Assessment Report | LEAP

Assessment Information
eResource Title	Vendor	Overall Grade
Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America	EBSCO	A-

Key Findings

Strengths

All images contain a textual alternative
Information is not distorted when zoomed in at 200%
Information is preserved at different screen resolutions

Weaknesses

Some text and images meet contrast requirements

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	Did not find any functional images that were embedded in the background.

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

Alt Text

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Always
Do functional images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Always
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?	Always
Are images clear and unpixelated at 200%?	Always
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	All major components had good contrast ratios. One error was reported on both the results page and the item content page, but each was for a very minor directional link.

Colour

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do colour coded graphs have text equivalents?	Not Applicable	No colour coded graphs found in checked areas and content.
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?	Always

Text to speech

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is there a choice embedded within the database that offers text to speech or read aloud options?	Always

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?	Always
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	No carousel content.
Is all functionality, including navigating between carousel items, operable by keyboard?	Not Applicable	No carousel content.

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

Key Findings

Strengths

The platform’s layout and navigation is consistent across all pages
User input fields contain labels and clear instructions to help users successfully complete the form
Page content has appropriate headers and is tagged appropriately

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?	Always
Do user input fields contain labels in addition to overall instructions mentioned above?	Always
Are descriptions for fields and boxes easy to understand?	Always
Are labels placed above the user input fields and clearly associated with each field?	Always
Are text cues for coloured form control labels available?	Not Applicable	No coloured cues present.
Are other visual indicators provided consistently, such as an asterisk for required form fields?	Not Applicable	No other visual indicators used.

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?	Always
Do alert messages clearly indicate the field in which the error has occurred and a description of the error and the fix?	Always
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?	Always

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
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?	Not Applicable	No pop-ups.
Does the database avoid launching pages in a new browser window with the usual browser controls missing?	Not Applicable	No pop-ups.

Headers

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is page content subdivided hierarchically into appropriate headings and tagged appropriately?	Sometimes	One alert on each page checked (basic & advanced searching, results, etc) for a skipped heading level.
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?	Never	Selecting options to refine the list of results causes the filters to be applied automatically.
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

Key Findings

Strengths

All interactive functionality works consistently for users who are navigating a site via keyboard

Navigation Links

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Can the purpose of each link 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	Could find no instance where more than the arrow or tab key was needed to shift focus from a component.
Is default keyboard navigation order logical and intuitive, following the visual flow of the page as described above?	Always
When using a keyboard to navigate the interface, is the keyboard focus indicator visible?	Sometimes	There were no issues with seeing the keyboard indicator except on the green Search buttons where it was difficult to detect.
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)?	Always	Using Chrome.
Are skip links visible or invisible?	Always	Links are visible when you use the keyboard navigation.
Are skip links (visible or invisible) positioned prominently near the beginning of the page?	Always
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?	Always
Do skip navigation controls appear in the same place on every page?	Sometimes	Some pages (basic and advance search) do not have skip links, but the results page does.

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the reader capture accurate information as it appears in the table and the columns and rows?	Not Applicable	Unable to find any examples of tables.

Frames

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the screen reader successfully navigate from one frame to another?	Not Applicable	No frames
Does each frame have a meaningful title that tells the user the purpose of the frame?	Not Applicable	No frames
When navigating the page using keyboard navigation, is the user able to navigate effectively from one frame to the next?	Not Applicable	No frames

Key Findings

Strengths

Videos have captions and audio descriptions/transcripts

Weaknesses

PDFs are not searchable and not tagged

PDFs

Searchable PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are the sampled PDFs image-only?	Sometimes	Note: most items in this database are not full-text. Five PDFs were examined from 1998, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2012. The 1998 article was an image-only file.
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)?	Never	None of the five items checked were locked.
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable?	Sometimes	Four of the five articles checked were searchable, one (1998) was not.

Tagged PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are alternative descriptions provided?	Never	All five articles checked failed.
Is primary language specified?	Never	None of the five articles checked specified the primary language.
Is reliable character encoding provided?	Always	All five articles checked passed.
Are all page elements tagged?	Never	All five articles checked failed
Are list and table structure correct?	Sometimes	Four of the five articles checked failed, one passed (2012).

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	One article had no issues with reading. Two of the articles had no issue with reading order but did have problems with reading a line either as a complete sentence, each word as a stand-alone sentence, or with adding random pauses while reading a sentence. Two articles would not read at all and just said 'warning: empty page'.
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”?	Sometimes	Three articles were fine. Two articles wouldn't read at all; just said "warning: empty page".
Are the controls consistent and effective for navigating through the document?	Sometimes	Two articles would not read at all; other three were fine.

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	All articles had at least some issues.
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Not Applicable	Not applicable to any of the articles.
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	All articles had at least some issues.

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate?	Not Applicable	No tables present.
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers?	Not Applicable	No tables present.

Additional Navigational Aids

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks?	Never	None of the articles checked had bookmarks.
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document?	Never	No bookmarks present.

Video Captions

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are videos captioned?	Sometimes	Two of the three were captioned.
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?	Always
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?	Never	No transcripts for un-captioned videos that were checked.

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?	Never	Not provided in sample.
If the video includes described video or a text equivalent of the video, is it an accurate description of the video contents?	Never	Not provided in sample.

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 files
If a transcript is provided, does it accurately capture the content of the audio?	Not Applicable	No audio files.

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