Last updated: 3rd December 2021

Contents

1. Does Fairchild Books Store meet accessibility standards?
2. How has Fairchild Books Store been tested for accessibility?
3. Can I resize the text to make it easier to read?
4. Can I navigate the site using the keyboard only?
5. Information about screen readers
6. Do the video files include transcripts or captions?
7. Do the images include alt text and descriptions?
8. Has the site been tested for color contrast and color-blindness?
9. How do I contact Bloomsbury to get further help with accessibility?

Bloomsbury Digital Resources is committed to ensuring equal access for all users of our resources, regardless of technology or ability. For all our resources, we aim for compliance with Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/).

Our sites are all built using code compliant with W3C standards for HTML and CSS. The site displays correctly in current browsers and using standards-compliant HTML/CSS code means that any future browsers should also display it correctly. Book content is displayed within a PDF viewer, which can be resized using browser zoom, but does not reflow. Other text content on the site is displayed as HTML which can easily be resized or read with assistive technology, with mark-up that allows screen readers and keyboard-only users to navigate easily and intuitively.

We’re working hard to achieve our goal of Level AA accessibility, but our testing has identified a number of areas that still need improving, and these are listed below under ‘Areas for Improvement’ within each section. We will update this statement as we roll out improvements in these areas.

All of our sites have been developed to work well with keyboard-only operation, screen readers and other assistive software, and have been tested for color contrast compliance and correct rendering with browser controls zoomed to 200%. Our sites have all been tested by specialist accessibility testers at QA InfoTech, who use a pair-testing methodology using combinations of sighted and non-sighted testers, and have been found to support Level AA with the exceptions noted below.

Book content is displayed within a PDF viewer. It can be resized using browser zoom, but this can reduce text legibility in some cases.

Other text content on the site is presented as HTML so it is resizable and reflowable. The site has been tested with 200% browser zoom to ensure that HTML text still renders correctly and legibly, without losing any of the site’s functionality or navigation.

• The ‘Skip to Main Content’ link is currently not functioning and needs to be moved to the correct location
• The HTML Language tag should be added throughout to clarify that the content is in English
• Tab focus does not move to expandable sections of book Tables of Contents
• Problems reported using arrow keys to navigate chapter content via screen reader
• Focus navigation problems on the Sign Up and Terms and Conditions page.
• In the header navigation, the menus automatically expand on receiving the tab focus, which they should not. 

• The Timeline on the Survey of Historic Costume (6^th Edition) uses a highly visual layout and functionality which does not conform to accessibility standards: it is not accessible to screen readers, color is used to convey meaning, and images lack alt text.
• On submitting invalid entries in forms, there is no automatic error notification, although there is a workaround (users can navigate the page manually to read error messages). Also, screen reader users are not notified on submitting the ‘Clear’ button.
• Some editable fields are incorrectly labelled (checkboxes and Captcha field on the Contact Us page)
• Toggle links in the book Table of Contents pages are incorrectly labelled as plain text
• Flashcard and quiz functionality are not fully accessible to screen readers: as the ‘flip’ function does not work, quiz answer radio buttons are not labelled with their corresponding questions, and screen reader users are not notified of their quiz scores. 

No.

• Video content does not have transcripts, captions or audio descriptions.

Book cover images have alt text. As book content is displayed as PDF, images within books do not have alt text.

• Alternative text is either missing for images in the PDF books and Timeline

To ensure accessibility for low-vision or colorblind users, we aim to ensure that the color contrast ratio for all interactive elements meets the WCAG standard minimum of 4.5:1. We also aim never to use color as the only source of information: whenever color is used to convey meaning this is also conveyed using text equivalents and HTML tags.

• The Timeline has a highly visual layout which uses color to show the selected state of time periods.
• One element has a lower than optimum color contrast ratio: link text on the Help page. 

Do not hesitate to contact us if you require assistance, or have any queries or feedback related to accessibility. Please use the Contact Us form, and select 'Access or Technical Problem from the Inquiry drop-down.