Accessibility

Service platform accessibility

We are committed to ensuring that our service can be accessed and used by all our members. Digital materials e.g. e-books delivered through a learning platform can be more accessible to blind and visually impaired (VI) users than hard copy, unmanipulable equivalents, e.g. printed handouts. There is a range of assistive technologies such as screen readers, and the platform is compatible with these technologies including DAISY and JAWS using traditional keyboard shortcuts. In addition, the user interface has integrated text to speech functionality removing the need for any additional software.

The ProQuest Ebook Central® platform and the e-books for e-books for FE are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 compliant.

For full details of the compatibility and accessibility of the service see the ProQuest accessibility statement or the guides and videos below.

Accessibility mode

Accessibility mode for screen readers

Support site accessibility statement

This website is run by Jisc. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
  • Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
  • Have access and be able to download text-based alternatives for all the resources
  • Skip to the main content when using a screen reader on most pages

We’ve also made the website text ( where it doesn’t use wording direct from the relevant curriculum or standards) as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • Keyboard-users cannot access next page control or search filters, please use the search function in the top right to narrow the results to explore more resources
  • Decorative images have alt-text and can be navigated to via keyboard, this can extend processes and result in screen reader repetition
  • Activities, games and quizzes are not suitable for keyboard-only users or users who are visually impaired. In these instances transcripts have been supplied as a text alternative
  • PDF documents and players are not fully accessible. In these instances transcripts in Word document (.doc) format have been supplied as an alternative
  • The search input box at the top of each page has a label of ‘s’ instead of ‘search’
  • When a search is submitted screen readers will receive a hidden ‘no results’ notice before the page refreshes and shows the search results
  • Hovering menus to see drop-down sub-menu items aren’t fully accessible, if you select the menu item then links are provided to the subsections
  • Posts are organised in date order with the most recent first, but they aren’t labelled with a date
  • You cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
  • At this time there are no specialised non-browser-specific keyboard shortcuts

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

  • Write to us at Jisc 6th Floor, Churchgate House, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 6EU

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the Jisc FE support team:

  • email feandskills@jisc.ac.uk
  • call 0300 300 2212
  • write to us at Jisc 6th Floor, Churchgate House, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 6EU

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Jisc is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Text alternatives and time based media (Guideline 1.1 and 1.2)

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

The majority of the decorative images and icons used have alternative text attached to them, allowing them to be read by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content). We plan to hide the majority of decorative images from screen-readers by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Some guidance videos still need text alternative formats. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content) and 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded). We plan to have transcripts and captions available on all video content by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of video meets accessibility standards.

Not all videos have a full audio description. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5 Audio Description (Prerecorded). We plan to update transcripts to allow for a text to speech option by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of video meets accessibility standards.

Adaptability (Guideline 1.3)

Some content, like twitter feeds, video players and pdf preview viewers, are formatted by HTML, which makes  them less adaptable. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We plan to ensure the players have full screen adaptable views available by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of media meets accessibility standards.

Landmark elements in our pages may be missing or indistinguishable, this can make it harder to navigate around the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence). We plan to review them and embed useful landmarks and remove excessive or useless ones by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of landmarks meets accessibility standards.

The search results, sequence of headings, metadata and menu items aren’t always in a logical order. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence). We plan to arrange headings by sequence and lists alphabetically by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of content structure meets accessibility standards.

Posts are displayed in date order with the most recent first, but this is not clear.  In addition the blog post titles don’t always provide a clear indication of what the content will be. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2 (Meaningful Sequence). We plan to redesign the titles or descriptions by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of descriptions meets accessibility standards.

Some controls such as, social media links, video players and pdf preview viewers, aren’t all machine readable by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.5 (Identify Input Purpose) and 4.1.2 (name, role value). We plan to ensure the controls have readable labels available by September 2020.

Colour, contrast, focus and magnify (Guideline 1.4)

Font style and colours used don’t follow expected colour and style schemes, this can make it harder to recognise the purpose and function of some of the text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Color). We plan to update our website styles by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of text meets accessibility standards.

Font colours and link/button styles used don’t always meet required colour contrast levels, this can make it harder for some to read or see the text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)). We plan to update our website style s by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of text meets accessibility standards.

At 200% zoom or more the feedback button overlaps the licence information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize text). We plan to move the button into the footer rather than it sit on top of it by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of floating elements meets accessibility standards.

At 200% zoom or more the Twitter feed overlaps the Twitter link. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize text). When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of floating elements meets accessibility standards.

