Pika Accessibility
- Adam Murray
- Ashley Sneesby
Pika Accessibility: Overview
Colorado law HB21-1110 requires all Colorado government entities to be in compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA guidelines in the creation and publication of any online content and materials; including, but not limited to text, links, images, forms, PDFs, documents, and embedded third-party applications by July 1, 2024. For libraries, this requirement has wide-ranging implications, including for Pika.
In order to be compliant with the law, all public aspects of Pika must address the standards outlined in version 2.1 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1). These web accessibility guidelines are organized into four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Each of these four principles is further defined by guidelines. Each guideline is accompanied by success criteria that enable conformance testing. There are three levels of success criteria: A (lowest), AA, and AAA (highest). In order to be compliant with Colorado law, all public aspects of Pika must rate at least AA.
The public aspects of Pika consist of four types of pages: account, search results, record views (grouped and bibs), and advanced search.
The development required to bring all guidelines under Principles 2 (operable) and 4 (robust) into AA compliance is globally applied to all Pika instances. Work will be performed on these principles first. The development to bring all guidelines under Principles 1 (perceivable) and 3 (understandable) requires both global and individual configuration. As Marmot staff begin working on principles 1 and 3, we will schedule meetings with libraries to discuss individual library configuration options.
Prior to this project, Marmot staff evaluated Pika for compliance with WCAG 2.1, and found that Pika was already overall in a high level of compliance. This evaluation spreadsheet documents the A, AA, or AAA compliance of all four page types for all four principles prior to initializing this project. Marmot staff will be focusing most on the items at level A compliance.
Accessibility Principles: Details & Status
Principle 2: OperableUser interface components and navigation must be operable. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Guideline | Description & Success Criteria Link | Anticipated Timeline | Status |
2.1: Keyboard Accessible | Make all functionality available from a keyboard. | Development: October-December 2023 Deployment: March 2024 | |
2.2: Enough Time | Provide users enough time to read and use content. | Development: October-December 2023 Deployment: March 2024 | |
2.3: Seizures and Physical Reactions | Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures or physical reactions https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/#seizures-and-physical-reactions | Development: October-December 2023 Deployment: March 2024 | |
2.4: Navigable | Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are. | Development: October-December 2023 Deployment: March 2024 | |
2.5: Input Modalities | Make it easier for users to operate functionality through various inputs beyond keyboard. | Development: October-December 2023 Deployment: March 2024 | |
Principle 4: RobustContent must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Guideline | Description & Success Criteria Link | Anticipated Timeline | Status |
4.1: Compatible | Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies. | Development: January-February 2024 Deployment: March 2024 | |
Principle 3: UnderstandableInformation and the operation of the user interface must be understandable. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Guideline | Description & Success Criteria Link | Anticipated Timeline | Status |
3.1: Readable | Make text content readable and understandable. | Development: March-April 2024 Deployment: June 2024 | |
3.2: Predictable | Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways. | Development: March-April 2024 Deployment: June 2024 | |
3.3: Input Assistance | Help users avoid and correct mistakes. | Development: March-April 2024 Deployment: June 2024 | |
Principle 1: PerceivableInformation and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Guideline | Description & Success Criteria Link | Anticipated Timeline | Status |
1.1: Text Alternatives | Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language. | Development: May-June 2024 Deployment: June 2024 | |
1.2: Time-based Media | Provide alternatives for time-based media. | Development: May-June 2024 Deployment: June 2024 | |
1.3: Adaptable | Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure. | Development: May-June 2024 Deployment: June 2024 | |
1.4: Distinguishable | Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background. | Development: May-June 2024 Deployment: June 2024 | |