Assessment Report

Assessment Information

eResource Title Vendor Overall Grade
VetMed Resource CABI B

Assessment for VetMed Resource by St. Clair - Module 1: Interface Appearance | Status: Complete | Grade: A-

Images

Positioning of Images
Question Answer Notes Images
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find? Always Images are positioned prominently and easy to find.
Functional images embedded in the background
Question Answer Notes Images
Are there functional images embedded in the background? Never All images and text align when resizing and zooming in to browsers.
Presence of Icons
Question Answer Notes Images
Are there icons where appropriate, such as icons to indicate PDF Full Text, Download, Folder, Citation, etc? Not Applicable There are no icons in this database.
Alt Text
Question Answer Notes Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Always All informational images have alt text.
Do functional images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Always All functional images have alt text.
Do images used as text contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Always The logo is the only image that is text and it contains the alt text.

Content Scaling

Question Answer Notes Images
When zoomed in at 200%, is text intact, readable, and not cut off? Always At 200% the database layout fills the screen perfectly with no cut off. Everything is readable.
Are images clear and unpixelated at 200%? Always All images remain clear and unpixellated at 200%.
Is horizontal scrolling minimized at 200%? Always There is a horizontal scrolling bar at 200%. But it is very minimized.

Colour and Contrast

Question Answer Notes Images
Do text and images have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1? Sometimes There are a number of contrasting errors on each page, particularly with text. There is low contrasting between text and foreground.

Colour

Question Answer Notes Images
Do colour coded graphs have text equivalents? Not Applicable Outside of articles, there are no graphs present with in the database.
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? Never There is no text to speech software embedded with in the database.

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 Clickable area around links and buttons in large enough for users to see and activate.
Using your mouse to test links, are links and buttons far enough apart for users to accurately activate? Always Links and buttons are far enough apart for users to activate without accidentally clicking on another link.
Using any method to test links, are all links and buttons functional (i.e., not dead)? Sometimes Most of the links are functional. However, some links under the CABI menu—the pages are no longer found (Case Studies).
Are links or buttons accessible via keyboard navigation? Always All buttons and links are accessible via keyboard navigation.

Dynamic content

Question Answer Notes Images
Can users pause carousel movement? Always There is a pause option for the carousel feature in this database. Each segment contains three highlighted articles.
Is all functionality, including navigating between carousel items, operable by keyboard? Always All items in the carousel operable from keyboard navigation.

Liquid layout

Question Answer Notes Images
Is the order of the text preserved at all screen resolutions, without overlap? Always All text and images in the databases is preserved at all screen resolutions.
Do images avoid overlapping at all screen resolutions? Always Images avoid overlap at all screen resolutions.
Is the overall reading experience preserved at all screen resolutions? Always The reading experience is hindered a little at the 800 x 600 screen resolution because the screen will need to be adjusted with a horizontal bar to for reading.

Assessment for VetMed Resource by St. Clair - Module 2: Interface Navigation | Status: Complete | Grade: A-

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 This database does not contain many forms besides the advance search, sign/register, and sign-up form for the newsletter. Each for does contain instructions on how the user should fill out the form.
Do user input fields contain labels in addition to overall instructions mentioned above? Never None of the forms have labels within the placeholder text. Though some input fields do have some placeholder text.
Are descriptions for fields and boxes easy to understand? Always
Are labels placed above the user input fields and clearly associated with each field? Sometimes Labels for the sign in/register form are placed above the field while the advanced search is placed beside the input fields.
Are text cues for coloured form control labels available? Never There are no text cues for coloured form labels.
Are other visual indicators provided consistently, such as an asterisk for required form fields? Sometimes The sign up for newsletter form contains the asterisk visual indicators.

Error Prevention

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

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 The alert messages appear above the input fields that tells the user what error has been made.
Do alert messages clearly indicate the field in which the error has occurred and a description of the error and the fix? Always Yes. The alert message either appears below the input field that needs to be corrected or at the top of the form.
Is the user able to easily access the user input field to correct the error? Always The user is able to correct the error easily.
Is the user able to resubmit the form and re-validate their submission? Sometimes Users can resubmit the form for when the sign in and when they are searching. However, they cannot resubmit for the newsletter form.
Do error reports follow a logical reading and navigation order? Always Error reports either appear above the form or below the input field.

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 The search function does not offer any spelling suggestions or synonyms for users to use. If a user spells a word wrong, they will often come back with no matches found. However, the misspelled word will have the red error line under it.

