Outline
This article details a point in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and what the implications are for creating accessible course content in Evolve and is part of a larger path.
To view the full guidelines, please visit the Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 and Evolve path.
Guideline 2.4.1
Bypass Blocks Level A A mechanism is available to bypass blocks of content that are repeated on multiple Web pages.
Explanation
Content repeated on multiple pages can be skipped.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
There isn’t any reason to repeat blocks of content in your Evolve course - if there is content that you want learners to be able to refer to repeatedly, this can be stored on a separate page using the Additional Content Extension.
Guideline 2.4.2
Page Titled Level A Web pages have titles that describe topic or purpose.
Explanation
Content is adequately titled.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
This point emphasizes the need for headings in your course, at least at the beginning of every page. Naturally, Evolve lets you title every individual piece of content you add, and tags it as an appropriately leveled heading for screen readers.
Guideline 2.4.3
Focus Order Level A If a Web page can be navigated sequentially and the navigation sequences affect meaning or operation, focusable components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability.
Explanation
That a page of content must have a logical order, including both content and interactive elements.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
Whether navigating through with a keyboard or mouse or by using a screen reader - Evolve content has a natural, logical order by default.
Guideline 2.4.4
Link Purpose (In Context) Level A The purpose of each link can be determined from the link text alone or from the link text together with its programmatically determined link context, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.
Explanation
Any links need a full contextual name that tells you what is being linked to unambiguously.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
When including hyperlinks, either to external content or content elsewhere within your course, give the links a full contextual name - not just ‘click here or ‘this link’ - so an example would be ‘follow this link to see the WCAG Guidelines in full’.
Guideline 2.4.5
Multiple Ways Level AA More than one way is available to locate a Web page within a set of Web pages except where the Web Page is the result of, or a step in, a process.
Explanation
Provide users with more than one way to navigate to each page on a site.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
Not so relevant to eLearning content, but if your course contains multiple pages, be sure to include a menu and footer navigation - so the learner can either run through pages sequentially or use the menu to navigate to a specific page.
Guideline 2.4.6
Headings and Labels Level AA Headings and labels describe topic or purpose.
Explanation
Expanding on 2.4.2, this double A requirement includes all headings.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
Your headings should be meaningful — one tip would be not to include multiple headings with the same title - e.g. ‘Conclusion’ or ‘Introduction’, but rather include more context to differentiate between them.
Guideline 2.4.7
Focus Visible Level AA Any keyboard operable user interface has a mode of operation where the keyboard focus indicator is visible.
Explanation
There should be a visual indication of where the focus currently sits when navigating by keyboard.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
This is included in Evolve, and the color can be set in your Theme editor > Course > Accessibility.
Guideline 2.4.8
Location Level AAA Information about the user's location within a set of Web pages is available.
Explanation
The learner should be able to tell where they are in your content.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
Besides including titles and headers in your content, there are other ways Evolve can tell learners where they are in a course.
These include*Course Navigation* (which displays each page or topic in a side panel and highlights the learner’s current page) and Progress (which shows each article and component on each page and tracks the learner’s progress through them).
The Bookmarking Extension will also take the learner back to the same location in a course they were when they left.
Guideline 2.4.9
Link Purpose (Link Only) Level AAA A mechanism is available to allow the purpose of each link to be identified from link text alone, except where the purpose of the link would be ambiguous to users in general.
Explanation
The learner should be able to tell the context of any links from the name alone.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
The triple A version of 2.4.4, emphasizes that any links you include, both external and internal should be clearly labelled in an unambiguous way. For instance, if you use the Links Component and make your link a button, it must have a contextual text label, not just an icon.
Guideline 2.4.10
Section Headings Level AAA Section headings are used to organize the content.
Explanation
Every section needs a heading.
What does this mean for your content in Evolve?
Another easy triple A requirement to fulfil, make sure every component and article (as well as page) includes a meaningful heading.
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