EPUB (Assistive Technologies): Checkpoint 10 and 11

Below you will find video tutorials for completing accessibility evaluations of eTextbooks in EPUB format using Assistive Technologies (AT).  Click here to view the EPUB AT Manual as a PDF. 

  1. Getting Started
  2. Checklist Instructions
  3. Software Requirements
  4. Checkpoint 1: Accessibility Documentation
  5. Checkpoint 2 and 3: Text Access and Text Adjustment
  6. Checkpoint 4 and 5: Reading Layout and Reading Order
  7. Checkpoints 6 and 7: Structural Markup Navigation (Text, Lists, eReader) and Tables
  8. Checkpoint 8: Hyperlinks
  9. Checkpoint 9: Color and Contrast
  10. Checkpoint 10 and 11: Language and Images
  11. Checkpoints 12 and 13: Multimedia (Text Track, Transcript, Assistive Player) and Flickering
  12. Checkpoint 14: STEM (Markup and Notation)
  13. Checkpoint 15: Interactive Elements

Checkpoints 10 and 11: Language and Images

Transcripts

The language checkpoint is marked as n/a because NVDA cannot check for markup or foreign language. Mark n/a in the ranking column of your Excel sheet for 10a markup and 10b passage markup. NVDA is not able to evaluate this checkpoint. Adobe Digital Editions and the screen reader NVDA were used to access and evaluate this text. 

The eleventh checkpoint is for images. Non-decorative images have alternative text that is compatible with assistive technology (or is rendered by an application such as a browser, media player, or reader that offers this functionality). A non-decorative image is an image that is directly related and relevant to the text content. Decorative images are marked with null alternate text or contain markup that allows them to be ignored by assistive technology. Decorative images are images that are not related in any way to the content of the text or does not add to the knowledge gained in the text. (Pictures of researchers that are talked about in the text are decorative). Complex images, charts, and graphs have longer text descriptions that are compatible with assistive technology. Here are some example images of different types of images. The first image is a non-decorative image because it adds something to the content and can easily be described. The middle image is a complex image because it adds something to the content and takes more than one sentence to explain. The last image is a decorative image because it does not add knowledge about the section. For images, use Image quick key (G) or Link quick key (TAB) to check if NVDA recognizes the images. Check if the images have alternative text and if all images are read by assistive technology that should contain an “Alt” tag. There is also an additional manual check. Check manually: Make sure the descriptions for the images are descriptive enough for both non-decorative images and complex images. The rule of thumb is that if the image cannot be described in one sentence, it is complex. 

The first part of checkpoint 11 is about non-decorative images. Non-decorative images pass is it is read by NVDA. For the manual check, the non-decorative images pass if there is a descriptive alt tag. Check the number of pages identified and count how many non-decorative images there are and if they pass. In the additional information column of your Excel sheet, state how many of the non-decorative images pass and which pages were used to evaluate this checkpoint. In the details column, restate the two sentences from the additional column section and explain if there were non-decorative images that failed then describe why they failed. Explain which tools were used to evaluate the text. The second part of checkpoint 11 is about decorative images. The decorative images should not be read by NVDA and they should have an alt tag that is empty or says null. Check the same number of pages as the first part of checkpoint 11 and identify how many decorative images were found with a passing ratio. Also describe which pages had decorative images. In the details column of the Excel sheet, restate the first two sentences from the additional information column and describe which and why a decorative image failed. Then describe which tools were used to evaluate the text. The ranking of how many decorative images you found needs to be converted to a score out of 10. Mark n/a if no decorative images were found and describe that you found no decorative images. The third part of checkpoint 11 is about complex images. These complex images should be read by NVDA and have a descriptive alt tag. Check the same number of pages as the first and second part of checkpoint 11.  In the additional information column, explain in a ratio of how many complex images there were and how many passed. Also, describe which pages the complex images were found on. In the details column, restate the two sentences from the additional information column and explain which and why complex images failed. Then describe which tools were used to evaluate the text. The ranking of how many complex images you found needs to be converted to a score out of 10. Mark n/a if no complex images were found and describe that you found no complex images.