Xerte Accessibility Statement
The University of Nottingham is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
About this accessibility statement
All accessibility benefits and known issues detailed below are relevant to Xerte projects created using both the Xerte Online Toolkit (XOT) and Bootstrap templates, unless otherwise stated. An accessibility statement for the authoring side of Xerte is currently in development and will be made available at a later date.
This statement contains information relevant to the end-users of Xerte projects. Since content created with Xerte is subject to numerous author decisions, the end-user experience will be influenced not just by the inherent accessibility of Xerte but also by the accessibility practices of the author. Please note that where it is stated that aspects of Xerte projects ‘should’ behave in a particular way, these rely on project authors following best practice accessibility guidelines. An accessibility guide for authors and an accessibility guide for students are also available.
Compliance status
Xerte Online Toolkits is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exceptions listed below.
Accessibility benefits
Xerte has been designed to maximise accessibility and personalisation for end-users. If project authors use Xerte’s default settings and employ the basic, good practices enabled by the editor, then the end-user will benefit from a high level of native accessibility. Many of the key inbuilt accessibility features are listed below.
Orientation and navigation
Headings
HTML headings are used to ensure that content can be easily navigated by assistive technologies or browser plug-ins like Headings Map.
In XOT projects, headings H1 and H2 are used for the project and page titles.
In Bootstrap projects, headings H1 and H2 are used for the page and section titles.
Headings H3 to H6 should be used within the page content as appropriate.
ARIA landmarks
The header, main content and navigation areas use aria landmarks to enable screen reader users to move efficiently around pages.
Bootstrap projects also use section and footer landmarks to further improve navigation.
Page titles
Every page should have a visible title which is also listed on the table of contents (XOT) or navigation bar (Bootstrap).
Navigation
In XOT projects, navigate through pages using the next and back buttons, normally found on the footer bar, or jump directly to a specific page via the table of contents. Use the page up and page down keys to move to the next and previous pages.
In Bootstrap projects, navigate through pages via the links on the navigation bar. The navigation bar collapses by default on smaller screens and must be expanded to access the page links. Section links allow for easy navigation within the current page, unless removed by the project author.
Links
Links and buttons should have a clear and simple text description.
Where links open additional content in a new tab/window, this should be noted in the link text.
Dialog boxes and lightbox windows
Some XOT project interactions involve pop-up information, shown in either a dialog box or a lightbox.
Dialog boxes and lightboxes take keyboard focus and can be closed via a button that is keyboard and screen reader accessible.
The escape key can also be used to close lightboxes.
Magnification and reflow
Magnification
Inbuilt browser controls can be used to zoom/magnify Xerte projects without having to scroll left/right to view the page content. Use shortcuts Ctrl + (Windows) or CMD + (Mac).
Zooming in Bootstrap projects is effective to a high zoom level.
Zooming in XOT projects is effective to around 250%. Above this level, the space available to display the main content is drastically reduced due to the header and footer bars taking up a large part of the screen.
For higher magnification, or for a larger visible area of the screen, combine browser zooming with changing the default text size in the browser. This can be done in different ways, for example using the A+ FontSize Changer browser plugin. When using browser plug-ins, ensure you exercise due diligence in checking they are safe and suitable for your purposes.
Where XOT projects have ‘responsive text’ turned on (so that the text size changes according to the current screen size), zooming will be more effective if this setting is turned off by the end-user. This can be done via the ‘accessibility options’, available via a button on the footer or side bar.
High magnification or very large font sizes can result in aesthetic degradation.
Reflow
Bootstrap projects are highly responsive and will automatically adjust the layout of the page, for example page and section menus, according to the current screen size and level of magnification.
XOT projects will reflow, and various pages will use an alternative layout when viewed on smaller mobile devices.
Keyboard accessibility
The keyboard tab order is logical and predictable. There are no known keyboard traps.
Xerte uses tab, shift-tab, space bar, arrow keys and enter to access content and the current tab focus is clearly visible. Page up and down keys navigate to the next and previous pages (XOT projects) and the escape key will close lightboxes.
Where content is shown in tabs, use the tab key to focus on the active tab and then the right and left arrow keys to move the focus to other tabs.
