As part of the learning management system and course websites at my university, students can use YuJa Panorama’s alternative formats menu for automated file conversion and getting copies of content in accessible formats instantaneously. As a student with low vision, I find it helpful to use tools like YuJa Panorama and Anthology Ally to access content for my classes in file formats that support large print or responsive layouts, and find it useful to quickly enlarge content or read assignment instructions using familiar file formats.
Here are tips for using alternative formats menus for plugins like Anthology Ally YuJa Panorama with low vision from a student perspective, including a list of alternative formats for Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama and how to enable alternative formats in online classes.
YuJa Panorama vs Anthology Ally: Alternative formats for online classes
My university switched from using Anthology Ally to YuJa Panorama for converting alternative formats when migrating to Canvas, so I updated the post title and information to reflect how I am using YuJa Panorama in my classes and how I have also used Anthology Ally. With that in mind, both Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama offer identical alternative formats, with a few exceptions:
- Anthology Ally only offers tagged PDFs
- Anthology Ally uses Beeline Reader instead of Gradient Reader, which has custom color themes.
- YuJa Panorama offers plain text files and UEB braille file formats (though I have no idea what a .ueb file format is)
The process for enabling Anthology Ally is the same as enabling YuJa Panorama, and the icon for Anthology Ally looks like a capital letter A with an arrow through it. I have not noticed a tremendous difference between the two platforms yet,
How Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama work
For students, Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama are automatic file conversion tools that provides students with the option to access text-based content and assignments in alternative formats designed for use with assistive technology such as large print, screen magnification, screen readers, braille displays, and simplified reading displays. This provides students with more flexibility in how they access course content and read materials both online and offline, and students can download the same file in multiple formats if they choose. Due to the automated conversion process, files converted with Ally/Panorama are not 100% perfect, but they are still a helpful resource to have for students with print disabilities.
For instructors and institutions, Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama provide insights on course content accessibility and the use of accessible materials in their classes, along with recommendations for improving digital accessibility for assistive technology users. Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama do not automatically correct issues, rather they provide instructors and administrators with the knowledge and tools to highlight potential accessibility issues and fix them on their own. Instructors can also use this feedback to improve the accessibility of their original documents to provide higher quality file conversions for students using the Alternative Formats menu.
Related links
- How I Use Blackboard With Low Vision
- How I Use Canvas With Low Vision
- How I Use Moodle With Low Vision
How to access YuJa Panorama and Anthology Ally
Both YuJa Panorama and Anthology Ally are available an external app /LTI plugin that is available across multiple learning management software programs, including Blackboard Learn, Canvas, Brightspace (Desire2Learn), and Open LMS (Moodle). These are configured either by the instructor of the course or by IT Admin at the system level. Students cannot manually enable Ally/Panorama for individual courses, but they can contact their instructors to request the feature or file an IT request to add the LTI plugin if it is not available in their classes.
For students, the Alternative Formats icon will appear next to supported content, such as attachments, course modules, and text-based content. This icon looks like a person inside a circle, and is labeled Alternative Formats on Canvas and Blackboard.
To access YuJa Panorama as a student:
- Open an individual page or document, such as a file, page, attachment, assignment, etc.
- Select the Alternative Formats icon
- Once selected, a menu will appear with a list of file formats that users can download. While only one file format can be selected at a time, the same file can be downloaded multiple times in different formats.
- Select the download button
Please note that not all file formats may be available for a particular file, and that content such as scanned PDFs, distorted text, text embedded inside images, and similar content will likely impact the accessibility or usability of the automatically converted file. In addition, Alternative Formats may not be available for all course content or may be disabled for specific assignments such as quizzes or tests. For students that need files converted into accessible formats manually, I strongly recommend reaching out to Disability Services or an assistive technology specialist for further resources.
Related links
- What To Know About College Assistive Technology Specialists
- How To Request Accessible Textbooks In College
- How I Receive Accessible Quizzes and Tests in the Classroom
- Ten Questions To Ask When Buying Digital Textbooks
- Must-Have Tech Skills For Online Classes
YuJa Panorama and Anthology Ally Alternative Formats/Accessible File Formats
Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama offer several file formats for students with print disabilities that can be used to promote access to text. Again, not all formats may be available for a specific file, but here is a list of formats I have encountered for files in my classes.
Students are typically expected to use these formats for reading materials or assignment instructions, and then submit a separate file for their assignment/graded work.
