Assessment for ACM Digital Library by Fanshawe - Module 1: Interface Appearance

Submitted by c_forsythe2116… on
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: ACM Digital Library logo (and home button) appears in the top left-hand portion of the screen in every instance. The ACM Digital Library database's homepage scrolls extensively and many images and buttons are located below the section break.
Are there functional images embedded in the background?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: The ACM Digital Library logo contains alt text ("ACM Digital Library home") and the ACM Proceedings section of the homepage includes an image with alt text. Other homepage areas, including the navigation bar and Recent Award Winners carousel, contain title descriptions rather than alt text. The homepage is mostly very responsive, but some issues did occur around 768 x 1024 where the ACM Books carousel did not resize appropriately.

Examining other pages, such as the search results page, there are more instances of title attributes (e.g., search button icon), and a lack of title or alt text attributes (e.g., edit search icon, save search icon, RSS icon). Tooltips and facet icon images contain alt text; however, citation and add-to-folder icons do not contain alt text.
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: There are more instances of title attributes (e.g., search button icon), and a lack of title or alt text attributes (e.g., edit search icon, save search icon, RSS icon), particularly on the search results page. Tooltips and facet icon images contain alt text; however, citation and add-to-folder icons do not contain alt text.
Do functional images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: The ACM Digital Library logo contains the appropriate alt text. As previously noted, many functional images, including icons, contain title attributes and aria labels, rather than alt text.
Do images used as text contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: The most common instance of images used as text is the ACM Digital Library logo, which contains the appropriate alt text. The database uses many buttons and divs to convey much of this information.
Are there icons where appropriate, such as icons to indicate PDF Full Text, Download, Folder, Citation, etc?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: On the search results page, there are buttons to view articles online or as PDF; however, these buttons and icons do not contain alt text, rather they contain descriptive aria labels and are listed (li) as an unordered list (ul). As noted previously, icons to indicate add-to-folder or citations do not contain alt text, but rather aria labels.
When zoomed in at 200%, is text intact, readable, and not cut off?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: The database is quite responsive, so I did not run into issues regarding unreadable text on the homepage.
Are images clear and unpixelated at 200%?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: When viewing the homepage at 200%, the majority of images, except for the logo, appear pixelated. When examining the search results page at 200%, the 'Published by ACM' tooltip that appears next to the search results is highly pixelated and seems to have lost its formatting. Other tooltips that appear next to search results appear clear and well-formatted.
Is horizontal scrolling minimized at 200%?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes:
Do text and images have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: There are many (44) instances of contrast issues on the ACM Digital Library homepage with contrast ratios starting from 1:1. Many text sizes are 'normal', according to WAVE. By examining the CSS in web developer tools, I can see that font sizes are responsive (rem), but appear to start around a 14pt font size on a desktop monitor.
Do colour coded graphs have text equivalents?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes:
Are blocks of content separated from one another using visual separation (such as whitespace or borders)?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: Blocks of content tend to be separated by white space and/or borders.
Are text alternatives provided where colour is used to indicate an action?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: The ACM Digital Library has suppressed link underlining; however, on the search results page, unopened links are blue and opened links are purple.
Is there a choice embedded within the database that offers text to speech or read aloud options?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: There is no embedded text-to-speech or read-aloud option. If users require a read-aloud option, they may need to download and open a PDF in an application such as Adobe Acrobat Pro, which contains read-aloud functionality.
Using your mouse, is the clickable area around links and buttons large enough for users to see and activate easily?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: On the homepage, the clickable area around links and buttons appears to be large enough for users to see and activate easily; however, some users might run into issues the further they delve into the database, such as in the search result page. There is a top navigation with clickable areas only as large as the text, which could be problematic (it might even require some additional padding).
Using your mouse to test links, are links and buttons far enough apart for users to accurately activate?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: The more important links on the homepage appear to be spaced appropriately; however, there are some instances of links/buttons located closely (e.g., ACM Special Interest Groups, ACM Journals, ACM Magazines). Again, navigation links on the search results page are closely spaced and are only the width of the text.
Using any method to test links, are all links and buttons functional (i.e., not dead)?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: Links and buttons appear to be functional.
Are links or buttons accessible via keyboard navigation?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Most links on the ACM Digital Library homepage are functional via keyboard navigation; however, I did experience issues attempting to follow links within carousels.
Can users pause carousel movement?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: Carousels are not automatically scrolling and require either mouse or keyboard input from the user.
Is all functionality, including navigating between carousel items, operable by keyboard?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Carousels are fully keyboard navigable (and skippable), though I had issues following links within carousels.
Is the order of the text preserved at all screen resolutions, without overlap?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes:
Do images avoid overlapping at all screen resolutions?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes:
Is the overall reading experience preserved at all screen resolutions?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes:
eResource: ACM Digital Library
eResource Type: Database
Vendor: ACM
Institution: Fanshawe
Score: C

Key Findings

Strengths

  • Information is not distorted when zoomed in at 200%
  • Information is preserved at different screen resolutions

Weaknesses

  • Some text and images meet contrast requirements
  • Some images contain a textual alternative

Images

Positioning of Images

Question Answer Notes Images
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find? Sometimes ACM Digital Library logo (and home button) appears in the top left-hand portion of the screen in every instance. The ACM Digital Library database's homepage scrolls extensively and many images and buttons are located below the section break.

