Are the sampled PDFs image-only?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: 4 of 26 PDFs sampled are Image-Only files.
Score: 1
Notes: 4 of 26 PDFs sampled are Image-Only files.
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)?
Answer: Never
Score: 2
Notes: Of 26 PDFs searched, it was possible to cut and paste from each and every PDF into a Word document.
Score: 2
Notes: Of 26 PDFs searched, it was possible to cut and paste from each and every PDF into a Word document.
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: 4 out of 26 PDFs sampled were not searchable with control + F.
Score: 1
Notes: 4 out of 26 PDFs sampled were not searchable with control + F.
Are alternative descriptions provided?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Out of 24 searchable PDFs, 5 had at least partial Alternate text that passed, and 3 had completely passed the "Alternate text" in Adobe Pro. I did a separate search for images under "set alternate text", and examined their respective alternate text entries in Adobe Pro. There were at least 9 documents out of 24 that had images. 6 of these had no alt text at all, while 3 more had inadequate alt text. None of the documents had alt text composed to describe an image in a meaningful way.
Score: 1
Notes: Out of 24 searchable PDFs, 5 had at least partial Alternate text that passed, and 3 had completely passed the "Alternate text" in Adobe Pro. I did a separate search for images under "set alternate text", and examined their respective alternate text entries in Adobe Pro. There were at least 9 documents out of 24 that had images. 6 of these had no alt text at all, while 3 more had inadequate alt text. None of the documents had alt text composed to describe an image in a meaningful way.
Is primary language specified?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: 12 out of 22 searchable items fail the Primary Language test in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
10 of of 22 searchable items pass the Primary Language test in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
I had checked 26 PDFs in all, but four were excluded as they were not searchable.
Score: 1
Notes: 12 out of 22 searchable items fail the Primary Language test in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
10 of of 22 searchable items pass the Primary Language test in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
I had checked 26 PDFs in all, but four were excluded as they were not searchable.
Is reliable character encoding provided?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: 18 out of 22 passed Reliable character encoding in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
4 out of 22 failed Reliable character encoding in Acrobat Pro.
4 were excluded as they were not searchable, but I had checked 26 PDFs in all.
Score: 1
Notes: 18 out of 22 passed Reliable character encoding in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
4 out of 22 failed Reliable character encoding in Acrobat Pro.
4 were excluded as they were not searchable, but I had checked 26 PDFs in all.
Are all page elements tagged?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: I checked for "accessibility tags" as a separate query in Adobe Pro.
It is very rare that PDFs in this database has accessibility tags, and when tags are present, they are not always correctly applied. Out of 26 PDFs sampled, only 5 had any accessibility tags. Of these, I am judging 3 to have appropriate tagging of page elements such as headings, tables, and figures.
Score: 1
Notes: I checked for "accessibility tags" as a separate query in Adobe Pro.
It is very rare that PDFs in this database has accessibility tags, and when tags are present, they are not always correctly applied. Out of 26 PDFs sampled, only 5 had any accessibility tags. Of these, I am judging 3 to have appropriate tagging of page elements such as headings, tables, and figures.
Are list and table structure correct?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Out of 24 PDFs, 5 passed the "lists" tests in Adobe Pro.
Out of 24 PDFs, 4 were at least a partial pass on the "tables" tests in Adobe Pro, while 3 were full passes.
Score: 1
Notes: Out of 24 PDFs, 5 passed the "lists" tests in Adobe Pro.
Out of 24 PDFs, 4 were at least a partial pass on the "tables" tests in Adobe Pro, while 3 were full passes.
Does the Read Out Loud function read the PDF in a logical way, preserving the order of the text and various sections?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Article 1: yes
Article 2: yes
Article 3: no; the pdf which was a scan of a Psychology Today article, did not read.
Article 4: no...jumps from Abstract content to margin information about the publication in the middle of phrase.https://files.wd40.com/pdf/WD-40_Multi_Use_Product_2000_Uses_final.pdfhttps://files.wd40.com/pdf/WD-40_Multi_Use_Product_2000_Uses_final.pdf. This particular reader doesn't accurately read math symbols such as greater than or equal to signs...it skips over them in silence.
