Assessment Report | LEAP

Assessment Information
eResource Title	Vendor	Overall Grade
Materials Science Collection	ProQuest	B-

Key Findings

Strengths

All text and images meet contrast requirements
All images contain a textual alternative
Information is not distorted when zoomed in at 200%
Information is preserved at different screen resolutions

Images

Positioning of Images

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find?	Always

Functional images embedded in the background

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are there functional images embedded in the background?	Never

Presence of Icons

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are there icons where appropriate, such as icons to indicate PDF Full Text, Download, Folder, Citation, etc?	Always

Alt Text

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Always
Do functional images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Always
Do images used as text contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Always

Content Scaling

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
When zoomed in at 200%, is text intact, readable, and not cut off?	Always
Are images clear and unpixelated at 200%?	Always
Is horizontal scrolling minimized at 200%?	Always

Colour and Contrast

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do text and images have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1?	Always

Colour

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do colour coded graphs have text equivalents?	Not Applicable
Are blocks of content separated from one another using visual separation (such as whitespace or borders)?	Always
Are text alternatives provided where colour is used to indicate an action?	Always

Text to speech

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is there a choice embedded within the database that offers text to speech or read aloud options?	Never

Clustered Links

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Using your mouse, is the clickable area around links and buttons large enough for users to see and activate easily?	Always
Using your mouse to test links, are links and buttons far enough apart for users to accurately activate?	Always
Using any method to test links, are all links and buttons functional (i.e., not dead)?	Sometimes	All buttons I've tested are functional, but WAVE Evaluation Tool indicates that dead links exist.
Are links or buttons accessible via keyboard navigation?	Always

Dynamic content

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Can users pause carousel movement?	Not Applicable
Is all functionality, including navigating between carousel items, operable by keyboard?	Not Applicable

Liquid layout

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is the order of the text preserved at all screen resolutions, without overlap?	Always
Do images avoid overlapping at all screen resolutions?	Sometimes	There is some slight overlapping at the smallest resolutions (cell phones).
Is the overall reading experience preserved at all screen resolutions?	Always

Key Findings

Strengths

The platform’s layout and navigation is consistent across all pages

Weaknesses

Some user input fields contain labels and clear instructions to help users successfully complete the form
Page content sometimes has appropriate headers and is tagged appropriately

Labels and Instructions for Interactive Elements

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are user input fields accompanied by clear instructions on what the user needs to do to successfully complete the form?	Sometimes	The input fields in the Advanced Search page are not accompanied by instructions.
Do user input fields contain labels in addition to overall instructions mentioned above?	Sometimes	The input fields in the Advanced Search Page are mostly unlabeled.
Are descriptions for fields and boxes easy to understand?	Always
Are labels placed above the user input fields and clearly associated with each field?	Always
Are text cues for coloured form control labels available?	Always
Are other visual indicators provided consistently, such as an asterisk for required form fields?	Always

Error Prevention

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are user input fields either reversible, checked, or confirmed? One of the three is acceptable.	Always

Error Reports

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are alert messages clearly visible to the user, either at the top of the form field, inline, or through a dialog box?	Always
Do alert messages clearly indicate the field in which the error has occurred and a description of the error and the fix?	Always
Is the user able to easily access the user input field to correct the error?	Always
Is the user able to resubmit the form and re-validate their submission?	Always
Do error reports follow a logical reading and navigation order?	Sometimes	On the "Create an Account" page the error reports for the boxes to be checked come before the error reports for the boxes to be filled out - however- the order of completion is the reverse of this.

Search function spell-check

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
When a user spells a word incorrectly, does the search function offer spelling suggestions or synonyms?	Never	No spelling suggestions or synonyms offered.

Functionality of Interactive Elements

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are icons such as to save, download, or print consistent across the site?	Always
Is alternative text clear and consistent for each icon type?	Always
Are actions consistently labelled across the site? For example, the “search” button is always labeled “search”.	Always
Are icons that have adjacent links consistent?	Always
Can the purpose of each link be determined from the link text alone?	Always

Consistent Navigation

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the eresource have a consistent layout and navigation across all pages?	Always
Are search fields located in the same places throughout the website?	Always
Do other features occur in the same place throughout the website?	Always
Are links, buttons, images, and other components that are used repeatedly throughout a website labeled consistently?	Always

Pop-up windows/Interruptions

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the electronic resource avoid the use of pop-up windows which open automatically in a new tab if a user clicks on a button?	Sometimes	Clicking on the "Help" link will open up a new tab.
Does the database avoid launching pop-up windows automatically when the database is loaded?	Always
Where pop-ups occur, are users able to postpone or suppress any pop-ups?	Always
Does the database avoid launching pages in a new browser window with the usual browser controls missing?	Sometimes	The "Help" page launches in a new browser window with a different layout than the rest of the database.

Headers

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is page content subdivided hierarchically into appropriate headings and tagged appropriately?	Sometimes	Headers often skip levels in the hierarchy (i.e. having no H1 headers) and don't flow into a logical hierarchy.
Are headings concise and clear, and accurately reflect the content under that heading?	Sometimes	Headings are sometimes not clearly labelled.

