Technical information about this website's accessibility
Lancaster University is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
This section covers issues that we need to fix. The issues listed in this section refer to both the platform (https://modules.lancaster.ac.uk/) and the content hosted within.
Moodle platform issues
These issues affect the Moodle platform as a whole, across all pages.
Duplicate alt text
Some images have alternative text that duplicates the content of a text link inside or beside them (WCAG: 1.1.1).
Incorrectly structured lists
Some pages include lists which contain elements that will make the list difficult to interpret by screen readers (WCAG: 1.3.1).
Contrast Issues
Some pages may contain elements with low contrast between the elements and its background particularly when under focus (WCAG: 1.4.11).
Text contrast
The colour of some text does not sufficiently contrast with its background colour, so come people with moderate visual impairments may not be able to read it. (WCAG: 1.4.3).
Interactive component distance
Some components are not far enough apart from other interactive areas, which will make it easier for users to click on the wrong component by mistake (WCAG: 2.5.8).
Missing anchors
Some links point to anchors that do not exist (WCAG: 2.4.1).
Programmatic field purpose
Some optional fields on some forms do not identify their purpose programmatically. This means that not all fields will be able to autofill (WCAG: 1.3.5)
Individual page-related issues
These issues will only be found on specific page types, such as e.g. the forum page.
Frames without a title attribute
Some pages contain frames without a title attribute. Screen reader users rely on a frame title to describe the contents of a frame (WCAG: 2.4.1, 4.1.2).
Links without meaningful purpose
Some links have not been labelled clearly. This means that the links do not make sense when they are taken out of context, and for some links it is not possible to know what the purpose of the link is (WCAG: 2.4.4).
Table heading scopes
Table headers on some pages do not have a valid scope attribute, so it won’t always be possible for assistive technologies to tell what the header refers to (e.g. row or column) (WCAG: 1.3.1).
Duplicate ID attributes
Some elements on some pages have duplicate ID attributes which may affect the performance of some assistive technologies (WCAG: 4.1.1)
Missing fieldset legends
Some fieldsets may not have a legend that describes their contents (WCAG: 1.3.1).
Issues with Moodle content
These issues relate to content uploaded to Moodle by users.
Contrast issues
Some documents may contain text with low contrast between the text and its background. This can cause the text to be difficult to read, especially for those with low vision, poor eyesight, or colour blindness.
Images without a description
Some documents may contain informative images that do not have a description or alternative text. People with screen readers or other assistive devices rely on these descriptions to understand the image content and purpose.
Document untagged
Some PDF documents have not been appropriately tagged. PDF tags are hidden labels that clarify the structure of the document and define which elements are headings, paragraphs, tables, lists, etc.
Headings
Some documents may not contain marked-up headings which provide structure to a document.
Non-Optical Character Recognised (OCR)
Some documents are either entirely scanned or contain pages that are scanned. Screen readers may therefore be unable to convert these images into words, even if the image only consists of text. Users can create OCRed conversions of such documents using Ally.
Disproportionate burden
This section covers issues that we cannot fix right now. We’ve assessed the cost of fixing these issues but believe that doing so would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the law.
Captions
From September 2020, all video recordings included as teaching materials should have automated captions, and all recorded content created before September 2020 must have captions added if used for teaching after this date.
Audio-only content, such as podcasts, do not currently require captioning but a transcript of the content should be provided alongside the link to the audio.
Some recorded content may not have captions by default. All video recording applications used at Lancaster have the ability to produce auto-captions, the accuracy of which is generally good (i.e. > 90%) but can be affected by numerous factors. As with any automated speech recognition system, there may be some errors in the speech to text conversion process. Automatically generated captions are briefly checked for major inaccuracies and in most cases, any errors will be minor and won’t affect the overall learning for those who use closed captions. Fully accurate captions will be provided to any students who have disclosed an appropriate disability or impairment.
We have assessed the cost of fixing all incorrect captions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. Please see our disproportionate burden assessment for captioning.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
This section covers issues that we do not need to fix right now. The law calls these “exemptions”.
PDFs and documents
Some PDFs that are not essential to providing our services were published before 23rd September 2018. We provide a facility within Moodle whereby resources can be downloaded in a range of alternative formats via Ally.
