Changes made to improve accessibility
We've included here information on key accessibility improvements made to the software infrastructure. In many cases, the improvements have been based on findings in the AbilityNet audits of accessibility, the JISC snapshot of accessibility, in-house manual or automated testing.
Full details of changes to our public-facing web site and our coursework management system are reported in technical release notes, as they happen.
- support for speech reading software
- making the site search button label always visible (ID-266)
- correct some form labelling issues flagged by WAVE (SBTWO-8920)
- when a video is inserted into a page there is now a box to specify a captions file (SBTWO-8997) as a first step towards making accessible videos easier. We also updated our documentation to explain to our editors the need to add a caption file and outlined a method to do that
- labels for input fields, for example on forms or in a page's properties, now present screen reader software with better information. (SBTWO-9219)
- users are prompted to provide a human-readable version when adding Maths equation to a page. (SBTWO-9230)
- embedded news and calendar feeds are now easier to navigate using screen reader software.
- labels for input fields, for example on forms or in a page's properties, now present screen reader software with better information.
- users of screen reader software will now hear what information is added about links via icons.
- sortable tables are now easier to use with screen reader software.
- now prompting users to provide a link to a transcript on the 'Create new podcast episode' pages.
- we added HTML labels to buttons that did not already have them, making their purpose clearer to users of screen reader software. [SBTWO-9172]
- we made calendars provide more helpful information, in a logical order, to users of screen reader software.
- we replaced pipe characters (|) in the local navigation menu with borders. Previously, screen reader software announced the pipe characters to users.
- we removed the alt text, "image", from news item thumbnail images because it provided no useful information. We also made the link from the image invisible for screen reader software because it duplicated the link from the item title. [SBTWO-9357]
- where a button for a given letter at the top of a glossary page is greyed out, screen reader software is now told that the link is disabled. [SBTWO-9129]
- we made some accessibility improvements to forms. This makes them easier to use for users browsing with only a keyboard, and those using assistive technologies, such as a screen reader. [SBTWO-9444]
- support for navigating the site using the keyboard alone
- on calendar pages, it's now possible to use a keyboard to select the + symbol to create an event on the selected date. [SBTWO-9327]
- when tabbing through the navigation ensuring that the tab position is visible (ID-290)
- upgraded the date/time picker on our calendar and resource booking pages to one that is accessible to keyboards onl. [SBTWO-9179].
- we made the search function on calendar pages easier to use with just a keyboard. When you select the search button, your cursor now appears in the pop-up search box without you having to <Tab> into it. [SBTWO-9312]
- reviewing the primary, secondary and tertiary navigation on the web site so that it is possible to navigate via keyboard alone drop-down menu's and jump between the navigation levels, menus to be closed on exit (ID-294, ID 317, SBTWO-8877, SBTWO-8876)
- adding skip to navigation and skip to content links on the web site to make navigation easier and quicker (ID-316, SBTWO-8879, SBTWO-8904)
- making tabbing work more consistently and permitting tabbing between error messages when using a web form (SBTWO-8812)
- made it possible to open the edit interface using the keyboard (SBTWO-8878)
- made it possible to tab into the URL field when using the 'Link' modal in the content editor (SBTWO-8875)
- we overhauled the site map page template to make it more accessible. It is now fully navigable when using only a keyboard or screen reader software. The links from a site map now take you straight to the corresponding page or file, rather than opening a preview window.
- support for low vision
- improving the contrast on the tab focus outline so it's always visible (ID-291)
- increasing font size and clarity of error messages within our forum pages (SBTWO-8579)
- images with text overlays can now be added to pages using the visual editor. Unlike images with text embedded in them, this method provides good accessibility, as it provides contrast (SBTWO-9019)
- we already check the contrast of the primary navigation, we added a check of secondary navigation for contrast (SBTWO-8861). When we looked at this we identified 200 sites who will need to update their navigation colours.
- it's now possible to increase or decrease the font size of text using the setting for this in your browser.
- we improved the contrast on icons displayed to users when searching calendar pages.[SBTWO-9442]
- general
- we upgraded the plugin that underpins the accessibility page audit so that more issues can be found automatically. To Lighthouse 6.0 [SBTWO-9385]
- we improved various page templates so these were more accessible to screen readers
- removing our text-only web site rendition, as this had several issues (SBTWO-8780)
- making links underlined in help popovers in the editor's interface (SBTWO-8521)
- fixed an issue with aria takes when using the edit menu (SBTWO-9048)
- added an automated accessibility checker based on Lighthouse called 'page audit' for use when editing web pages. Automatic checkers are unable to detect all accessibility issues. Users should therefore also refer to the accessibility checklist. We fixed issues with our standard page types that the tool flagged before launching it. (SBTWO-8466, SBTWO-8575, SBTWO-9141, SBTWO-9140)
- usability and therefore accessibility by extension. have made it possible to save a partially completed form (SBTWO-3864)
- making it more apparent that there are two ways of getting the two-factor key, either by text or by using an authenticator application (SSO-2356, SSO-2357, SSO-2358)
- correctly setting the language, so that screen reader software doesn't use American English (SSO-2368)
- removing duplicate links from the student view of assignments (TAB-7110)
- making Tabula keyboard drop-down menus, tooltips, popovers, navigable filters, links, modals, paginated results and collapsed sections keyboard-navigable (TAB-7109, TAB-7171)
- making the tab focus indicator visible (TAB-7219)
- improving the tab order (TAB-7338
We have flagged with SiteImprove a false positive we are getting with our web site. This was caused by <H4> elements which are filled dynamically but which are styled as 'display:none' when empty. Siteimprove have confirmed this to be a false-positive. The same error is reported in WAVE which isn't picking up the element being aria-hidden. The H4 element, however, is NOT read by screen reader software. (SBTWO-8920 & SBTWO-9378). We hope in future updates of the accessibility testing software this issue will be fixed.