Conduct + implement changes for accessibility audit

[ShannonTrust]

Ask your question here.

I've been wanting to sort out an accessibility statement since you did the accessibility audit for us last year but it keeps slipping down my to do list. Do you have any tips of what we could include in it based on the audit you did for us? What level of WCAG do we meet? Any support would be really appreciated.

Screenshots or a link to a Loom Recording

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[cyberteenie]

Hey @ShannonTrust - good question!
To be honest, since there have been changes since last year, I think the best thing to do would be to run a very lightweight accessibility audit to ensure that the accessibility statement is up to date and that there isn't anything big that we are overlooking. Are you happy for us to take a couple of hours to do so?

[ShannonTrust]

I think that would be a good idea, @cyberteenie, and possibly something we should consider doing every 6 to 12 months. Happy for you to go ahead with the audit when you get a chance.

[cyberteenie]

Great! We will put that into the pipeline. :)

[cyberteenie]

Hi @ShannonTrust.
I have completed the accessibility audit and have stored it in our Shared Notion.

The good news is that there is nothing major! Mainly small tidy up actions that we can complete within the next month. Although they are all small changes, they require us to manually go through the website page by page. I reckon this will take around 3 days of development time, up to a maximum of 5.

After making those changes, we will definitely meet the WCAG 2.2 AA level. AAA level is a bit more in depth, and may require a further estimate for enhancements, which we can provide after ensuring we first meet AA.

Let me know if you have any questions!

[ShannonTrust]

Hi @cyberteenie, thanks so much for the in depth review. It's good to know where the changes are being made :) If you need anything help with anything, let me know!

[redahaq]

Hi @ShannonTrust.

Hope you're well. We've completed the accessibility changes in order to make the site WCAG AA compliant, please find the major changes detailed below.

I recorded a quick loom to show the changes, but had some trouble with my microphone, sorry! So it just covers points 1 and 2 below.

Major visual changes -

1. The two dropdowns in the nav bar now have chevrons (down arrows) to visually indicate that they are dropdowns, and are now fully accessible. The dual role that the 'What we do' and 'How you can help' text were serving - as both link and button to toggle the dropdown menu would be confusing to people using the keyboard and screen readers, so the links are now included within the menus instead and the text serves as a button. These are now fully accessible and read out on screenreaders. Users can tab through, press enter to follow the links or escape to exit the menus and return to the page.

2. The carousels across the site now all have left and right arrows to make them more accessible - this is something of a workaround as the dots below the sliders are interactive elements that aren't accessible for keyboard users due to the built-in functionality of the (3rd party) finsweet slider.

All the other changes are more behind the scenes to make the site more accessible and structurally improved for screen readers and search engines:

• Headings - these are now properly ordered and there are no duplicate h1s. Content has a logical tab order
• Aria-labels and roles are appropriate for custom controls
• Pages that open in a new tab are identified to users using screen readers
• Forms have accompanying labels. The form in the footer's labels are read out to screen-readers only.
• Repetitive alt text/ long alt text has been removed.
• Content is now structured under Main, with sections nested under this, followed by the Footer.
• Skip links added to skip the navigation and go straight to the main content when using keyboard nav

[ShannonTrust]

Hi @redahaq, thank you for the updates. With regards to the carousels, on my webpage, the arrows can't always be seen depending on the length of the quote. Is it possible to widen them slightly, or will that be too close the the edge of the page?

With the other updates, will these now be automatically implemented when we make changes/edits to the site going forward? Or will we need to do more regular audits to ensure it is meeting the requirements?

And now you have completed the audit and changes, do you have any recommendations of what to include in an accessibility statement?

[redahaq]

Thanks @ShannonTrust.

I'll take look at adjusting the arrows within the next update which I'm in the middle of - the volunteer pgs changes.

We recommend annual accessibility audits to ensure continued compliance, but it should be a lighter job going forwards.

Of course, here's a template for putting together the accessibility statement - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sample-accessibility-statement/sample-accessibility-statement-for-a-fictional-public-sector-website

You can remove the below bullet point.

• you cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader

And also remove the bits which specifically mention public sector bodies.

Hope this helps!

[redahaq]

Hey Megan @ShannonTrust, hope you had a nice weekend. Just wanted to check that you're happy with closing this issue? Thank you.

[ShannonTrust]

Hi @redahaq, yes not a problem. I wasn't sure if the arrows had been moved, but they have. Thanks for your help. I'll look at getting an accessibility statement drafted and open a new issue once it's ready to add to the website.