In XOT projects, interactions as varied as drag and drop labelling, text highlighting and tours of 360° images can be completed using either a mouse or a keyboard, depending on the user’s preference.
See below for details of known keyboard accessibility issues.
Colour, contrast and themes
Colour and contrast
Content, tabs, links and buttons created using the official Xerte themes will meet WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards for colour and contrast.
There are no places in the default interface and content where information is conveyed by colour alone.
Alternative themes
In XOT projects, the accessibility options (available via a button on the footer bar) allow end-users to remove background images and/or apply alternative themes to a project. A high contrast and a black on yellow theme are available.
Text formatting
Bold and italic text is displayed using semantic HTML (strong and emphasis). This provides information to screen reader users that would not be conveyed by purely visual bold or italic text.
Media
Media can be added to Xerte projects in a variety of ways, making it easy to provide rich content to support the needs of different users.
Images
Xerte supports the use of alternative text and captions on all images.
Images should be responsive and be shown at an appropriate size.
Where appropriate, images will open in a lightbox when clicked for a larger and/or clearer view.
Narration and audio
Narration and/or separate audio can be included on all pages.
Transcripts should be provided, as appropriate, alongside any audio content. These transcripts will normally open in a lightbox.
All native Xerte audio players are fully keyboard accessible.
Video
Video content can be included on all pages.
Transcripts and/or captions should be provided, as appropriate, with any video content.
All native Xerte video players are fully keyboard accessible.
Font Awesome
Font Awesome icons used to convey meaning should have a simple and useful description that will be available to screen readers.
Icons used as purely decorative elements should not be announced by screen readers.
PDF
Embedded PDFs are accessible to keyboard and screen reader users and can be magnified.
See below for details of accessibility issues in the PDF viewer.
Tables
Tables are only used for presenting tabular data. Xerte supports the use of captions (shown on-screen) and summaries (for screen readers) on all tables.
Forms
All forms are fully keyboard accessible and are labelled so that screen reader users know what information is required, for example “Answer” or “Response”.
Interactivities
Most interactivities in XOT projects are accessible to keyboard only and screen reader users.
Drag and drop activities can be completed with a mouse (by either manually dragging and dropping or by clicking a label and then clicking a target) as well as with a keyboard only (using the tab and space keys to navigate to and select/drop labels). Screen reader users can access information about which label has been dropped on each target area.
Where tick and cross icons are used to show correct and incorrect answers, information is also available to screen reader users to convey the same information.
See below for details of known accessibility issues in activity and games pages.
Mobile compatibility
Xerte projects are compatible with modern mobile devices, especially with larger devices such as tablets and laptops on which users can take advantage of the accessibility features built-in to those devices.
Supporting authors with good practice
Xerte encourages the creation of accessible learning resources by prompting project authors to enter the relevant information into the Xerte editor. For example, whenever an image can be added to a page, authors are prompted to enter an alternative text description for the image as well as an additional optional caption.
An accessibility checker is available within the editor’s text toolbar which will flag up issues such as images with missing alt text and links without a meaningful description of their destination.
Non-accessible content
Xerte is compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2, level AA except for when:
- projects include the functionality / page types noted below
- authors fail to follow guidelines
- authors fail to anticipate the specific needs of their audience.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Magnification and reflow
Zooming in XOT projects is effective to around 250%. Above this level, the space available to display the main content is drastically reduced due to the header and footer bars taking up a large part of the screen. This fails 1.4.10 (Reflow).
Bullets pages
The Bullets page in XOT projects gradually adds blocks of information to the screen at regular intervals. The timing of the appearance of these bullets cannot be changed by the end-user. This fails 2.2.2 (Pause, Stop, Hide). However, as blocks of content are only added and not removed from the screen, users are not meaningfully disadvantaged.
Crossword pages
The Crossword pages in XOT projects are often inconsistent in the way that focus is moved around the grid when tabbing and entering answers. The focus does not reliably automatically move to the next letter when typing an answer, particularly when the crossword is partially complete. The tab order will also skip some words in the puzzle at times. This fails 2.4.3 (Focus Order).
Despite these inconsistencies, the focus is always visible and by using a combination of tab and arrow keys it is always possible to complete the puzzle and submit answers for marking. For a better user-experience, tab to a clue and select it using the space bar or enter key – the focus will then automatically move to the relevant text field in the puzzle and focus will automatically move to the next letter in the word as you type.
