding solutions at the browser level rather than waiting for your institution to overhaul its platform settings.
This guide covers why LMS platforms are particularly hard for dyslexic readers, what (little) each platform can do natively, and how to override the defaults from Chrome so the text actually works for you.
Why LMS platforms are rough for dyslexic readers
Most learning management systems were built primarily as content-delivery infrastructure, not as reading environments. The typography reflects that. Default body text on Canvas is typically 14px Arial at around 1.4 line height - tight, small, and in a font designed in the early 1990s for low-resolution screens. Moodle's default theme is not much different. Blackboard Ultra has modernised its interface but still ships with constrained line spacing and a default sans-serif that varies by institution theme.
Several things make these defaults particularly hard for dyslexic readers.
Small font size. 13-14px is below the threshold most readability guidance recommends for sustained on-screen reading (typically 16-18px). Smaller text increases the number of saccades your eye needs to make across a line, which increases the chance of losing your place. See the guide on best font size for dyslexic adults for the full picture.
Tight line spacing. A line-height of 1.4 means consecutive lines of text are close enough that the eye can easily slip a row. Most dyslexia-specific guidance recommends at least 1.5, with 1.6 to 1.75 being more comfortable for many readers. The research on line spacing and letter spacing for dyslexia is fairly consistent on this point.
Low-contrast grey text. Many LMS themes use mid-grey rather than near-black for body text - a holdover from an era when designers believed softening contrast made interfaces look cleaner. For dyslexic readers with any degree of contrast sensitivity, this extra reduction in contrast adds fatigue. Our article on dyslexia and contrast sensitivity covers this in more detail.
Wall-of-text layouts. Instructors upload content in whatever format they have - often long Word documents converted to HTML, or text pasted from a syllabus. The result is frequently dense, unbroken paragraphs with no meaningful visual hierarchy to anchor the eye.
This week's module covers the theoretical underpinnings of cognitive load theory as developed by Sweller (1988), with particular attention to the distinctions between intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load and their implications for instructional design in digital learning environments.
This week's module covers the theoretical underpinnings of cognitive load theory as developed by Sweller (1988), with particular attention to the distinctions between intrinsic, extraneous, and germane cognitive load and their implications for instructional design in digital learning environments.
The second block is the same sentence. The difference is entirely typographic - font, size, and spacing. Nothing in the content itself was changed.
What each platform can do natively
Short answer: not much. But it's worth checking before reaching for browser-level overrides.
| Platform | Native accessibility options | Dyslexia-specific features |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas (Instructure) | High-contrast mode in accessibility settings; keyboard navigation; screen reader support | None built in. No font override or spacing controls for students |
| Moodle | Depends entirely on the theme your institution chose; some themes support text resize | None standard. A handful of institutions have installed a "Dyslexia" Moodle theme but it is not widely deployed |
| Blackboard / Anthology | Blackboard Ultra has a high-contrast switch; Classic view has a basic accessibility toolbar | No font override. Classic view's toolbar lets you increase text size but not change the typeface |
| Brightspace / D2L | Reasonable screen reader support; some display preferences in user settings | No typeface selection for students; line spacing cannot be changed from the student side |
The pattern is consistent: LMS platforms treat accessibility as screen-reader compatibility and keyboard navigation, which are important but don't address the typographic side of reading. For font choice, size, spacing, and colour, you are largely on your own.
Browser-level fixes that work on any LMS
Because your LMS runs in Chrome, you have access to every browser-level tool - and those tools work regardless of what the platform does natively.
1. Override the font across the entire LMS domain
The most direct fix is a font override extension. LexiFont lets you set a dyslexia-friendly typeface for any website - meaning you can configure it specifically for your university's Canvas or Moodle domain and have Lexend, Atkinson Hyperlegible, or OpenDyslexic applied to every page you visit on that site. The guide to changing fonts on any website in Chrome walks through the setup in detail.
The practical advantage is persistence: once you set it for your LMS domain, it applies automatically every time you open the site. No per-page configuration needed.
Which font to choose depends on your specific difficulty. Lexend is designed to reduce what its developers called "visual noise" - the way certain letter combinations crowd each other. Atkinson Hyperlegible, designed by the Braille Institute, maximises letter distinctiveness, which helps readers who confuse similar letterforms. OpenDyslexic uses bottom-weighted letter shapes specifically to reduce letter rotation errors. If you have never compared them side by side, the guide to best fonts for dyslexia in 2026 is the right starting point.
2. Fix the size problem with browser zoom
Chrome's built-in zoom (Ctrl/Cmd + plus) increases everything on the page proportionally, including text size. For most LMS content, setting zoom to 125% or 150% brings 13-14px body text into the 16-20px range that most readers find more comfortable for sustained reading. The layout may scroll horizontally on a few pages, but the vast majority of modern LMS interfaces reflow cleanly at 125%.
You can set a per-site default zoom in Chrome: navigate to your LMS, click the padlock icon in the address bar, select "Site settings," and find the zoom option. Chrome will remember it for every subsequent visit. Our guide on browser zoom and text scaling for dyslexia covers making this work across multiple tabs and sessions.
