Website accessibility

Accessibility statement for Carlyle Circle

Website accessibility statement inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is run by the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts;
zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen;
navigate most of the website using just a keyboard;
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software;
listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

Customising the website

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

AbilityNet – My computer my way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website to make it easier to read and navigate.

Addtional information on how to customise our website appearance

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

Some parts may not be fully compatible with screen readers:
- Multiple showcase photographs are missing alternative text.
- Several buttons are empty or have no value text (search button and slideshow).
- Several links contain no text (search button, mobile menu, back to top and slideshow).
You may not be able to access all content by using the keyboard alone:
- The search box form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.

What to do if you cannot access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

email is-crc@ed.ac.uk
call 0131 650 8379

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:

email interactive-content@ed.ac.uk

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly.

Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language service

British Sign Language Scotland runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates from 8am to 12 midnight, 7 days a week.

British Sign Language Scotland service details

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non compliance with the accessibility regulations

Errors
- Missing form label
  - One WAVE error for ‘missing form label’. Our search box is difficult to navigate using a keyboard because the form controls are missing a ‘label’ tag.
  - WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
    - 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A)
    - 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
    - 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA)
    - 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A)
  - This will be fixed by the end of September 2020.
- Empty button and link
  - Several WAVE errors for ’empty button’ on search button and slideshows.
  - Several WAVE errors for ’empty link’ on search button, mobile menu, back to top and slideshows.
  - WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
    - 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A)
    - 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A)
  - TBD
- Very low contrast
  - Several WAVE errors for ‘very low contrast’, in particular with the gold (#B1874C) text on a white background. However, the contrast ratio is 3.26 and this does pass AA large text (3:1 minimum).
    - WCAG defines large text as text that is 18pt (24px) and larger, or 14pt (18.67px) and larger if it is bold. These titles are both 28px and bold.
  - WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
    - 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA)
  - This reported error is believed to be a false positive.
Alerts
- Redundant link
  - Two WAVE alerts for a ‘redundant link’ in the homepage header. The same “Home” link appears in both the fixed and sticky versions of the navigation bar.
  - WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
    - 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A)
- Skipped heading level
  - Several WAVE alerts for ‘skipped heading level’. The showcase slideshows use H5 title tags, they should be H2 ideally.
  - WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
    - 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
    - 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (Level A)
    - 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA)
- Noscript element
  - One WAVE alert for ‘noscript element’ present. This is for non-essential content, namely a CSS animation and there for no remedial action is required.
  - WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
    - None

Disproportionate burden

None.

Navigation and accessing information

See ‘Non compliance with the accessibility regulations’ section.

Interactive tools and transactions

See ‘Non compliance with the accessibility regulations’ section.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

None.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 4th September 2020. The test was carried internally by the Interactive Content service within the Information Services Group.

Our primary web accessibility evaluation tools were:

WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) from WebAIM
Colour Contrast Analyser (CCA) from the Paciello Group.

The sample pages tested cover all published content types and design templates. We tested:

our main homepage
the showcase ‘overview page’
and individual showcase items.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

This statement was prepared on 2nd September 2020. It was last updated on 7th September 2020.

Improvement log

7th September 2020

Missing alternative text now added to all images:
- Several WAVE errors for ‘missing alternative text’.
- WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
  - 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A).
Added sitemap listing all published content, linked in footer.

4th September 2020

Added CSS styling for text over images, includes white outline and black drop-shadow.
- WCAG 2 states that the colour of a text outline or border can be used as the text or foreground colour when measuring contrast. A text glow/halo around the letters can be used as the background colour.
Looping animations on homepage slideshow:
- Limited slideshow to three repeats, before stopping.
Increased font sizes, widths and colour contrast ratios throughout WordPress template to comply with both AA normal and large text minimum recommendations.
Disabled CSS that forced uppercase elements and reverted to sentence case throughout.
Added underlines to all hyperlinks to clearly identify interactive elements.
Amended WordPress template and content so H tags are not skipped and are hierarchical.