Functionality of Interactive Elements

Question Answer Notes Images
Are icons such as to save, download, or print consistent across the site? Not Applicable There are no icons found within the database, except for Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, and email images. These appear consistently at the bottom of every page in the footer banner. However, these could fall under functional images.
Is alternative text clear and consistent for each icon type? Not Applicable
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 There are no icons.
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 The layout remains consistent on every page. The header banner with the main menu items remains the same at the top of each page as well as the foot banner.
Are search fields located in the same places throughout the website? Always The only page the search field changes is in the advance search field page.
Do other features occur in the same place throughout the website? Always Access to help page and contact information is contained in the menu options in the top banner at the top of the page.
Are links, buttons, images, and other components that are used repeatedly throughout a website labeled consistently? Always The logo and functional images such as Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn and email all appear in the same spots on each page.

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 There are no pop-up windows that appear in this database.
Does the database avoid launching pop-up windows automatically when the database is loaded? Always No pop-up windows launch from this database.
Where pop-ups occur, are users able to postpone or suppress any pop-ups? Not Applicable There are no pop-up windows launched or found within this database.
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 However, the first level heading is missing.
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 Most drop-down menu options are limited to 10 at most. However, under the CABI sites exceeds to 10 options.
Does the main navigation and drop-downs contain a reasonable number of menu items? Sometimes Most drop-down menus contain a reasonable number of menu items of 10 or less. However, CABI sites drop down menu list does have 25, which is more than necessary.
Can all menus and submenus be accessed with screen readers and via keyboard navigation? Always Both menus and submenus are accessible via screen reader and keyboard navigation.

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 The results page remains in the same tab, yet when clicking on the full-text button the article opens in a new tab.
Is there an "update now" button that requests a refresh of content rather than automatically updating the content? Never When requests or refinements are added to the search, the updates are automatically applied.
Does the database avoid automatic redirection? Always Though automatic updates are applied, the results are not redirected.

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 However, the keyboard indicator is not visible for most of the navigation, so it is confusing for users to determine where they are on a page.

Assessment for VetMed Resource by St. Clair - Module 3: Interface Structure | Status: Complete | Grade: A

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 The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text and context in this database.

Keyboard Navigation

Question Answer Notes Images
Can keyboard focus be moved to all page elements? Always Keyboard navigation is accessible. However, the focus indicator does not show up and this makes it hard for the user to determine where they are.
If moving keyboard focus away from a component requires more than arrow or tab keys, is this clearly indicated on the page? Never
Is default keyboard navigation order logical and intuitive, following the visual flow of the page as described above? Always Keyboard navigation follows the flow of the webpage going from top to bottom and left to right.
When using a keyboard to navigate the interface, is the keyboard focus indicator visible? Sometimes For most of the navigation process the indicator is not visible. Thus, making it hard for users to determine what area on the website they are at. The indictor is visible on the calendar.
Does all interactive functionality work via keyboard, and does it behave consistently and as expected? Always Keyboard navigation does work for interactive functionality.
Does focus order move sequentially across form fields? Always The focus of the keyboard navigation follows the flow of the form.

Skip Links

Question Answer Notes Images
Are there skip links (either visible or invisible)? Not Applicable Not skip links were found in this database, visible or invisible.
Are skip links visible or invisible? Not Applicable No skip links.
Are skip links (visible or invisible) positioned prominently near the beginning of the page? Not Applicable No skip links.
Are skip links labelled properly? Not Applicable No skip links.
Are skip links accessible via keyboard? Not Applicable No skip links.
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? Not Applicable No skip links

Tables

Question Answer Notes Images
Does the reader capture accurate information as it appears in the table and the columns and rows? Always Screen reader captures the columns in the calendar.

Frames

Question Answer Notes Images
Does the screen reader successfully navigate from one frame to another? Always There are no framesets in this database. However, there is an iframe for the YouTube VetMed Resource training video.
Does each frame have a meaningful title that tells the user the purpose of the frame? Always Title for the iframe “Getting Started – Video”.
When navigating the page using keyboard navigation, is the user able to navigate effectively from one frame to the next? Always The keyboard can move from the iframe to the rest of the content easily. Keyboard navigation moves easily from box to box.