Menus

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do database page menus have a reasonable number of navigation items and drop-down options?	Always
Does the main navigation and drop-downs contain a reasonable number of menu items?	Always
Can all menus and submenus be accessed with screen readers and via keyboard navigation?	Sometimes	Navigating with a screen reader is very difficult.

Change of context

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the “results” page or item record view avoid opening in a new tab without a warning?	Always
Is there an "update now" button that requests a refresh of content rather than automatically updating the content?	Never	When applying filter to search results the results update automatically and without informing the user.
Does the database avoid automatic redirection?	Always

Change of Context: Focus

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the form refrain from submitting automatically when a component receives focus?	Always
Does the database avoid launching new windows when a component receives focus?	Always
Does the database avoid change of focus when a component receives focus?	Always
Are you able to tab through a page using keyboard navigation without the keyboard focus moving away from the control?	Always

Key Findings

Weaknesses

Some interactive functionality works consistently for users who are navigating a site via keyboard

Navigation Links

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Can the purpose of each link can be determined from the link text, or from the link text together with its surrounding context?	Always

Keyboard Navigation

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Can keyboard focus be moved to all page elements?	Always
If moving keyboard focus away from a component requires more than arrow or tab keys, is this clearly indicated on the page?	Always
Is default keyboard navigation order logical and intuitive, following the visual flow of the page as described above?	Always
When using a keyboard to navigate the interface, is the keyboard focus indicator visible?	Always
Does all interactive functionality work via keyboard, and does it behave consistently and as expected?	Sometimes	Moving the focus onto the information icon does not give you more information, not does hitting the enter key. You need to hover over the information icon with your mouse in order to the extra information.
Does focus order move sequentially across form fields?	Always

Skip Links

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are there skip links (either visible or invisible)?	Always
Are skip links visible or invisible?	Always	Skip links are invisible.
Are skip links (visible or invisible) positioned prominently near the beginning of the page?	Always
Are skip links labelled properly?	Always
Are skip links accessible via keyboard?	Always
Do anchors (link destinations) appear at the beginning of the relevant content?	Always
Do skip navigation controls appear in the same place on every page?	Always

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the reader capture accurate information as it appears in the table and the columns and rows?	Not Applicable

Frames

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the screen reader successfully navigate from one frame to another?	Always
Does each frame have a meaningful title that tells the user the purpose of the frame?	Always
When navigating the page using keyboard navigation, is the user able to navigate effectively from one frame to the next?	Always

Key Findings

Strengths

Videos have captions and audio descriptions/transcripts

Weaknesses

PDFs are searchable but not tagged

PDFs

Searchable PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are the sampled PDFs image-only?	Sometimes	About 1/3 of PDFs, mostly older, but some recent PDFs are not searchable and/or extractable.
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)?	Never	I did not encounter a PDF that was searchable but not extractable.
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable?	Sometimes	About 2/3rds of the PDFs were searchable and extractable.

Tagged PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are alternative descriptions provided?	Never	Alternate descriptions not provided.
Is primary language specified?	Never
Is reliable character encoding provided?	Sometimes
Are all page elements tagged?	Never
Are list and table structure correct?	Never

Structure: Reading Order

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the Read Out Loud function read the PDF in a logical way, preserving the order of the text and various sections?	Sometimes	Used Microsoft Edge read aloud. Read Aloud read everything between pages, including page number and volume number.
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”?	Sometimes	The probability of problematic elements varies, even among the newer PDFs.
Are the controls consistent and effective for navigating through the document?	Always

Magnification

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
When zooming in to 250%, does all text, images, tables, and other elements appear clear and easy to read?	Sometimes	There can be some slight blurriness when zoomed in.

Images

Positioning of Images

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find?	Always

Alternative Description

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Always
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	They don't when the whole pdf is one image.
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	Alt text often, but not always, conveys the image in sufficient detail.

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate?	Never
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers?	Never

Additional Navigational Aids

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks?	Sometimes	The PDFs from the early 2000s and before don't have bookmarks, the more recent ones do.
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document?	Always

Video Captions

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are videos captioned?	Sometimes	2/3 of the videos had Closed or Open captions.
If captions are closed, and need to be turned on by the user, is that process straightforward and intuitive?	Always
Are captions typo-free and grammatically correct (unless slang and grammatical errors are intentionally used in the video)?	Always
Does caption placement avoid blocking any important visual components necessary to understand the video?	Always
Are the captions in sync with spoken words?	Always
For videos that contain captions, are transcripts provided?	Always
For videos that do not contain captions, are transcripts provided?	Always

Described Video

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do videos include described video, or if not, is there a text equivalent of the video provided on the same page or via a link?	Never	The video's are comprised of people sitting and talking, so this might be the reason that there is no described video.
If the video includes described video or a text equivalent of the video, is it an accurate description of the video contents?	Not Applicable

Audio Accessibility

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is a link to a text transcript provided in reasonable proximity to the audio clip?	Not Applicable
If a transcript is provided, does it accurately capture the content of the audio?	Not Applicable

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