Assessment for IEEExplore by Algonquin - Module 4: Content

Submitted by schulzl@algonq… on
Are the sampled PDFs image-only?
Answer: Never
Score: 2
Notes: All PDFs tested were not image only.
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)?
Answer: Never
Score: 2
Notes: I was able to extract and copy/paste text from all the tested PDFs.
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes: Yes, every PDF tested was fully searchable.
Are alternative descriptions provided?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: None of the PDFs tested have any alternate text tags embedded.
Is primary language specified?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: The primary language for any of the tested PDFs was never specified.
Is reliable character encoding provided?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: None of the PDFs tested had character encoding.
Are all page elements tagged?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Some content within some of the PDFs is tagged correctly. 8 of the 15 PDFs tested had the following elements tagged; Annotation, Multimedia, and Bookmarks. However the magority of content is not tagged at all in any of the PDFs.
Are list and table structure correct?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: None of the PDFs tested had tables tagged according to the accessibility checker.
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: Articles are read in the correct order, even though most PDF content is presented in columns. However, because the images are not properly tagged, the Read Out Loud function skips them entirely. As a result, the accompanying image descriptions appear out of context and disconnected from the surrounding text.
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes:
Are the controls consistent and effective for navigating through the document?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes:
When zooming in to 250%, does all text, images, tables, and other elements appear clear and easy to read?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes:
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find?
Answer: Always
Score: 2
Notes:
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: Informative images in the PDFs tested do not contain appropriate alt text or other textual alternatives.
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: None of the PDFs tested used images to replace titles.
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: None of the images embedded have alt text, however the rich images do have an alternative explanation underneath or within the main content.
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: The Adobe Accessibility Checker did not detect any tags applied to the tables embedded within the document. Additionally, users are unable to navigate the tables easily. Keyboard navigation—such as using arrow keys—is inconsistent and sometimes skips content within the tables entirely, making them difficult to interpret.
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: None of the PDFs had established table headers or appropriate accessibility tags to identify them when testing with the accessibility checker.
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks?
Answer: Sometimes
Score: 1
Notes: Although 6 of the 15 PDFs tested indicated bookmark tags in the accessibility checker test, only 3 of the 15 PDFs had functioning bookmarks available.
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document?
Answer: Never
Score: 0
Notes: Of the 3 PDFs with functioning bookmarks only one linked to the correct sections throughout.
Are videos captioned?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
If captions are closed, and need to be turned on by the user, is that process straightforward and intuitive?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
Are captions typo-free and grammatically correct (unless slang and grammatical errors are intentionally used in the video)?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
Does caption placement avoid blocking any important visual components necessary to understand the video?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
Are the captions in sync with spoken words?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
For videos that contain captions, are transcripts provided?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
For videos that do not contain captions, are transcripts provided?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
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: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
If the video includes described video or a text equivalent of the video, is it an accurate description of the video contents?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
Is a link to a text transcript provided in reasonable proximity to the audio clip?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: There are no audio only files hosted in the IEEExplore database.
If a transcript is provided, does it accurately capture the content of the audio?
Answer: Not Applicable
Score: -1
Notes: There are no audio only files hosted in the IEEExplore database.
eResource: IEEExplore
eResource Type: Database
Vendor: IEEE
Institution: Algonquin
Score: F

Key Findings

Weaknesses

  • PDFs are searchable but not tagged

PDFs

Searchable PDFs

Question Answer Notes Images
Are the sampled PDFs image-only? Never All PDFs tested were not image only.
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)? Never I was able to extract and copy/paste text from all the tested PDFs.
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable? Always Yes, every PDF tested was fully searchable.

Tagged PDFs

Question Answer Notes Images
Are alternative descriptions provided? Never None of the PDFs tested have any alternate text tags embedded.
Is primary language specified? Never The primary language for any of the tested PDFs was never specified.
Is reliable character encoding provided? Never None of the PDFs tested had character encoding.
Are all page elements tagged? Sometimes Some content within some of the PDFs is tagged correctly. 8 of the 15 PDFs tested had the following elements tagged; Annotation, Multimedia, and Bookmarks. However the magority of content is not tagged at all in any of the PDFs.
Are list and table structure correct? Never None of the PDFs tested had tables tagged according to the accessibility checker.

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 Articles are read in the correct order, even though most PDF content is presented in columns. However, because the images are not properly tagged, the Read Out Loud function skips them entirely. As a result, the accompanying image descriptions appear out of context and disconnected from the surrounding text.
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”? Always
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? 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? Never Informative images in the PDFs tested do not contain appropriate alt text or other textual alternatives.
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Not Applicable None of the PDFs tested used images to replace titles.
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Sometimes None of the images embedded have alt text, however the rich images do have an alternative explanation underneath or within the main content.

Tables

Question Answer Notes Images
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate? Never The Adobe Accessibility Checker did not detect any tags applied to the tables embedded within the document. Additionally, users are unable to navigate the tables easily. Keyboard navigation—such as using arrow keys—is inconsistent and sometimes skips content within the tables entirely, making them difficult to interpret.
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers? Never None of the PDFs had established table headers or appropriate accessibility tags to identify them when testing with the accessibility checker.

Additional Navigational Aids

Question Answer Notes Images
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks? Sometimes Although 6 of the 15 PDFs tested indicated bookmark tags in the accessibility checker test, only 3 of the 15 PDFs had functioning bookmarks available.
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document? Never Of the 3 PDFs with functioning bookmarks only one linked to the correct sections throughout.

Video Captions

Question Answer Notes Images
Are videos captioned? Not Applicable I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
If captions are closed, and need to be turned on by the user, is that process straightforward and intuitive? Not Applicable I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
Are captions typo-free and grammatically correct (unless slang and grammatical errors are intentionally used in the video)? Not Applicable I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
Does caption placement avoid blocking any important visual components necessary to understand the video? Not Applicable I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
Are the captions in sync with spoken words? Not Applicable I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
For videos that contain captions, are transcripts provided? Not Applicable I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
For videos that do not contain captions, are transcripts provided? Not Applicable I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.

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 I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.
If the video includes described video or a text equivalent of the video, is it an accurate description of the video contents? Not Applicable I could not access any videos hosted in the IEEExplore database due to my colleges institutional subscription package.

Audio Accessibility

Question Answer Notes Images
Is a link to a text transcript provided in reasonable proximity to the audio clip? Not Applicable There are no audio only files hosted in the IEEExplore database.
If a transcript is provided, does it accurately capture the content of the audio? Not Applicable There are no audio only files hosted in the IEEExplore database.
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