Digication Development Update - 03/18/2024

Dear Digication Community,

In keeping with our commitment to providing a two-week notice in advance of any changes to our user interface, we wanted to let you know about some upcoming improvements that will occur on or after April 1, 2024.

• A new ‘Accessibility Tools’ feature will detect missing accessibility information for images, video, and audio files and alert users.
• The new accessibility tools feature also provides insights into how the page is structured using headings.
• The new accessibility tools feature additionally provides helpful information on how to make your page accessible, in partnership with Teach Access.
• An option to select whether accessibility information for images, video, and audio files should be customized for a single instance or used everywhere the file is used. 
• Improved module settings and Library (Previous Uploads) interfaces to add accessibility information to video and audio files as well as image files.

Teach Access partnership

We are proud to announce a new partnership with Teach Access, an initiative uniting education, technology, and advocacy to boost digital accessibility. Teach Access provides essential guidance on making digital content usable for everyone, including people with disabilities. This initiative emphasizes the importance of incorporating accessibility into ePortfolios and other works, ensuring that future creators prioritize inclusive design.

For our users, this partnership enables quick access to the insights and resources of Teach Access. When editing their ePortfolios and other works, users can now easily view these resources and incorporate inclusive design principles  to make their content more accessible. Within our Accessibility Tools feature, we are also including a link to Teach Access at the bottom of the Accessibility Tools modal, where users can find further information and support to enhance the inclusivity of their digital work.

New ‘Accessibility Tools’ feature for authors

As part of our commitment to accessibility, we are introducing a new Accessibility Tools feature. When editing their pages, users will see a new Accessibility Tools button next to the Add Content button. If the media on the page has missing accessibility details, there will be an alert on the Accessibility Tools button, making it easy to see when missing information needs to be addressed. Clicking this button will open an Accessibility modal with two sections: “Tools for authors” and “Resources for authors”.

Tools for authors

Under the “Tools for authors” section, authors will find an inventory of the number of images and audio/video files on the page and an indication of the status of their accessibility information. Authors are prompted to fix issues with missing accessibility information, and can also choose to edit existing information. Additionally, authors will see the number of page headings and be able to view them.

Missing accessibility information

This new feature will highlight images without alt text, video files without captions, subtitles, or audio, and audio files without audio descriptions. Users will be able to fix accessibility issues by adding accessibility information.

Insights on page headings 

In the 'Tools for authors' section, authors will be able to see how their pages are structured using headings. 

Resources for authors

This part of the Accessibility Tools will offer a Digication Tip Sheet with guidelines on various accessibility aspects like color contrast, text styles, and multimedia handling. Each guideline will be expandable for detailed information, and users will be able to access further resources and support through provided links.

Improved interfaces to add accessibility information to video and audio files

In a previous release, we improved the user interface to add accessibility information to images. However, those improvements were not extended to video and audio files until now. With our new release, we will make the interface for adding accessibility information to audio and video files consistent with that used for images. Now, you will find the “Accessibility Information” section in the settings options for video and audio files. If captions are missing in the video, an alert in the Accessibility Information area will be displayed in yellow to encourage users to add captions.

The Accessibility Information section in the Library (Previous Uploads) will also contain an Edit button, which will allow you to set the missing accessibility information for the file. This will enable you to conveniently update any missing accessibility information for your files, encouraging a more inclusive experience for all users.

To learn more please see “Add chapter markers, subtitles or closed captioning, or audio description to uploaded videos“.

Accessibility information switch options ‘Customized for this use only’ or ‘Used everywhere the file is used’

As we mentioned earlier, there will be an edit option in the Accessibility Information section of image, audio, and video settings. When you click on this edit option, it will open a modal for editing the accessibility information of the file.

Digication's upcoming feature update will introduce an option in this edit modal, allowing you to select how to apply the accessibility information you add to files. This option will give you two choices: 'Customized for this use only' and 'Used everywhere the file is used'.

The 'Customized for this use only' option will apply changes only to the current use of the file. The 'Used everywhere the file is used' option will apply changes to all instances of that file. This flexibility will resolve previous issues of being unable to add accessibility details, like subtitles, to resources used in templates. 

Kind Regards,

Your Friends at Digication