Assessment Report | LEAP

Assessment Information
eResource Title	Vendor	Overall Grade
IEEExplore	IEEE	B-

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?	Sometimes	Icons are visible on a standard page/browser. Some icons (PDF, etc) disappear when the screen is magnified (appears to be at the point at which the site defaults to mobile view, or above 125% if the browser is not full screen.) Wave gives an alt text error for some icon text combos.

Alt Text

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	Most icons appear to have ARIA tagging or alt-text.
Do functional images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	Most pages appear okay, but Wave reporting missing alt text on the PDF icon of the detailed record view. ARIA labels are apparent on most small icons.
Do images used as text contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	Lots of ARIA tags, but some images seem to advertise particular reports and data, but alt-text isn't clearly visible with WAVE.

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	Text sizing popup appears when you scroll to 200%, offering the user tools to resize.
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	Wave reports errors on some buttons (eg: PDF buttons) throughout the interface, in particular on the full text and detailed record pages.

Colour

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do colour coded graphs have text equivalents?	Not Applicable	Not observed on main pages. Graphs and visual content within full text will be assessed in Content module.
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?	Not Applicable

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	Nothing visible within database. Could use browser tools.

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?	Sometimes	It's possible that some text could be cramped together, depending on browser and text settings.
Using any method to test links, are all links and buttons functional (i.e., not dead)?	Always
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?	Always
Is the overall reading experience preserved at all screen resolutions?	Sometimes	It's still readable, but noticed that some features on the search results page (eg: link to PDF) disappear when in mobile screen mode.

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
Do user input fields contain labels in addition to overall instructions mentioned above?	Sometimes
Are descriptions for fields and boxes easy to understand?	Sometimes
Are labels placed above the user input fields and clearly associated with each field?	Always
Are text cues for coloured form control labels available?	Sometimes
Are other visual indicators provided consistently, such as an asterisk for required form fields?	Sometimes

Error Prevention

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

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
Do alert messages clearly indicate the field in which the error has occurred and a description of the error and the fix?	Sometimes	When entering incorrect information within the search filters, such as letter instead of numbers in the Year range, not error message is given. When signing up for an account error messages were given when unexpected characters were used, such as entering number instead of letters for First name.
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?	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?	Never	When entering incorrect spelling, that yield little or no results, the only suggestion the system makes is to use Few Keywords or use Advanced Search. nothing about trying a different spelling to mitigate incorrect spelling.

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?	Sometimes	Not all icons have alt text. The ones that do are clear and consistent
Are actions consistently labelled across the site? For example, the “search” button is always labeled “search”.	Always
Are icons that have adjacent links consistent?	Not Applicable
Can the purpose of each link be determined from the link text alone?	Not Applicable

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	Some features will open a new window for example the references will open in 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	For the most part when the database launches content in a new tab it has the usual browser control. When clicking on the copyright button, the window it launches in does not contain the usual browser control.

Headers

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is page content subdivided hierarchically into appropriate headings and tagged appropriately?	Always
Are headings concise and clear, and accurately reflect the content under that heading?	Always

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?	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
Is there an "update now" button that requests a refresh of content rather than automatically updating the content?	Always	When Applying filters there is an apply button before refreshing the results.
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

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?	Sometimes	All elements except the footer were able to be moved and focused on with the keyboard. The only only instance I found where I was not able to interact or focus on a page element was on the advanced search page, I was not able to focus or interact with the button to add or remove a keyword field.
If moving keyboard focus away from a component requires more than arrow or tab keys, is this clearly indicated on the page?	Always	Navigation menu's that were drop downs would go down the list of links before moving on to the next navigation menu. This was indicated with the menu dropping down and the focus being on each menu option.
Is default keyboard navigation order logical and intuitive, following the visual flow of the page as described above?	Always	Yes the keyboard navigation is logical and intuitive in flow. Starting with the headers and navigation then the page content. When navigating the main content the focus moves down the column's before moving to another section of the page.
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	Most interactive functionality work via keyboard, however some do not, such as the browse title by first letter of title, then navigating by keyboard this element is not selectable.
Does focus order move sequentially across form fields?	Always

Skip Links

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are there skip links (either visible or invisible)?	Always	Chrome
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	They are the second item that is selected via tab on a page.
Are skip links labelled properly?	Always	Skip links are labelled Skip to Main content and when clicked go to main content as expected.
Are skip links accessible via keyboard?	Always	Skip links are accessible via keyboard, when tabbing and can be selected by the enter key.
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?	Always

Frames

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the screen reader successfully navigate from one frame to another?	Never	When trying to change frames, NVDA says no next frames when in search results.
Does each frame have a meaningful title that tells the user the purpose of the frame?	Never
When navigating the page using keyboard navigation, is the user able to navigate effectively from one frame to the next?	Never

PDFs

Searchable PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are the sampled PDFs image-only?	Never	Tested even older material (1990-2000) and the PDFs all appear to have been run through optical character recognition. Text is readable when extracted.
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)?	Sometimes	One of 4 PDFs tested would not allow the extraction of text (just copied & pasted garbled characters).
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable?	Always	Even older material appears to have been scanned/ocr'd, and are searchable. Not sure how accurate the OCR is, but it's better than nothing.

Tagged PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are alternative descriptions provided?	Never	Not present in any of the 4 files (varying dates) that I checked.
Is primary language specified?	Never
Is reliable character encoding provided?	Sometimes
Are all page elements tagged?	Sometimes
Are list and table structure correct?	Sometimes

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	Certain formatting creates a bit of a weird effect. Some documents seem better than others in terms of specified reading order. Some seem to have no specific reading order declared in Adobe Acrobat Accessibility check.
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”?	Sometimes	Doesn't handle formatting changes very well. Plain text in the middle of the article - not bad. Structured headings are hit and miss. I'd say the documents are readable, but probably won't have a great experience.
Are the controls consistent and effective for navigating through the document?	Sometimes	Short cuts seem to work well. Up/down arrows depend on formatting of 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?	Sometimes	Some quality loss on images. Text in articles that is not OCR'd looks okay. Text in articles that have been OCR'd from image-based PDFs have quality issues for text.

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
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Not Applicable
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Never	All accessibility reports run failed on alt-text.

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate?	Not Applicable
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers?	Not Applicable

Additional Navigational Aids

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks?	Never
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document?	Not Applicable

Video Captions

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are videos captioned?	Always
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?	Sometimes	Videos appear to be voice overs of PPTs. Some presentations may have elements that are covered by the CC layer.
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?	Not Applicable	Videos appear to be mostly conference presentations, so they are voiceovers of powerpoint presentations.
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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