3. Use reader mode on text-heavy pages
When an instructor embeds a long reading directly in Canvas or Moodle rather than linking a PDF, that page often qualifies for Chrome's reader mode or a third-party reader extension. Reader mode strips the surrounding navigation and re-renders the content in a clean single-column layout with your browser's preferred font and spacing. Our comparison of reader mode vs reading extensions for dyslexia covers which tools work best.
The caveat: reader mode fails on pages that load content dynamically or that are embedded in iframes, which is common on LMSes. More on this below.
4. Adjust the background colour
If your LMS uses a white background and you find high contrast tiring, a colour overlay extension can shift the page to cream, light yellow, or light grey. Some readers find a warm off-white substantially reduces eye strain across a long study session. The research on background colours and dyslexia suggests the benefit is real for readers who experience visual stress, though the optimal tint varies considerably between individuals.
Quick-start setup for any LMS: install LexiFont (the free tier covers one font), set your preferred font for the LMS domain, set Chrome zoom to 125% for that site, and open long readings in reader mode where available. Most dyslexic students report this makes the difference between finding course readings manageable and not finishing them.
The PDF problem
A large proportion of LMS content is distributed as PDFs - lecture slides, readings, assignment briefs. PDFs are significantly harder to restyle than HTML because the text is embedded in a fixed layout. Font overrides do not reach inside PDF viewers the same way they do for webpage text.
The most reliable workaround is to download the PDF and open it in a reader that gives you more control. Adobe Acrobat Reader has a "Reading Order" mode that can reflow text. Microsoft Edge's built-in PDF viewer has an immersive reader option accessible from the toolbar. For scanned PDFs where the text is an image rather than selectable characters, OCR is the only path - our guide to reading text in images with dyslexia covers OCR options that work directly in Chrome.
For lecture slides specifically: if the instructor has shared a PowerPoint file rather than a PDF, download the .pptx and open it in PowerPoint or Google Slides. Both let you increase text size and change fonts before you read, which is a substantially better experience than viewing slides in a locked PDF.
Where reader mode fails on LMS platforms
Reader mode works by detecting article-style text on a page. LMS pages frequently defeat this detection because the text is inside a deeply nested component structure, the page requires authenticated state to load content, or the reading material is displayed inside an iframe. When reader mode shows nothing useful or offers no "reader" button, the alternative is to copy the text out.
Copy the body of the reading into an environment with good typography control - your word processor at a comfortable font and size, or a blank Google Doc where you have set Lexend at 16pt with 1.75 line height. This is more manual but gives you full control. Some students paste into their preferred app as a matter of habit for every LMS reading, which also produces a personal annotated copy as a side effect.
For students with formal dyslexia accommodations, it is worth asking your disability services office specifically about software that overlays font and colour settings at the operating system level - tools like Texthelp Read&Write can apply consistent formatting even inside iframes and PDFs, reaching places a browser extension cannot.
Making the most of what the LMS does offer
Even without typography fixes, a few platform-native habits reduce reading load.
Use text-to-speech if it is available. Some Canvas deployments include Microsoft Immersive Reader via the institution's Microsoft 365 licensing - look for a "Launch Immersive Reader" button in any reading panel. When it appears, it opens a clean restyled version of the text with its own font and spacing controls plus a read-aloud option. Not all Canvas deployments have this; availability depends on your institution's Microsoft licensing agreement.
Download before reading. Any file that can be downloaded and opened in a more controllable environment should be. Reading a PDF inside Chrome's built-in viewer gives you almost no typography control; reading it in a desktop PDF application gives you substantially more. The five seconds of downloading is worth it.
Ask instructors for the source file. Many instructors have the original Word document behind the PDF they uploaded. A .docx opens in Word or Google Docs where you can immediately set your preferred font and size without any extensions. Most instructors are willing to share the source file when a student explains they find the PDF layout difficult - it is a reasonable accessibility request even without a formal accommodation on file.
Reading support for ADHD alongside dyslexia
Many students have both dyslexia and ADHD, and the LMS environment is difficult for both. Dense text with no visual structure causes attention to drift as well as reading errors. A reading ruler or focus line extension - which highlights the current line and dims the rest of the page - can help maintain place on a long course page. Our guide to reading tools for ADHD covers focus-mode extensions that pair well with font overrides.
For students who find that reading fatigue builds over a long study session, the guide on dyslexia and reading fatigue covers the practical signs that it is time to switch strategy - from visual reading to audio, or from long-form to shorter chunks with breaks in between.
Setting up once so it is always there
The goal is a configuration that requires no per-session effort. Once set up, you open your LMS and it is already in your preferred font, at your preferred size, with your preferred background. The setup:
Install LexiFont Pro and configure your preferred dyslexia-friendly font for your institution's LMS domain (Canvas runs on a subdomain like youruni.instructure.com, Moodle typically on moodle.youruni.ac.uk, and so on). Set Chrome's per-site zoom for that domain. If you use a colour overlay, point it at the same domain. After that, every visit to your LMS arrives already in the reading environment that works for you.
This takes about ten minutes to set up. The payoff is every course reading, for every module, for the rest of your degree.