Article 5: This article was in two columns. The reader went straight down the first (left) column and then read the footer information in that same column, though it broke the sentence that continued into the second column. The reader had no difficulty recognizing that the text was in two columns and kept them in order across the page. There was a table at the top of one page, and this was read before the sentence from the previous page was completed.
Score: 1
Notes: Article 1: yes
Article 2: yes
Article 3: no; the pdf which was a scan of a Psychology Today article, did not read.
Article 4: no...jumps from Abstract content to margin information about the publication in the middle of phrase.https://files.wd40.com/pdf/WD-40_Multi_Use_Product_2000_Uses_final.pdfhttps://files.wd40.com/pdf/WD-40_Multi_Use_Product_2000_Uses_final.pdf. This particular reader doesn't accurately read math symbols such as greater than or equal to signs...it skips over them in silence.
Article 5: This article was in two columns. The reader went straight down the first (left) column and then read the footer information in that same column, though it broke the sentence that continued into the second column. The reader had no difficulty recognizing that the text was in two columns and kept them in order across the page. There was a table at the top of one page, and this was read before the sentence from the previous page was completed.
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: None of the 5 articles sampled had excessive blank spaces.
Score: -1
Notes: None of the 5 articles sampled had excessive blank spaces.
Are the controls consistent and effective for navigating through the document?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: If there is a table, it doesn't seem possible to use the keys to pause or stop reading once started. I didn't find that the controls consistently worked in general text. Arrow keys seemed to be less effective than mouse clicks for advancing the reader.
Score: 1
Notes: If there is a table, it doesn't seem possible to use the keys to pause or stop reading once started. I didn't find that the controls consistently worked in general text. Arrow keys seemed to be less effective than mouse clicks for advancing the reader.
When zooming in to 250%, does all text, images, tables, and other elements appear clear and easy to read?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: There is some slight pixelation at 250 for some charts, tables, and images, but they were all clear enough to read easily, even for PDFs that are image-only. Of 26 items, only 10 had even slight pixelation or or uneven letter borders (such as from photocopying before digitization), and every one of these 10 files were either otherwise perfectly sharp or were still clear enough even with letter borders being imperfect.
Score: 2
Notes: There is some slight pixelation at 250 for some charts, tables, and images, but they were all clear enough to read easily, even for PDFs that are image-only. Of 26 items, only 10 had even slight pixelation or or uneven letter borders (such as from photocopying before digitization), and every one of these 10 files were either otherwise perfectly sharp or were still clear enough even with letter borders being imperfect.
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Images may appear in upper corners if they are logos, or edges if they are icons that link to services such as X, facebook, crossmark, open access, and the like. Tables and charts can be placed anywhere on a page including at the top, bottom, or side of a page. Generally, I think readers will be able to find the significant charts and tables that they need. Some of the logos, such as cross mark, which is a new "brand", and located near the top right of a page, may not be found by clients.
Score: 1
Notes: Images may appear in upper corners if they are logos, or edges if they are icons that link to services such as X, facebook, crossmark, open access, and the like. Tables and charts can be placed anywhere on a page including at the top, bottom, or side of a page. Generally, I think readers will be able to find the significant charts and tables that they need. Some of the logos, such as cross mark, which is a new "brand", and located near the top right of a page, may not be found by clients.
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: I did not find any examples of PDFs that had appropriate alt text for images.
Score: 0
Notes: I did not find any examples of PDFs that had appropriate alt text for images.
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Some PDFs identify logos and others do not. Elsevier does not identify its own logo, for example.
Score: 1
Notes: Some PDFs identify logos and others do not. Elsevier does not identify its own logo, for example.
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: There were no examples of text descriptions for images of graphs, charts, or diagrams in any of the PDFs sampled. However, many tables and charts were handled as text rather than as images.
Score: 0
Notes: There were no examples of text descriptions for images of graphs, charts, or diagrams in any of the PDFs sampled. However, many tables and charts were handled as text rather than as images.
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: None of the tables in the 5 articles sampled could be tabbed through in rows or columns.
Score: 0
Notes: None of the tables in the 5 articles sampled could be tabbed through in rows or columns.
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: None of the tables in the 5 articles had clear headers.
Score: 0
Notes: None of the tables in the 5 articles had clear headers.
