Accessible Website and Web Content

Commitment

To ensure, to the best of our ability, that we exclude no one who chooses to visit our site, Julian of Norwich Anglican Church strives to comply with all applicable website standards for accessibility, as established by The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).

This is an ongoing course of action and our standards will continue to evolve alongside changes to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, as well as developments in technology.

Please note that the above ONLY applies to the content of this web site. When the user clicks on a link that leads to offsite content, we have no control regarding the accessibility of that content.

Requirement

The AODA requires that all web sites and web content must be compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0 Level AA), except for:
1) success criteria 1.2.4 pertaining to live captioning
2) success criteria1.2.5 pertaining to pre-recorded audio descriptions

Overview of Accessible Features

The following lists some of the accessible features on this web site:

  1. Increase / decrease text size using keyboard shortcuts (Windows, Linux, Chrome OS: CTRL + / – ) (MAC:CMD + / – )
  2. Navigate website using only the keyboard.
  3. Navigate website using a screen reader.
  4. Text-to-Speech is supported for the visually challenged.
  5. To facilitate keyboard navigation, Skip to Content is the first active element to display upon page entry.
  6. Headers on each page are in logical order: h1 h2 h3 etc.
  7. Elements are labeled with a sufficient contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
  8. Link text is underlined and links are accessible using the TAB and SHIFT TAB keys for keyboard navigation.
  9. Menu links, when accessed via the keyboard, are highlighted in a rectangular frame for easy identification.
  10. No flashing content is deployed.
  11. Alternate text description for images – clearly visible descriptions for screen reader users
  12. Hidden form field text that is only visible to screen readers
  13. Voice control is available, but was found to be wanting for anything other than page navigation.

Our Goal

Our goal, as per the AODA guidelines, is to make our website more accessible for people who use computers or mobile devices differently because of physical limitations. We understand that people must be able to navigate websites using technologies that make browsing possible without certain actions, such as looking at the screen or clicking a mouse.

Easter Egg

Want to know what is hidden inside these { } ? You can if you are using a Screen Reader.

Skip Links

NOTE: The following is applicable if the user navigates a website using ONLY the keyboard.

Before the main content of a page is reached, there are navigation links, search, or other elements. For keyboard users it can be frustrating to get to the main content of a page because they have to tab through all these elements every time over and over again. By implementing a skip link (also known as a skip to content link), those users can skip all these elements and jump right into the content.

On each of our web pages, the link is the first focusable element in the page. When the link is clicked, it will move focus to the main content.

WCGA-2 Requirements

For a complete list of the WCGA-2 requirements implemented, please refer to the following link:
WCGA-2 Requirements

Mobile

Users of mobile devices and people with physical limitations experience similar barriers when interacting with web content. For example, mobile phone users will have a hard time if a website’s navigation requires the use of a mouse because they typically only have an alphanumeric keypad. Similarly, desktop computer users with a motor disability will have a hard time using a website if they can’t use a mouse. Additionally, people with physical limitations sometimes use mobile devices to access websites.

For mobile, the requirements recommend that content, without the need for scrolling in two dimensions, be presented without loss of information or functionality. All images, iframes and forms deployed on the Julian of Norwich website are of a responsive design and do not require scrolling in two dimensions.

The Monthly Calendar

The calendar is an important element of our website. We use the free version of the Time.ly Calendar to keep our operating costs low, but it does pose a few problems for people with physical limitations.

Keyboard Only Navigation
When a user tabs to a specific event and taps the Enter key to obtain detailed information, there is no (Time.ly) built-in means of closing the modal (pop-up window) without a mouse. However, if a keyboard-only user has already mapped their mouse to the keyboard using a scripting tool such as AutoHotKey (natural assumption), this limitation does not present a problem.
Example Script: LButton::^z maps the Left Mouse Button to Ctrl z.

Event Visibility to a Screen Reader
The Time.ly calendar outputs the text for each entry, to a screen reader, as “timely-iframe-embed-0”, rendering the output useless . To address this issue, a link to a cloned Google calendar, which does correctly display the events to a screen reader, has been provided. The calendars auto sync every 12 hours.

Testing

All tests were performed using Google Chrome (on a Windows 11 computer) and related extensions.
1) Wave Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE), tota11y for Chrome and DIVI Accessibility (a WordPress plug-in) to measure overall adherence to protocols.
2) NVDA (Windows) and Chrome Screen Reader to measure Screen Reader functionality.
3) Google Read Aloud to validate text for ‘text-to-speech’ capability – not particularly intuitive – a weak alternative to a screen reader – functional, but not recommended.
4) Live Caption, for those with hearing restrictions, to automatically generate real-time captions for YouTube / Vimeo videos.
5) Hands Free for Web Page Voice Control – does require some practice to use – struggles with drop-down menus – great for page navigation.
6) Skip to Content – upon page load, a button appears in the top left corner of each page to assist keyboard-only users to bypass top level menus and access a page’s content more expediently.

Since we have not tested the above with Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari or Firefox browsers, we respectfully request that visitors to our site, who experience physical limitations, switch to Chrome.

Feedback

If you encounter any accessibility issues with our website, please email the web administrator:
Web Admin Email

Certification – Occupational Safety Group (OSG)