Keep formatting intact: Tagged PDF
Although PDFs can be made accessible for users with visual impairments through the use of semantic structure, fixed layout formats like PDFs are typically considered less accessible (or entirely inaccessible) file formats for low vision and print disabilities. These fixed formats (fixed layouts) are designed to mimic physical pages as much as possible, with preset font styles, line spacing, text alignment, and font sizes determined based on the size of the user’s screen. The appearance of the page cannot be changed, and users will have to use pinch-to-zoom or screen magnification and horizontal scrolling to enlarge text. As a student with low vision, I typically convert PDFs to other file formats, not to convert files to PDFs.
With Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama, users can convert documents into tagged PDFs, which contain essential information for navigating a document with a screen reader such as headings and lists. With that in mind, the PDF option does not work well for documents that contain scanned files, images, or tables; one workaround is the OCR PDF option available in OCR formats. However, students with visual impairments may prefer a different file format.
Plain text, no formatting: TXT (YuJa Panorama only)
A plain text file (TXT) contains only basic text characters and simple formatting like line breaks, and lacks advanced features such as fonts, colors, images, or complex layouts. This can be useful for copying code snippets or similar text into a plain text editor.
Use a simplified reading display: Immersive Reader
Immersive Reader is a simplified reading display that applies a consistent font size, background color, and page layout to text content, with the option to enable text-to-speech. Immersive Reader is available in the alternative formats menu as well as within Canvas course websites, and displays content within the web browser.
Improve line tracking: Gradient Reader (YuJa Panorama)
Instead of displaying text in its original color, Gradient Reader converts text content to HTML and changes the colors to show a color gradient for each line, which can help with line tracking and following along with text. Users can customize the primary and secondary colors for Gradient Reader text by setting a custom RGB or HEX code value or selecting from one of the following colors.
- Black (#000000)
- Gold (#f6cf00)
- Blue (#4e68f1)
- Red (#b30000)
- Pink (#f14e9c)
Since Gradient Reader also uses HTML, the responsive layout design is still intact and can be used for enlarging text, adjusting line spacing, and using browser zoom when open in a web browser.
Beeline Reader (Anthology Ally)
Instead of displaying text in its original color, Beeline Reader converts text content to HTML and changes the colors to show a color gradient for each line, which can help with line tracking and following along with text. Beeline Reader uses the following color gradients for displaying text:
- Bright (default): Vibrant blue, vibrant red and black text
- Dark: Dark blue, dark red and black text
- Blues: Vibrant blue, dark purple and black text
- Grays: Dark gray, light gray and black text
- Night: Vibrant blue, vibrant purple and white text on a black background
Read a digital book: EPUB
EPUB files are widely used for eBooks and are designed to be reflowable; text and images adjust dynamically to fit different screen sizes, zoom levels, and other user preferences. With EPUB, users can adjust the text size and font styles and apply other display customizations like increased line spacing, custom page colors, and adjustable margins to improve readability. EPUBs also support embedded alt text for images and semantic structure for navigation, which is important for chapter/section headings and table of contents pages. EPUBs can be read on computers or mobile devices with an EPUB reader installed, or on eReader devices.
One of my favorite ways to use EPUBs for school is to sideload the content into another reading app or an eReader so I can access text without having to sit at my computer or read from a bright display. Another benefit of EPUBs is that users can take notes, highlight, and make other annotations within their eReading app of choice.
Listen to text: MP3 (Audio podcast)
Audio files are shared in MP3 format and use a synthesized voice to read all content from a page, similar to text-to-speech. Some users prefer to listen to text while it is also read out loud, or listen to the audio files without looking at their screen at all. Audio podcasts can be viewed in the web browser and played at up to 2x speed, or downloaded to a user’s device for more advanced playback options.
Students cannot set their own custom voices or audio settings for downloading MP3s from Anthology Ally. All of my classes used an English US female voice, though YuJa Panorama and Anthology Ally supposedly detects the language that the document/content is shared in and converts the voice accordingly. MP3 audio is not available for documents longer than 100,000 characters.
Read in the web browser: HTML
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard language used to create and structure online content and webpages, and provides semantic structure so that users can navigate pages with a screen reader or other types of assistive technology. Like EPUB and Word documents, HTML generally uses a responsive layout or reflowable layout optimized for use with browser zoom or magnification; if a user zooms in on a reflowable document, the content will automatically adjust to fit their screen, with no horizontal scrolling required. HTML can also be used with web browser extensions or tools like Read Aloud/text-to-speech.