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: 11 out of 26 PDFs had bookmarks, one of those being ineffective (title only), so perhaps better to say net 10 out of 26.
Score: 1
Notes: 11 out of 26 PDFs had bookmarks, one of those being ineffective (title only), so perhaps better to say net 10 out of 26.
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Of 11 PDFs that had bookmarks, 2 were not set up properly to attach to headings or sections of the papers. 9 of the PDFs with bookmarks advance to the page that the bookmark is on.
Score: 1
Notes: Of 11 PDFs that had bookmarks, 2 were not set up properly to attach to headings or sections of the papers. 9 of the PDFs with bookmarks advance to the page that the bookmark is on.
Are videos captioned?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: I sampled from 5 different collections in the database.
While many video do have closed captions, some sets of videos do not appear to be captioned (Harvard Medical School, "exploring hand therapy" and "Age-specific competencies").
Score: 1
Notes: I sampled from 5 different collections in the database.
While many video do have closed captions, some sets of videos do not appear to be captioned (Harvard Medical School, "exploring hand therapy" and "Age-specific competencies").
If captions are closed, and need to be turned on by the user, is that process straightforward and intuitive?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: In many videos, the CC symbol is present at the bottom of the screen before the video plays. In some videos in this database, there is no CC symbol when the video page first loads, but it then appears after the client presses the "play" button. When present, CC can be turned on and off. I think most users that need captions will find them and be able to turn them on.
Score: 2
Notes: In many videos, the CC symbol is present at the bottom of the screen before the video plays. In some videos in this database, there is no CC symbol when the video page first loads, but it then appears after the client presses the "play" button. When present, CC can be turned on and off. I think most users that need captions will find them and be able to turn them on.
Are captions typo-free and grammatically correct (unless slang and grammatical errors are intentionally used in the video)?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: The transcriptions contain errors that would have been picked up by a human editor, such as where the speaker did not say a word ending "ed", which is missed in the transcription because it is not audible, and the machine programming is not good enough to pick up the grammatical incongruity. There are similar mistaken spellings where what is audible has been interpreted to be a different word than what makes sense in the context. However, I think the transcriptions are generally intelligible to a native speaker.
Score: 1
Notes: The transcriptions contain errors that would have been picked up by a human editor, such as where the speaker did not say a word ending "ed", which is missed in the transcription because it is not audible, and the machine programming is not good enough to pick up the grammatical incongruity. There are similar mistaken spellings where what is audible has been interpreted to be a different word than what makes sense in the context. However, I think the transcriptions are generally intelligible to a native speaker.
Does caption placement avoid blocking any important visual components necessary to understand the video?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: Captions are generally across the bottom of the screen, and do not block important content of the videos.
Score: 2
Notes: Captions are generally across the bottom of the screen, and do not block important content of the videos.
Are the captions in sync with spoken words?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Generally the captions are close enough to be in synch with the spoken words, but sometimes this is not the case.
Score: 1
Notes: Generally the captions are close enough to be in synch with the spoken words, but sometimes this is not the case.
For videos that contain captions, are transcripts provided?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: Captioned videos generally appear to have transcripts.
Score: 2
Notes: Captioned videos generally appear to have transcripts.
For videos that do not contain captions, are transcripts provided?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: At least one set of videos (Age-specific competencies) does not contain captions, also does not provide access to transcripts.
Score: 1
Notes: At least one set of videos (Age-specific competencies) does not contain captions, also does not provide access to transcripts.
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?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: No videos in this database appear to have described video. Most videos have a text equivalent.
Score: 1
Notes: No videos in this database appear to have described video. Most videos have a text equivalent.
If the video includes described video or a text equivalent of the video, is it an accurate description of the video contents?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: The text equivalents do not describe the images or with precision what is happening over time in the images. The text is a straight transcription of the audio track.
Score: 0
Notes: The text equivalents do not describe the images or with precision what is happening over time in the images. The text is a straight transcription of the audio track.
Is a link to a text transcript provided in reasonable proximity to the audio clip?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I did not find any audio-only files in this database.
Score: -1
Notes: I did not find any audio-only files in this database.
If a transcript is provided, does it accurately capture the content of the audio?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I did not find any audio-only files in this database.
Score: -1
Notes: I did not find any audio-only files in this database.