Gap Fill pages
‘Fill in the blank’ Gap Fill pages in XOT projects can be set up so that a tooltip hint is displayed when incorrect answers are entered in the text fields. These hints are inaccessible to screen reader users. This fails 4.1.3 (Status Messages).
Sortable Grid pages
The Sortable Grid pages in XOT projects require users to rearrange labels within the cells of a table. Although labels can be focused and selected using the keyboard, there is no context available to screen reader users regarding the positioning of the labels within the table. This fails 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
Timeline Media pages
The tab and/or arrow keys can be used to navigate through events on the XOT project’s Timeline Media page. However, when the focus reaches the content related to each timeline event, the focus is frequently off-screen and not visible to the end-user. This fails 2.4.7 (Focus Visible).
For screen reader users, the context for the content related to each timeline event is provided by headings, however there are no meaningful descriptions for the timeline event items. This fails 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
Wordsearch pages
Wordsearches in XOT projects can only be completed by selecting letters using a mouse click and drag motion. These pages are inaccessible to sighted, keyboard only users and those who cannot perform dragging movements precisely. This fails 2.1.1 (Keyboard) and 2.5.7 (Dragging Movements).
Image magnifiers
The Graphics and Sound, Advanced Image and Image Sequence pages may contain images that when hovered display a tooltip containing a magnified area of the image. The magnifier is not accessible to sighted keyboard-only users as it can only be triggered by the mouse movement. This fails 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
Non accessible and disproportionate burden
Interactivities and games
Some interactivities in XOT projects are visually focused and add value for sighted users whilst being very challenging for screen reader users. These include the following pages: Image Sequence, Sortable Grid, Hangman, Memory Game and Wordsearch. Discussions with the Xerte Project team and accessibility specialists suggest that the value obtained by screen reader users in doing these activities is minimal in relation to the opportunity cost of diverting effort from other developments that would add more value to more users.
Alternative versions of these activities should be provided by project authors, as required, to enable an “equivalence of experience” between screen reader and sighted users.
Mobile compatibility
Some activities that can be added to XOT projects are technically compatible with mobile devices but may not always be practical from a usability point of view on smaller screens. For example, drag and drop labelling activities with many labels will be harder to complete on small screens than activities with fewer labels. Where necessary, authors should test and adapt their resources with small screen compatibility in mind.
PDF viewers
Embedded PDFs are accessible to keyboard and screen reader users and can be magnified. However, the viewer does not allow the PDF to reflow when magnified. The Xerte Project team explored the issues with PDF reflow and discovered that even Adobe’s own specialist reader software cannot consistently provide a reliable reflow experience. We consider it a disproportionate burden to attempt to fix this issue and advise users who need magnification and reflow to download the PDF locally and try using Adobe Reader (View > Zoom > Reflow) or Microsoft Word (View > Web layout) to achieve reflow.
Non accessible and out of scope
Any third-party content embedded in Xerte projects, for example YouTube content, is beyond the scope of this accessibility statement. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that content embedded from other sources is accessible, for example includes a transcript and/or captions.
Ongoing improvements
The Xerte Project takes accessibility seriously and the high levels of native accessibility in the tools demonstrate our long-standing commitment to accessible design. We aim to provide best-of-breed accessibility. We continue to work with accessibility experts, and with users with a wide range of differing requirements, to inform the development of Xerte, and welcome input from all members of our community.
Known accessibility issues are added to the developer work stream on GitHub under the Accessibility tag.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 7 March 2025 by members of the Xerte project team and based on the UK Government’s testing for accessibility guide, supported by both manual and automated testing with accessibility checking tools such as WAVE, SiteImprove, AXE and Lighthouse. The Bootstrap template and all XOT page types were tested using Windows Narrator and/or NVDA.
Feedback and contact information
Accessibility issues can be reported to the Xerte developers via the Xerte community's accessibility forum or by logging an issue on GitHub.
Known accessibility issues are added to the developer work stream on GitHub under the Accessibility tag.
Any questions regarding this statement from staff and students at the University of Nottingham should be emailed to the Learning Technology Section learning-technologies@nottingham.ac.uk
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’).
If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).