Assessment Report | LEAP

Assessment Information
eResource Title	Vendor	Overall Grade
eBook Collection	EBSCO	A-

Images

Positioning of Images

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find?	Always	Besides the logo on the results page, all images are centered within their section. Occasionally there will be a menu off to the side that includes icons but within those menus the images are well placed.

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	There is a very consistent use of icons on this eResource.

Alt Text

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Not Applicable	There were no unlinked images in the sample nor after doing some searching outside of the sample to try to find one.
Do functional images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	Even if alt text was not included, all images or icons in the sample were next to text (often linked itself) indicating the action/destination. Actually the bigger fault was often the alt text when available when only say what nearby text said, making it redundant.
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?	Sometimes	The eResource was so close to getting an always in this section. The only instance of text and image features running into each other and overlapping was on the help page. All other pages were very good for keeping text clear as the size was increased.
Are images clear and unpixelated at 200%?	Sometimes	Sometimes is used here because although every image was blurred by the time 200% magnification was used, they were not truly pixelated and could still be recognized.
Is horizontal scrolling minimized at 200%?	Always	Horizontal scroll bars did not appear at all on a laptop screen until after 200% magnification.

Colour and Contrast

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do text and images have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1?	Sometimes	There are a couple examples of text in the 4.25-4.35 range that exist on most pages. The database name is in a shade of green slightly too light, and the right menu on item record pages uses to light of a font to label the icons.

Colour

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do colour coded graphs have text equivalents?	Not Applicable	Because this eResource deals with eBooks, visual content of items is not available on the item record pages.
Are blocks of content separated from one another using visual separation (such as whitespace or borders)?	Always	There is a combination of borders and white space used to visually separate text.
Are text alternatives provided where colour is used to indicate an action?	Always	In the sample used, the eResource used dialogue boxes to report the status of the actions.

Text to speech

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is there a choice embedded within the database that offers text to speech or read aloud options?	Not Applicable	HTML full text is not available for eBooks. Although there is not a prominent embedded feature for text to speech reading of the HTML item record.

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	The clickable area is either outlined or is the full size of the icon plus the text. Text is never just the letters but rather a small cushion around them, often about the height of the font.
Using your mouse to test links, are links and buttons far enough apart for users to accurately activate?	Sometimes	Fine with keyboard navigation but some links can be close together. Usually the problem occurs if it is a list of links within a text block because then the clickable areas are nearly running into each other.
Using any method to test links, are all links and buttons functional (i.e., not dead)?	Always	Link maintenance seems fine within the sample.
Are links or buttons accessible via keyboard navigation?	Always

Dynamic content

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Can users pause carousel movement?	Always	Carousels are completely under user control.
Is all functionality, including navigating between carousel items, operable by keyboard?	Always	**Not always the most efficient way as in the case of the carousel items on the basic search page

Liquid layout

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is the order of the text preserved at all screen resolutions, without overlap?	Sometimes	Overlap of text problem occurs only with help feature
Do images avoid overlapping at all screen resolutions?	Sometimes	Help feature problem and menus. At smaller screen sizes (or larger magnification) the eResource stops being able to accommodate the expanded menus at the side of the page without overlap. When collapsed, these menus never overlap other features.
Is the overall reading experience preserved at all screen resolutions?	Always	Important information is still first, it just takes a little more work to get to the next most important set of information on the page.

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	For a person familiar with database functions (Searching, logging in, making an account, etc.) there are enough visual prompts to be considered instruction, although it might not be enough instruction for a person unfamiliar with using eresources. There is some additional instructions a user would receive from a read aloud program that are not visible on the page.
Do user input fields contain labels in addition to overall instructions mentioned above?	Sometimes	Within the sample there seems to be labels on every interactive form component. However those labels may not be visible outside of the code for each field. General search fields are the most frequent example of not having a visible label.
Are descriptions for fields and boxes easy to understand?	Always	Recommend asking a user unfamiliar with eresource terminology if the descriptions are easy to understand for new users.
Are labels placed above the user input fields and clearly associated with each field?	Sometimes	Where labels are visible they are clearly associated with the associated field.
Are text cues for coloured form control labels available?	Always	Even with some communication missing it does combine colour with text cues. The most obvious example, creating a new account, uses a red * to indicate a required field. However it does not confirm the meaning of the red font or the * so a user has no indication of why they are being used until they fail to meet requirements. At this time dialogue explaining the error appears and the whole field switches from black to red.
Are other visual indicators provided consistently, such as an asterisk for required form fields?	Always	Indicators are consistant but not explained on every page.

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?	Sometimes	There is no alert for an incorrect email when sending an article. There are alerts on the sign in and account creation form. However, while account creation retains the input information for correction, the sign in page deletes the original responses so a user is left inputting the information again.
Do alert messages clearly indicate the field in which the error has occurred and a description of the error and the fix?	Sometimes	The create account page is really good at alerting a user in real time to errors. Both the incorrect field and the fix are clearly outlined. On the sign in page the alert happens after submitting which tells the user the problem is with the email or password (the only two fields in this form).
Is the user able to easily access the user input field to correct the error?	Always	In the situations where an error report is generated, the fields are easy to access to edit or re-input the information.
Is the user able to resubmit the form and re-validate their submission?	Always
Do error reports follow a logical reading and navigation order?	Always

Search function spell-check

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
When a user spells a word incorrectly, does the search function offer spelling suggestions or synonyms?	Sometimes	The basic search and result list search modify areas both check spelling, provides suggestions and synonyms. The advanced search page however stops after checking the spelling. It indicates there is a spelling error without providing suggestions.

