VIVA Publishing Accessibility Statement
VIVA aims to improve academic success for Virginia students by reducing barriers to course materials, both financial and technological. As such, we support the creation of free, open, and accessible educational resources. Ensuring accessibility for those with disabilities will increase usability for all readers.
This chapter was adapted from the Sample Accessibility Statement in the BCcampus Open Education Accessibility Toolkit – 2nd Edition by Amanda Coolidge, Sue Doner, Tara Robertson, and Josie Grey
Accessibility of Resources
VIVA Publishing resources are designed to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, level AA. Specifically,
- EPUB and Digital PDFs are created in alignment with these guidelines. They should be used as the accessible version of the resource.
- If you are unsure of which ePUB reader to use, we recommend Thorium.
- Pressbooks may not have undergone accessibility review.
- If an accessible EPUB and PDF is available, the Pressbooks version has been imported from the EPUB and should contain the same accessible features. However, it may not have undergone an accessibility review and the checklist is not confirmed for this version.
- If there is no link to an accessible EPUB and PDF, it has not yet been reviewed for accessibility.
- For the accessibility features of Pressbooks, we recommend reviewing the Pressbooks Accessibility guidelines or the Make your Book Accessible chapter of the Pressbooks User Guide.
Accessibility Guidelines
VIVA works are designed with the following accessibility principles:
- Easy navigation. This resource has a linked table of contents and uses headings in each chapter to make navigation easy.
- Accessible math equations. Many of the equations in this resource have been written in LaTeX and rendered with MathJax, which makes them accessible to people using screen readers that are set up to read MathML. The rest of the equations are rendered as images with appropriate alternative text.
- Accessible videos. All videos in this resource have captions.
- Accessible images. All images in this resource that convey information have alternative text. Images that are decorative have empty alternative text.
- o For images that require longer alterative text, this description is included in the “Long description” following the image, using the aria-details tag.
- Accessible links. All links use descriptive link text, except when a part of citations.
- o A separate appendix provides URLs for those accessing the book in its print form.
- Accessible tables. Tables have header rows and columns indicated and include a title and caption, as appropriate.
- Clear color in images and design. All images have been reviewed to ensure adequate color contrast. Figures and images do not rely on images to convey meaning. The design of the book was created with adequate color contrast for color headings and backgrounds.
Books will also include a list of known accessibility issues.
Accessibility Checklist
All VIVA book designs abide by the following accessibility elements and guidelines, as appropriate for the text.
| Element | Requirements |
| Headings | Content is organized under headings and subheadings that are used sequentially. |
| Images | Images that convey information include alternative text descriptions. These descriptions are provided in the alt text field, in the surrounding text, or linked to as a long description using the aria-details tag. |
| Images | Images and text do not rely on color to convey information. |
|
Images |
Images that are purely decorative or are already described in the surrounding text contain empty alternative text descriptions. (Descriptive text is unnecessary if the image doesn’t convey contextual content information.) |
| Tables | Tables include row and/or column headers that have the correct scope assigned. |
| Tables | Tables include a title or caption. |
| Tables | Tables do not have merged or split cells. |
| Tables | Tables have adequate cell padding. |
| Links | The link text describes the destination of the link. |
| Links | Links do not open new windows or tabs. If they do, a textual reference is included in the link text. |
| Links | Links to files include the file type in the link text. |
| Audio | All audio content includes a transcript that includes all speech content and relevant descriptions of non-speech audio and speaker names/headings where necessary. |
| Video | All videos include high-quality (i.e., not machine generated) captions of all speech content and relevant non-speech content. |
| Video | All videos with contextual visuals (graphs, charts, etc.) are described audibly in the video. |
| H5P | All H5P activities have been tested for accessibility by the H5P team and have passed their testing. |
| H5P | All H5P activities that include images, videos, and/or audio content meet the accessibility requirements for those media types. |
| Formulas | Formulas have been created using LaTeX and are rendered with MathJax. |
| Formulas | If LaTeX is not an option, formulas are images with alternative text descriptions. |
| Font | Font size is 12 point or higher for body text. |
| Font | Font size is 9 point for footnotes or endnotes. |
| Font | Font size can be zoomed to 200% in the webbook or eBook formats. |
Accessibility Requests
If you have problems accessing this resource, please complete the accessible resource request form [https://bit.ly/viva-accessible-resource] to let us know so we can fix the issue. Please include the following information:
- The name of the resource
- The location of the problem by providing a web address or page description.
- A description of the problem
- The computer, software, browser, and any assistive technology you are using that can help us diagnose and solve your issue (e.g., Windows 10, Google Chrome (Version 65.0.3325.181), NVDA screen reader)
