Course Infrastructure Documentation

This is the complete, open-source documentation for the AI and Society Course website infrastructure. Everything here is designed to be:

Accessible — WCAG AAA compliant
Open source — MIT licensed, fully transparent
Reproducible — Self-contained, no external dependencies
Educational — Documented for learning and reuse

What’s Documented

1. Accessibility Features

Complete guide to the accessibility add-on layer that makes the site WCAG AAA compliant:

Skip navigation links
ARIA landmarks and semantic roles
Enhanced focus indicators
Color contrast compliance
Form accessibility
Keyboard navigation
Screen reader support

For: Instructors, developers, accessibility auditors

2. D2L Document Generation

Python-based system to generate professional, accessible PDFs and DOCX files from course content:

Dual-path generation (PDF via Typst, DOCX via Pandoc)
Combined or individual file modes
WCAG AAA compliant output
Batch processing for all content types
Ready for Brightspace upload

For: Course instructors, content managers

3. Template Customization

Deep dive into the Typst template used for PDF generation:

Design specifications and typography
Color palette and contrast ratios
Customization guide (fonts, colors, layout)
Advanced styling techniques
Accessibility compliance details

For: Designers, developers, template maintainers

The Complete System

Hugo Site
├── Content (markdown files)
├── Accessibility Add-on Layer (CSS + JS)
└── D2L Document Generator
    ├── Typst Template (PDF)
    └── Pandoc (DOCX)

Technology Stack

Hugo — Static site generator
Typst — Beautiful, accessible PDF generation
Pandoc — Format conversion
Python — D2L document pipeline
Accessible Minimal Template — Terminal theme with accessibility overlays

Quick Links

Task	Documentation
Make site accessible	Accessibility
Generate D2L documents	D2L Generation
Customize PDF styling	Template Guide
Understand the architecture	System Overview

Getting Started

For Instructors

Add content — Create markdown files in content/readings/, content/assignments/, etc.
Generate D2L docs — Run python scripts/generate-d2l-docs.py --format both
Upload to Brightspace — Take PDFs/DOCXs from output/d2l/

For Developers

Review architecture — See System Overview
Understand accessibility — See Accessibility Features
Customize templates — See Template Guide

For Accessibility Auditors

All documentation includes compliance details:

WCAG AAA standards met
Color contrast ratios (7:1+)
Keyboard navigation support
Screen reader compatibility

See Accessibility Features for complete details.

Philosophy

This system is built on the principle of accessible by default:

No compromise — Accessibility is not an afterthought, it’s foundational
Open source — All code and documentation is public and MIT licensed
Transparent — Every design decision is documented and reasoned
Educational — Designed to be learned from and improved upon

File Structure

.
├── content/
│   ├── readings/          # Course readings
│   ├── assignments/       # Course assignments
│   ├── resources/         # Additional resources
│   └── documentation/     # This documentation
├── layouts/
│   ├── _default/          # Hugo templates
│   └── partials/
│       └── accessibility/ # Accessibility features
├── scripts/
│   └── generate-d2l-docs.py  # D2L document generator
├── static/
│   └── css/
│       └── accessibility.css  # AAA-compliant styles
├── templates/
│   └── typst/
│       └── clean/          # Typst PDF template
└── venv/                   # Python virtual environment

Contributing

This is an open source educational project. Contributions are welcome:

Documentation improvements — Fix typos, clarify explanations
Accessibility enhancements — Suggest improvements
Feature requests — Propose new capabilities
Bug reports — Document issues

License

This entire system (code, documentation, templates) is provided under the MIT License for educational use.

Support

Questions about the site — See documentation pages below
Accessibility questions — See Accessibility Features
D2L workflow questions — See D2L Generation
Template customization — See Template Guide

Last Updated

May 2026

About

This course infrastructure was designed with the principle that accessibility is not optional. Every component, from the website to the PDF generation system, has been built and audited for WCAG AAA compliance.

The documentation you’re reading is itself published as open source so that others can learn from and improve upon this work.

Next: Explore the documentation sections above, or start with System Overview.