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	The search fields have the same layout and roughly the same location between basic advanced search pages. Also the search field remain in place on result and record pages without even being hidden.
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?	Always
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?	Never
Does the database avoid launching pages in a new browser window with the usual browser controls missing?	Sometimes	Many pop-ups open in page but there are some key features that use another window, without browser controls. Using the help feature will open a new window both by clicking on the option in the main navigation menu, and by accessing it through any other 'help' prompt on the page.

Headers

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is page content subdivided hierarchically into appropriate headings and tagged appropriately?	Sometimes	Headings are used and tagged. Logical structure is not always followed.
Are headings concise and clear, and accurately reflect the content under that heading?	Always	The headings do represent the content organized 'beneath' them.

Menus

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do database page menus have a reasonable number of navigation items and drop-down options?	Always	Drop down menus are used pretty sparingly (at least within the sample) and the highest concentration is used around the search feature that is replicated on each page.
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?	Always

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	A user has to force the use of a new tab, the natural action is to load a webpage in the same tab/window and this action is not triggered by focus alone.
Is there an "update now" button that requests a refresh of content rather than automatically updating the content?	Sometimes	The initial search waits for the user to go through all options before retrieving content. However the refining tools react as limiters are selected and update the content automatically.
Does the database avoid automatic redirection?	Sometimes	If a limiter on a search is accidentally added, the updating search results is not announced.

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	Within the sample, all components wait for a click or enter before triggering, focus is not enough to set off an action.
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

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?	Not Applicable	No examples of navigation requiring keys other than tab or arrows found to evaluate clear indication.
Is default keyboard navigation order logical and intuitive, following the visual flow of the page as described above?	Sometimes	Record pages include a collapsible menu to each side of the page that are navigated to after the main content in the middle 'column' of the page. Some users might expect the left menu to be navigated before the middle content. Even if the middle content should be considered the main content.
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?	Always
Does focus order move sequentially across form fields?	Always

Skip Links

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are there skip links (either visible or invisible)?	Sometimes	There are no skip links on the help pages or sign in pages. The searching pages, result page, and record pages all had skip links in the sample.
Are skip links visible or invisible?	Always	Invisible
Are skip links (visible or invisible) positioned prominently near the beginning of the page?	Always	Main content skip links (Result and record pages) are positioned before the main navigation menu. Accessibility information and tips skip links (on all pages with skip links) are found immediately after the main navigation menu.
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?	Never	There is no visible anchor (or audio for the screen reader) that indicates where the skip will land. It is possible to make an educated guess based of the webpage name.
Do skip navigation controls appear in the same place on every page?	Always	There are two types of skip links found in this eresource. On the pages where one or both skip links appear, it is consistent locations.

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the reader capture accurate information as it appears in the table and the columns and rows?	Not Applicable	Tables are only found in the content files and not on the webpages.

Frames

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the screen reader successfully navigate from one frame to another?	Not Applicable	Frames not used in sample.
Does each frame have a meaningful title that tells the user the purpose of the frame?	Not Applicable	Frames not used in sample.
When navigating the page using keyboard navigation, is the user able to navigate effectively from one frame to the next?	Not Applicable	Frames not used in sample.

PDFs

Searchable PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are the sampled PDFs image-only?	Never
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)?	Never
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable?	Always	Both when read online and in a downloaded copy.

Tagged PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are alternative descriptions provided?	Never	According to the text there is no alternative descriptions.
Is primary language specified?	Never
Is reliable character encoding provided?	Always
Are all page elements tagged?	Sometimes	Tagged elements that passed seemed to not be present in the document. If the element existed, it failed to be tagged.
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	The document in this section ranged from good to terrible. In the best instance, the only flaw was missing the page number on every-other page. This document would have passed a logical order test. The next document was very graphic which made it less easy to determine logical order. However, a big flaw was that it would read the contents of a box before the title. The worst document would only read the download stamp and not the text despite the text being extractable.
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”?	Sometimes	It would inconsistently read out periods as dot or point or nothing. Otherwise not too bad.
Are the controls consistent and effective for navigating through the document?	Sometimes	Not all documents would read onto the next page when given the command to read to the end of the document.

Magnification

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
When zooming in to 250%, does all text, images, tables, and other elements appear clear and easy to read?	Always

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?	Sometimes	Sometimes the caption is read and a good description of the image. Sometimes the caption is poor or not read at all. There is no alt text if the caption is missing or of poor quality.
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	There is at least one title that has no alt text.
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	Alt text never entered. Captions and main body text are sometimes descriptive enough to give a good sense of a rich image.

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate?	Never	No tables are tagged. Some tables are read row by row, although there is one example that reads down the column of a table in the sample.
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers?	Never	No table headers.

Additional Navigational Aids

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks?	Sometimes	The downloaded version does not have bookmarks, but the web version of the document does thoroughly use additional navigation tools.
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document?	Sometimes	The downloaded version does not have bookmarks to evaluate. The web version of the document does have accurate bookmarks.

Video Captions

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are videos captioned?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.
If captions are closed, and need to be turned on by the user, is that process straightforward and intuitive?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.
Are captions typo-free and grammatically correct (unless slang and grammatical errors are intentionally used in the video)?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.
Does caption placement avoid blocking any important visual components necessary to understand the video?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.
Are the captions in sync with spoken words?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.
For videos that contain captions, are transcripts provided?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.
For videos that do not contain captions, are transcripts provided?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.

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?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.
If the video includes described video or a text equivalent of the video, is it an accurate description of the video contents?	Not Applicable	Videos appear in results list but it is a link to another eresource by EBSCO that requires separate subscription. Therefore not included in this assessment.

Audio Accessibility

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is a link to a text transcript provided in reasonable proximity to the audio clip?	Not Applicable	No audio content in eresource.
If a transcript is provided, does it accurately capture the content of the audio?	Not Applicable	No audio content in eresource.

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