Accessibility statement

Scope and ownership.

This accessibility statement applies to the main website of New College Lanarkshire.

This accessibility statement is based on a sample of 20 web page/documents selected to demonstrate a range of design types and meet a range of different enquirer interests.

In this accessibility statement we refer to browser plug-ins and other tools that may make your experience of web content more comfortable or productive. These suggestions are provided in good faith from reputable sources but please note that plugins and software are used at your own risk. New College Lanarkshire is not responsible for any issues arising from the use of tools or plugins over which we have no influence or control. Plugin suggestions are for the Chrome browser but similar (or identical) plugins exist for other browsers.

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Accessibility Statement Details

In addition to the website accessibility benefits mentioned in this section, we have invested in the Recite overlay tool that makes it easy for users to

have text read out loud,
change text size, colours and font,
provide a visual focus window to help concentration.
selected text content on a page can also be downloaded as an MP3 file to listen to separately.

You can also find useful guidance on adjusting your laptop or phone to suit your need on these resources MyComputerMyWay or Scope guidance on phone accessibility features In addition, major operating systems produce the following guidance:

Visual aspects of the website

The website pages reflow to fit the resolution and orientation of your device. We have tested this up to a zoom level of 400% on a wide sample of pages.

On a laptop/PC browser, you can magnify text either by

using the inbuilt browser zoom function - CTRL + (Windows) or CMD + (Mac).
using the Recite toolbar, or
increasing the default font size in your browser settings (or with browser plugins - for example A+ Font SizeChangerLite for Chrome)

Using a mix of both techniques can give fine-tuned viewing experiences.

On a mobile device get magnification and reflow by changing the browser default font size and default display size in the accessibility settings menu.
All PDFs sampled could be magnified and reflowed to fit the screen width in Adobe Reader using the inbuilt View>Zoom > Reflow functionality.

Personalising colours

Pages have been designed so that users should be able to change font size and colours within the browser settings, using the Recite toolbar or using browser plug-ins like HighContrast.

Navigation

Almost all downloadable PDFs could be efficiently browsed by a good heading structure in the bookmarks panel as well as a hyperlinked table of contents.
The heading structure of most pages sampled is logical and hierarchical, allowing assistive technology users to navigate quickly to any part of the page – for example using a browser plugin like HeadingsMap or inbuilt screenreader functionality. Some pages (see sections below) have heading levels missing or reversed.
All links will open in the same browser window, except for links to external websites.
Most content can be accessed by keyboard-only actions, but this is not as easy as it should be.

Listening to content

All text content on pages content can be accessed by text to speech tools including

The Recite text to speech feature,
browser based plugins like Selection Reader for Chrome,
clipboard readers like Orato and the ATBar,
commercial text to speech tools.

Language

Almost all pages have their language identified for screenreader users. The one exception noted in the sampling was online applications.
The Recite toolbar allows users to translate the page into their preferred language.

There are several key accessibility challenges that we are planning to fix. This section summarises the main issues that might affect you. The technical section on Non-accessible content has more details if you need them.

Keyboard navigation

Keyboard-only uses will struggle to use the websites effectively because
- No skip links are available. This adds around 40 keystrokes when accessing any page.
- The tab order doesn’t follow the visual order of content on the page.
- It is not possible for keyboard users to open submenus without a mouse.
- The tab focus often tracks content that is not visible on the page making orientation very difficult.
- The newsletter Subscribe option on most pages gives no visual indication when it is selected by a keyboard user.
- On pages like Course categories, interactivities like filters can be operated without a mouse but the lack of visual focus makes it impossible to see what is selected.

Page structure and layout

ARIA landmarks are available for screenreader users, but they overlap making them difficult to use.
All webpages sampled have a heading structure, but they were inconsistently applied.
- Many have gaps in the heading hierarchy
- Some pages have hierarchy reversals or empty headings
- Several pages have visual headings that are not coded as navigable headings.
A small proportion of sample PDFs lacked navigable bookmarks - for example ICT policy framework.

