Assessment Report | LEAP

Assessment Information
eResource Title	Vendor	Overall Grade
Humanities International	EBSCO	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?	Always

Alt Text

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	There are several instances where suspicious alternative text was found, and it could be deemed confusing, irrelevant or insufficient in its explanation. This is especially true when reviewing complex images such as graphs.
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?	Sometimes	There are a few instances where this has not taken place in terms of logos.

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?	Always

Colour

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Do colour coded graphs have text equivalents?	Always
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
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?	Sometimes	While the text is preserved, it is cut off substantially in the mobile device setting.
Do images avoid overlapping at all screen resolutions?	Sometimes	Very little overlap with laptop and desktop devices, but significant overlap with smaller mobile devices.
Is the overall reading experience preserved at all screen resolutions?	Sometimes	While larger screens such as laptops and desktops are preserved for the most part, it is incompatible with mobile devices, giving a small portion of the overall interface and therefore not user-friendly or accessible.

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?	Never
Are other visual indicators provided consistently, such as an asterisk for required form fields?	Never

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?	Always
Does the database avoid launching pages in a new browser window with the usual browser controls missing?	Always

Headers

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Is page content subdivided hierarchically into appropriate headings and tagged appropriately?	Sometimes	Heading level 4 was skipped twice in the database, which may cause confusion with navigation.
Are headings concise and clear, and accurately reflect the content under that heading?	Sometimes	For the most part the headings are clear, although it should be noted that it was not consistent, and level heading 4 was skipped once which would confuse the user in navigation.

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
Does the database avoid automatic redirection?	Sometimes	The database will redirect to the updated request, eg. narrowing filters without advance notice or warning. Other instances it does not automatically redirect.

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 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?	Always
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?	Always
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
Are skip links visible or invisible?	Not Applicable	Invisible link that turns visible once you hit tab at beginning of result search.
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?	Always

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the reader capture accurate information as it appears in the table and the columns and rows?	Sometimes	Although the table that was reviewed was read left to right, top to bottom, it could be difficult to follow if a non-visual learner had to rely on memory for column headings. It would be more useful if the reader would state the row, and column heading before providing a number with no context.

Frames

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the screen reader successfully navigate from one frame to another?	Never
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
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)?	Never
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable?	Always

Tagged PDFs

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are alternative descriptions provided?	Always
Is primary language specified?	Never
Is reliable character encoding provided?	Always
Are all page elements tagged?	Never
Are list and table structure correct?	Always

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?	Never
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”?	Never
Are the controls consistent and effective for navigating through the document?	Never

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?	Sometimes	The vast majority of the time there is no alternative text
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	Alternative text is insufficient and failed in 5 sections
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative?	Sometimes	Headings, rows, and very irregular in rich images such as graphs or charts

Tables

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate?	Sometimes	Poorly laid out and insufficient for low vision users
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers?	Sometimes	Failed in several areas including headings and appropriate nesting, as well as lack of appropriately labelled figures

Additional Navigational Aids

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks?	Not Applicable
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document?	Not Applicable

Video Captions

Question	Answer	Notes	Images
Are videos captioned?	Sometimes	Of the 5 video samples that I reviewed, 3 had closed captioning but it was very limited. As an example, the captions were visible when some people spoke in the video, while others were not captioned at all when they were clearly speaking.
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)?	Sometimes	What was presented (although limited) was typo-free and grammatically correct.
Does caption placement avoid blocking any important visual components necessary to understand the video?	Always
Are the captions in sync with spoken words?	Sometimes	Most of the time the captions were not in sync with the spoken words - usually a lengthy delay
For videos that contain captions, are transcripts provided?	Sometimes	2 of the 5 videos had transcripts that accompanied the closed captioning
For videos that do not contain captions, are transcripts provided?	Sometimes	2 of the 5 videos provided transcripts, and it appears more recent videos provide both captions and transcripts

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?	Sometimes	2 of the 5 videos provided described video
If the video includes described video or a text equivalent of the video, is it an accurate description of the video contents?	Always

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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