Assessment for VetMed Resource by St. Clair - Module 4: Content | Status: Complete | Grade: D+

PDFs

Searchable PDFs
Question Answer Notes Images
Are the sampled PDFs image-only? Not Applicable None of the PDFs sampled were image-only.
Are the sampled PDFs locked (secured)? Not Applicable None of the PDF’s sampled were locked. The text is searchable and extractable.
Are the sampled PDFs fully searchable? Always PDFs sampled are all searchable and text is extractable.
Tagged PDFs
Question Answer Notes Images
Are alternative descriptions provided? Sometimes Three of the five PDFs sampled failed the alternative text section of the accessibility test for Acrobat. The other two PDFs failed one to two of the alt text section for the accessibility test. But users can set their own alt text.
Is primary language specified? Sometimes Three of the five PDFs samples passed this section of the accessibility checker test. The other two PDF samples failed.
Is reliable character encoding provided? Sometimes Three out of five PDFs passed the character encoding section. Two PDFs failed this test.
Are all page elements tagged? Sometimes Two out of the five PDFs sampled passed the page element tagged test in the accessibility checker. The other three PDFs have mixed results. Some page elements are tagged while others aren’t.
Are list and table structure correct? Sometimes Two of the five PDFs sampled passed the table and list section of the accessibility checker. The other three PDFs failed. Though after doing the autotagged option for the accessibility, all of areas in the tables and list section of the accessibility checker for the five pdfs pass, except for summary. This area is always skipped. Therefore, the structure is corrected.

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 The Read Out Loud function in acrobat for the most part does read the PDFs in a logical way. However, two of the PDFs read the columns out of order as the text in the right appears halfway down the page.
Does the Read out Loud function avoid problematic elements such as excessive blank spaces read as “blank”? Sometimes For at least one of the PDFs sampled, the read out loud function does read the blank spaces for images.
Are the controls consistent and effective for navigating through the document? Sometimes Each PDF does have playback through keyboard navigation. However, only for certain areas of the documents. It only reads certain focused texts such as a signal word, sentence or punctuation, rather than a whole paragraph section.

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 Text and tables are clear at 250% for all PDFs sampled but some require the user to move the horizontal bar at the bottom of the page. This is especially the case for documents with two columns. Some of the images at this magnification are blurry and harder to see.

Images

Positioning of Images
Question Answer Notes Images
Are the images positioned prominently and easy to find? Sometimes Most of the images are placed in the document where they are easy to find, usually with the important information and description above or below the image. However, there are some instances where the images are placed at the bottom or top of the page but the information describing the image is farther up on the page.
Alternative Description
Question Answer Notes Images
Do informative images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Sometimes Not all images within the PDF documents have alt text for the images. However, there is an option to put in the alt text yourself.
Do images used as titles contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Sometimes Not all PDFs contain alt text for there images.
Do rich images contain appropriate alt text or an appropriate textual alternative? Always Images in the sampled PDFs do have appropriate textual alternative such as descriptions in the absence of alt text.

Tables

Question Answer Notes Images
Are tables tagged and described with in-text summaries where appropriate? Sometimes Only two out of the five PDFs sampled were properly tagged. There are in text summaries at the top of the tables and within the reports, but the summaries are skipped in the tagging process.
Do table headers allow for easy navigation with screen readers? Sometimes Through using the arrow buttons the user can navigate through the tables. The screen reader reads the columns and rows left to right. But the user cannot tab through each section.

Additional Navigational Aids

Question Answer Notes Images
Does the bookmarks panel display bookmarks? Sometimes One out of the five PDFs sampled had bookmarks in the display panel. However, a user can manually put in bookmarks if they choose too.
Do bookmarks link to the correct sections in the document? Always The only PDF that had bookmarks did link to the correction sections in the article.

Video Captions

Question Answer Notes Images
Are videos captioned? Always There was only two videos found and it is a training video on YouTube. The video has the closed caption option to turn on. There is also a transcript that users can access.
If captions are closed, and need to be turned on by the user, is that process straightforward and intuitive? Always There is a CC option to turn on at the bottom of the video in the same place as all YouTube videos.
Are captions typo-free and grammatically correct (unless slang and grammatical errors are intentionally used in the video)? Always There were no typos in the training videos captions. However, the captions are not written as full sentences.
Does caption placement avoid blocking any important visual components necessary to understand the video? Always The closed captioning is found at the bottom of the videos in two lines at a time. It does not block or interfere with other visual components.
Are the captions in sync with spoken words? Always The captions are synced with the person speaking. The video has a narrator that does not appear on screen.
For videos that contain captions, are transcripts provided? Always The two training videos do have transcripts available that users can access.
For videos that do not contain captions, are transcripts provided? Not Applicable Closed caption option is available for both videos as well as a transcript. When accessing the training video, users are taken to the CABI YouTube channel which opens up in a new tab.

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 There is no described video option but there is a detailed transcription link that provides instructions on where the user is going to navigate the databases.
If the video includes described video or a text equivalent of the video, is it an accurate description of the video contents? Never There is no described video option.

Audio Accessibility

Question Answer Notes Images
Is a link to a text transcript provided in reasonable proximity to the audio clip? Never There are no audio files found within this database.
If a transcript is provided, does it accurately capture the content of the audio? Never There are no audio files found within this database.
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