EPUB (Assistive Technologies): Checkpoint 9

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

Checkpoint 9: Color and Contrast 

Transcripts

The first part of the ninth checkpoint involves color and contrast. Color redundancy (information is not conveyed by color alone) needs to be checked manually. Consider the amount of failing content in each chapter/section when determining the score. For example, links should be presented with a blue color and underlined. Passing for this checkpoint includes 70% or more pages passing for color redundancy. In the additional information column of the Excel sheet, state the ratio of how many pages pass for color redundancy. In the details column, explain if or why pages failed and what was used to access the links online.

The second part of checkpoint nine is about contrast ratio. This checkpoint will combine the contrast ratios of the headers, text, and simple images. The visual presentation of text and images of text in the digital resource has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 (AA). The seven steps will be further discussed. First, you will need to download the colour contrast analyzer tool by following this link. Open the ePub book you are evaluating and open the colour contrast analyzer application. Make sure you are in the result-luminosity mode. Click the foreground eyedropper tool and hover over and click the foreground or font color to select it. Then, click the Background eyedropper tool, hover over and click the background color. Check and compare the ratio to 4.5:1. Determine if the text is greater than 18 points (e.g. Header). Small text: Check under “Text” (AA) and Large text (18+): Check under “Large text” (AA). When reporting the contrast results, report the color combination but not the ratio. For example, “The blue text on white background passed.” When content fails, report the color combination and the ratio: “The blue text on blue background fails with a ratio of 2:1:1.” Simple images are images that only have two colors. For example, these two images only have two colors. When content passes, report the color combination but not the ratio: “The simple image was found on page 45 and the black on white background passed with the Colour Contrast Analyzer.” “The simple image found on page 91 passed with the black text on the blue background.” Provide color combinations for passing and failing content, provide contrast ratios only for failing content, and amount of Material to Be Evaluated. Since the contrast ratio includes three sub-checkpoints, complete those sub-checkpoints first and then average the three scores for the Contrast checkpoint. Check the appropriate number of pages identified on the Excel sheet. Check that the header, text, and/or simple image passes for each of the pages. Passing includes 70% or more pages pass for contrast ratio. In the additional information column of the Excel sheet, state the ratio of how many pages pass for contrast ratio. In the details column restate the scores you found for header colors, text colors, and simple images. Then state that Adobe Digital Editions and Colour Contrast Analyzer was used to evaluate the contrast ratios. The first subsection of color and contrast is checking headers. Check all the chosen pages and use the colour contrast analyzer to check each heading. In the additional column, identify how many header colors passed the ratio for “large text” AA. If only three colors were found and one passed. State that 1 out of 3 header color combinations passed for color contrast and state which pages were used for this checkpoint. In the details column, state the heading color combinations you found were and provide the ratio if the contrast failed. Also, state that Adobe Digitals Edition and the colour contrast analyzer was used to determine contrast ratios. For the ranking, convert the number of headers found to a ratio out of 10 and round down if needed. For example, if 1/3 headers passed, then the ranking would be 3. 

The second subsection of color and contrast is checking text colors. Check the same chosen pages from the first subsection and use the colour contrast analyzer for each text. In the additional column, identify how many text colors pass for text AA. If there were only 3 text colors, state how many of those text colors pass for color contrast. In the details column, repeat the same two sentences from the additional column. Also state what the color combinations were and the ratio if the colors failed. Then write that Adobe Digital Editions and colour contrast analyzer tool was used. The third subsection of color and contrast is checking simple images. Check the same chosen pages from the first and second subsection and use the colour contrast analyzer. In the additional column, again identify how many images were found and passed for color contrast. Also state which pages the simple images were found. In the details column, repeat the same two sentences from the additional column and state what the color combinations were and the ratio if it failed. Then state which tools were used. For the ranking, convert the number of simple images found to a ratio out of 10 and round down if needed. For example, if 1/2 simple images passed, then the ranking would be 5.