Convert scanned text for screen reader: OCR formats (YuJa Panorama)
Optical character recognition (OCR) converts images of typed, handwritten, or printed text into electronic text that can be read on another device. OCR has a long history of being used for making text accessible to blind and low vision individuals, and can be used to recognize text in a variety of contexts, including extracting text from documents, reading signs or extracting text from images, and for converting print into accessible formats that can be read using assistive technology. With YuJa Panorama, students can convert scanned PDFs or extract text from images and convert files into the following OCR formats:
- OCR Overlaid PDF (OCR text overlaid onto original PDF for search purposes)
- OCR Reconstructed PDF (OCR scanned text reconstructed into tagged PDF file; may change document appearance)
- OCR HTML
- OCR Text (plain text)
- OCR Immersive Reader
- OCR Gradient Reader
- OCR Audio (play back all text on screen)
- OCR Semantic Text (with headings and other structured text for navigation)
- OCR Semantic Audio (read scanned text with enhanced intonation and emphasis, instead of robotic text-to-speech voice)
OCR PDF options may provide a better reading experience for assistive technology users or students with visual impairments, as OCR can be used to recognize text content. That said, OCR is not 100% accurate, and may appear in all caps for some documents.
Accessible equations: Math formats (YuJa Panorama)
Designed for content with equations or mathematical notation, math formats convert math-related content into accessible formats that can be read with assistive technology and accounts for math symbols and character level details. With YuJa Panorama, students can convert files with math content into the following math formats:
- LaTeX
- Math Immersive Reader (plain text equations displayed in Immersive Reader with optional text-to-speech)
- Math text (plain text representation of equations/math notation)
- Math audio (MP3 only, designed for reading equations)
- MathML (convert equations to HTML format)
Read with a braille display: Braille formats (BRF)
For students that use a refreshable braille display or electronic braille formats, Anthology Ally and YuJa Panorama can automatically convert files to the BRF format, including elements such as tables, text, images with alt text, and similar content. The braille code used for BRF files is configured at the institutional level by filing a support ticket with the learning management program. For English, the braille code can be mapped to Unified English Braille contracted (Grade 2) or uncontracted (Grade 1).
Alternatively, users can convert content to UEB files in YuJa Panorama. In full transparency, I had never heard of this file format as an assistive technology specialist, as I thought UEB was a component of BRF files, not its own file format. That said, several TVIs and braille users I have talked to also have no idea what a .ueb file is, so I am not sure what to make of this.
Related links
- File Formats For Low Vision and Print Disabilities
- How I Use Microsoft Immersive Reader With Low Vision
- How I Read Research Sources With Assistive Technology
- Mainstream eReader Apps and Low Vision Accessibility
- How To Create An Accessible Formula Sheet
- A to Z of Assistive Technology For Low Vision
How I personally use alternative formats in my classes
I use tools like YuJa Panorama and Anthology Ally in several of my classes to quickly convert files or make documents easier to read with large print. I don’t use YuJa Panorama to convert Word documents very often since I have several tools for reading Word documents with low vision on my computer, but find it useful for other tasks like:
- Converting PDF articles to HTML, which makes it easier to enlarge text or customize formatting
- Reading assignment instructions or discussion board prompts with Immersive Reader
- Converting scanned PDFs that do not have OCR text into other file formats.
- Saving long readings as an EPUB so I can read them on another device
- Downloading code snippets as plain text so I can edit them in Notepad or in another application
Out of all of the listed options, I use HTML and Immersive Reader the most frequently to access content in large print. For PDFs, I typically use the OCR HTML format when HTML is not available.
Related links
- How I Find Research Sources In Accessible Formats
- Adapting Page Layouts: Math Problems and Low Vision
- How I Use My eReader For School and Online Classes
- Low Vision Assistive Technology For Discussion Board Posts
- High Contrast and Low Vision
More tips on using YuJa Panorama, Anthology Ally, and alternative formats in online classes
- Want to read about the latest updates and release notes for Anthology Ally? Check out Release Notes for Ally for LMS | Blackboard Help
- For K-12 students with print disabilities enrolled in public schools, I strongly recommend using NIMAC/NIMAS organizations to get copies of materials in accessible formats. Learn more in Receiving Accessible Educational Materials With NIMAC and AIM-VA
- Looking to create a shared folder system for accessible educational materials? Read Implementing Shared Folders For Accessible Materials
- Want more resources on assistive technology for online classes and taking virtual classes with low vision? Browse Virtual Education Archives | Veronica With Four Eyes (veroniiiica.com)
Published September 6, 2024. Updated February 2026