Sometimes zooming or magnifying doesn’t resize or change content in the way it should; text then can be too small and images could overlap text, this can make it difficult to read. At 200% zoom elements like the pdf reader content becomes illegible, the viewer scroll bar becomes hidden and some headings break up. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize text). We plan to make page elements more adaptable by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make any new content players meet accessibility standards.

The focus indicators/highlighting changes across the pages isn’t always visible or easy to see. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.1 (Use of Color), 1.4.13 (Content on Hover or Focus) and 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)). We plan to implement uniform focus styles across all pages and elements by September 2020.

Hover interactions on menu items to see drop-down sub-menu items aren’t fully accessible, they hide when the pointer is moved away and  are only viewable via pointer hover. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.13 (Content on Hover or Focus). We plan to redesign the navigation to be fully accessible by September 2020.

You cannot modify the line height, spacing, letter spacing of text. The font size, line height, spacing, letter spacing of text are not fully accessible. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12 Text Spacing. We plan to update our font styles across all pages and elements by September 2020.

Keyboard accessibility, time allowed for interactions and navigation (Guideline 2.1, 2.2 and 2.4)

Some elements in the pages cannot be accessed via keyboard, such as drop-down menu-items, and pagination elements, which can make it harder to navigate around the website and use the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). We plan to have all non-decorative media and components accessible via keyboard by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our navigation design meets accessibility standards.

Skip to main content link is not focusable on all pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). We plan to have the skip link consistent for all pages by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of skip links meet accessibility standards.

Keyboard navigation on menu items to see drop-down sub-menu items aren’t accessible, they will read there is a list but won’t give access to it via the keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). We plan to redesign the navigation to be fully accessible by September 2020.

The order of the sequence for the focus, when tabbing through some pages and resources, is sometimes incorrect and can be confusing. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3 (Focus Order). When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of focus for keyboard navigation meets accessibility standards. We plan to redesign the navigation to be fully accessible by September 2020.

There is no site map supplied for this website, site maps are used for navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.5 (Multiple Ways). We plan to add a site map by September 2020.

Readable and predictable (Guideline 3.1and 3.2)

The page description in the browser tab title is not unique or specific to the page, it will normally just say the website name. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page). We plan to have improved site titles by September 2020.

Some descriptions, buttons and links aren’t clearly worded, making their purpose or meaning hard to know. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.1.1 (Language of Page), 3.1.3 (Unusual Words) and 4.1.2 (name, role value). When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our wording and labels meet accessibility standards.

Some hyperlinks don’t go to the expected pages, like the box labels on the front page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.1.1 (Language of Page), 3.2.3 (Consistent Navigation) and 4.1.2 (name, role value). We plan to have corrected these links by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of hyperlinks meets accessibility standards.

The breadcrumb navigation links don’t always show the correct parent pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.3 (Consistent Navigation). We plan to have improved navigation labelling by September 2020.

Input assistance (Guideline 3.3)

The search bar at the top of each page has a label of ‘s’ instead of ‘search’; and when a search is submitted screen readers will receive a hidden ‘no results’ notice before the page is refreshed and shows the search results. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions). We plan to have an accessible search bar by September 2020.

When a user searches and no search results are returned, there is no message to explain this: so it can appear  that the page hasn’t correctly loaded as it doesn’t state that no results are found and doesn’t give guidance to use alternative search terms. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions) and 3.3.3 Error Suggestion. We plan to improve our status messaging by September 2020.

When the search function is used there is no error prevention or suggestions given to help. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.3 Error Suggestion. We plan to improve our error messaging by September 2020.

Compatibility (Guideline 4.1)

WAI-ARIA attributes are few and sometimes repeated. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). We plan to remove repetitions and add any key attributes by September 2020. When we publish new content, we’ll make sure our use of WAI-ARIA meets accessibility standards.

Disproportionate burden

Navigation and accessing information

When using the mobile version some bonus navigation elements are not shown. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.10 (Reflow) and 3.2.3 (Consistent Navigation). The majority of mobile browsers give the option for switching to desktop view and the elements that change are not essential information or navigational elements.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 10/03/2020. The testing was carried out by our FE and skills digital resources team using industry approved tools and the WCAG 2.1 A and AA guidance as criteria. We used this sequential approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test:

  1. Review of the site and different page types
  2. Categorisation different types of pages dependent on layouts and content
  3. Manual and automatic testing of the different types of page
  4. Analysis

We tested the following content and templates used across all our sites:

This statement was prepared on 18/09/2019. It was last updated on 23/03/2020