Accessibility Standards

People with disabilities make up the third largest minority group in the United States—more than 40 million people. The internet is either partially or completely inaccessible to many of the disabled and accessible websites can be difficult to create.

SoftChalk is committed to providing software products that comply with accessibility standards to address the needs of people with disabilities and help organizations and individuals meet accessibility standards. With SoftChalk, educators can easily create lessons for students with disabilities and distribute them to various learning platforms in a single format. All content created with SoftChalk is 508 compliant.

Here is an overview of SoftChalk’s accessibility standards: SoftChalk’s Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) details all the regulations of the U.S. Section 508 accessibility standard and explains how SoftChalk helps comply with each provision.

Here are some of SoftChalk’s great accessibility features:

  • Images
    Images added to a lesson can have “alt tags” added, which allow instructors to easily add image descriptors such as long descriptions and alternative text. This allows screen readers to more easily describe an image that is used on a web page. Images used as spacers and for formatting reasons do not have alt tags and are thus (appropriately) ignored by alternate browsers and screen readers.
  • Style sheets
    SoftChalk uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for page layout and styling. Using CSS improves accessibility because it separates the document content from the presentation of the content, allowing the content to be easily read by screen readers. Instructors can elect to use style sheets or no style at all. Pages using styles are still readable without access to the style sheets.
  • Colors
    Color combinations are selected by the instructor. Color is not used exclusively for information purposes. Feedback to assessment questions is given in text as well as in check or X images given in green or red.
  • Tables
    Instructors can easily add table caption, table summary, and headers when inserting tables into a lesson. These table features allow screen readers to more easily navigate a table and process the information contained in the table. In cases in which tables are used for formatting, no headers are used so that the tables are compatible with screen readers and other alternate browsers.
  • Navigation
    The page navigation on lesson content pages has been designed to allow easy navigation of the content by screen readers. A “Skip Navigation” link is provided at the top of each lesson page to allow easy navigation past redundant page navigation when desired. In addition, no flickering or blinking text or images are used. Navigation can also be performed without the use of a mouse. Only a keyboard is necessary.
  • Pop-up Quizzes
    The interactive pop-up quiz questions in lessons have been designed to allow easy navigation of the content by screen readers. You can access and navigate pop-up quizzes with just a keyboard too.
  • TextPoppers
    The pop-up text annotations created in SoftChalk are designed to be accessible by screen readers. All text annotations are generated with a link to a separate document containing the text of the text annotation, for easy access by screen readers.
  • JavaScript
    JavaScript-based quiz questions and text annotations have been designed to be compatible with screen readers and alternative browsers.
  • Flash
    SoftChalk allows instructors to optionally create student activities that are generated in a Flash format. SoftChalk automatically creates a text description of the Flash activity, and optionally allows an instructor to add an additional text description of the activity. All Flash activities are generated with a link to a separate document that contains the text description of the activity, for easy access by screen readers.
  • Embedded Media
    When embedded media is used in a lesson, SoftChalk gives the instructor the option to add a text description for the media. In addition, SoftChalk automatically generates the embedded media with a link to a separate document that contains the text description of the media, and includes a link to the media that may be opened using an external player. Providing a media link that can be opened by an external player allows for easier access to player controls by students using screen readers.

SoftChalk Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)

The VPAT was developed by the Information Technology Industry Council to be used across the software industry. As more and more companies complete VPATs for their software products, you can evaluate a single product by consulting its VPAT.

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