Functional images embedded in the background

Question Answer Notes Images
Are there functional images embedded in the background? Sometimes The ACM Digital Library logo contains alt text ("ACM Digital Library home") and the ACM Proceedings section of the homepage includes an image with alt text. Other homepage areas, including the navigation bar and Recent Award Winners carousel, contain title descriptions rather than alt text. The homepage is mostly very responsive, but some issues did occur around 768 x 1024 where the ACM Books carousel did not resize appropriately. Examining other pages, such as the search results page, there are more instances of title attributes (e.g., search button icon), and a lack of title or alt text attributes (e.g., edit search icon, save search icon, RSS icon). Tooltips and facet icon images contain alt text; however, citation and add-to-folder icons do not contain alt text.

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 On the search results page, there are buttons to view articles online or as PDF; however, these buttons and icons do not contain alt text, rather they contain descriptive aria labels and are listed (li) as an unordered list (ul). As noted previously, icons to indicate add-to-folder or citations do not contain alt text, but rather aria labels.

Alt Text

Question Answer Notes Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Sometimes There are more instances of title attributes (e.g., search button icon), and a lack of title or alt text attributes (e.g., edit search icon, save search icon, RSS icon), particularly on the search results page. Tooltips and facet icon images contain alt text; however, citation and add-to-folder icons do not contain alt text.
Do functional images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Sometimes The ACM Digital Library logo contains the appropriate alt text. As previously noted, many functional images, including icons, contain title attributes and aria labels, rather than alt text.
Do images used as text contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Always The most common instance of images used as text is the ACM Digital Library logo, which contains the appropriate alt text. The database uses many buttons and divs to convey much of this information.

Content Scaling

Question Answer Notes Images
When zoomed in at 200%, is text intact, readable, and not cut off? Always The database is quite responsive, so I did not run into issues regarding unreadable text on the homepage.
Are images clear and unpixelated at 200%? Never When viewing the homepage at 200%, the majority of images, except for the logo, appear pixelated. When examining the search results page at 200%, the 'Published by ACM' tooltip that appears next to the search results is highly pixelated and seems to have lost its formatting. Other tooltips that appear next to search results appear clear and well-formatted.
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? Sometimes There are many (44) instances of contrast issues on the ACM Digital Library homepage with contrast ratios starting from 1:1. Many text sizes are 'normal', according to WAVE. By examining the CSS in web developer tools, I can see that font sizes are responsive (rem), but appear to start around a 14pt font size on a desktop monitor.

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 Blocks of content tend to be separated by white space and/or borders.
Are text alternatives provided where colour is used to indicate an action? Sometimes The ACM Digital Library has suppressed link underlining; however, on the search results page, unopened links are blue and opened links are purple.

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 There is no embedded text-to-speech or read-aloud option. If users require a read-aloud option, they may need to download and open a PDF in an application such as Adobe Acrobat Pro, which contains read-aloud functionality.

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? Sometimes On the homepage, the clickable area around links and buttons appears to be large enough for users to see and activate easily; however, some users might run into issues the further they delve into the database, such as in the search result page. There is a top navigation with clickable areas only as large as the text, which could be problematic (it might even require some additional padding).
Using your mouse to test links, are links and buttons far enough apart for users to accurately activate? Sometimes The more important links on the homepage appear to be spaced appropriately; however, there are some instances of links/buttons located closely (e.g., ACM Special Interest Groups, ACM Journals, ACM Magazines). Again, navigation links on the search results page are closely spaced and are only the width of the text.
Using any method to test links, are all links and buttons functional (i.e., not dead)? Always Links and buttons appear to be functional.
Are links or buttons accessible via keyboard navigation? Sometimes Most links on the ACM Digital Library homepage are functional via keyboard navigation; however, I did experience issues attempting to follow links within carousels.

Dynamic content

Question Answer Notes Images
Can users pause carousel movement? Always Carousels are not automatically scrolling and require either mouse or keyboard input from the user.
Is all functionality, including navigating between carousel items, operable by keyboard? Sometimes Carousels are fully keyboard navigable (and skippable), though I had issues following links within carousels.

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? Always
Is the overall reading experience preserved at all screen resolutions? Always
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