We are pleased to announce that the Curatescape theme version 3.2.2 includes a number of accessibility enhancements that bring it into conformance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The guidelines have three levels of accessibility (A, AA, and AAA). We’ve chosen Level AA as the target for Curatescape.
The vast majority of Curatescape projects using the latest versions of the Curatescape web components conform to Level AA standards, though project administrators should note that they share responsibility for maintaining accessible content. Please review the following items and make recommended changes to your content and workflow where appropriate:
- Text-Equivalent Information (Level A/AA success criteria 1.2.1 – 1.2.4):
Users are encouraged to add a complete metadata record for all uploaded
files, including audio, video, and images. This metadata is used to
create captions and provide text-equivalent information for images,
audio, and video. Likewise, users are encouraged to utilize the Street Address and Access Information fields to add text-equivalent information to interactive maps on item/story pages. - Audio Description of Video (Level AA success criteria 1.2.5):
Projects containing video should note that we cannot at this time
support audio descriptions due to the current limitations of Omeka. To
meet the guidelines, consider adding a second audio-only version of your
video that contains an equivalent description of any visual
information. - Color Contrast (Level AA success criteria 1.4.3):
In some instances, content in the footer area may have low
color-contrast due to the choice of custom background image. In such
cases, it is recommended to use the Custom CSS theme option to
improve contrast and meet the success criteria. If your project is
hosted by Curatescape and you need assistance, please get in touch
directly by emailing digitalhumanities@csuohio.edu.
We are committed to maintaining and improving accessibility going forward and will continue to publish an accessibility self-assessment at curatescape.org/accessibility. Accessibility requires ongoing attention to the codebase and responsible content-creation. If, after reviewing our self-assessment, you have identified additional areas that need further attention or have questions about content-creation, please get in touch.
If you are not currently using the most recent versions of the Curatescape web components, please consider upgrading now by downloading from the Curatescape Github repository or by using curatescape_utility, a command-line plugin and theme updater.