Colour and contrast

Although colour contrasts work for most page elements, there are sitewide contrast failures on the main menu on all pages.
A high proportion of hyperlinks across sample pages are only indicated by colour making difficult for some people to see.

Links

Some hyperlinks have non-unique link text (such as Find out more).
Pages have identical descriptive link text (like “Apprenticeships” but each link goes to a different place.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

This list is currently based on limited testing of a sample of key pages. If you come across additional issues, please contact us using the contact details in the sections above.

Navigation - keyboard navigation

Keyboard-only navigation is complicated by the following issues:

It is not possible to skip repetitive content such as the menus on each page. This slows down keyboard only uses. Until this is fixed, we recommend keyboard users search the browser page (CTRL=F Windows or CMD+F Mac) for specific information such as the accessibility statement. We advise screenreader users to navigate the page by heading level to reduce the keystrokes required. Absence of skip links fails checkpoint 2.4.1 – bypass blocks. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.
The visual indication of the current tab focus can be difficult to see in places. This makes it hard to know where you are on a page. Until this is fixed, browser plug-ins like Focus Indicator for Chrome can help make the current focus visible and will make the page easy to navigate without a mouse. This currently fails 2.4.7 Focus visible. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.
Although it is possible to get to submenu items without a mouse, the submenus remain invisible making content harder to find for keyboard only uses. The same is true for some of our course filters – for example the Course Categories Until this is fixed, we recommend keyboard users use the main search function in conjunction with a focus indicator plugin. This currently fails 2.1.1 Keyboard. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.
The Tab order for a keyboard user does not closely match the visual layout of the page. This could be confusing for sighted keyboard only users. This fails checkpoint 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.
The Cookie panel can be opened with the shortcut key Alt + C. It is not recommended to provide shortcut keys unless research has taken place to ensure the key combination does not interfere with keyboard commands for screenreader users, otherwise it can interfere with their navigation. This fails 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.

Navigation – headings and links

The heading structure on several pages (such as the home page, mental health support, business support, your offer etc) have inconsistent heading levels or a confusing hierarchy of heading structures. This fails 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.
Some hyperlink link text is non-unique – for example Find out more on Get involved and Mental health support pages or Download campus map on Our campuses pages. This fails checkpoint 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context). NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.
Some links comprise of both text and images (for example Academic Calendar page). In this case, the image should be marked as decorative otherwise the screenreader user gets redundant information. This fails 1.1.1 Non-text Content and 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context). NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.

Images

Image descriptions are not yet consistently applied. For example, the About NCL page has Alt Text that is merely a filename. Likewise, some pages contain multiple images with identical ID. This fails 1.1.1 Non-text Content and 4.1.1 Parsing respectively. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.

Forms and interactivities

There is a missing label on the newsletter subscription form at the base of many pages. This could make it difficult for screenreader users to know the purpose of the form. This fails 3.2 Labels or instructions. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.
Some forms on the website – for example the Available courses search - could be difficult for screenreader users to fill in due to select boxes having no description. This fails checkpoint 1.3.1 Info and relationships as well as 3.3.2 Labels or instructions. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.

Visual aspects of the website (magnification, reflow, colours contrasts etc)

There are limited colour contrast failures related to current branding. This fails success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process. .
Most pages include hyperlinks that are identified only by colour – these can be difficult to see for people with colour vision difficulties. This fails checkpoint 1.4.1 Use of Colour. Whilst we’re working on it you might find a tool like A+ FontSize Changer Lite helpful – it can automatically underline all hyperlinks on a page. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.

Documents

Whilst most PDF documents sampled met good accessibility standards, a few key documents such as the ICT policy framework and the accommodation guide are not tagged for navigation by bookmark panel or screenreaders. This fails checkpoint 2.4.6 Headings and labels. We are currently negotiating timelines for this fix. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.
Our online campus maps are not accessible. These are exempt from the regulations as long as essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use, but we have not yet provided this. NCL are currently going through the process of appointing a new contractor for the design and build of a new website which aims to complete by September 2023. All accessibility issues unattended to will be addressed during this process.