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Ally: accessibility tool

Summary

The Ally tool provides an accessibility checker for content created within or uploaded to Ultra sites. It also allows users to download content in alternative formats.

Ths guide considers Ally for individual content items. For an overall view of site accessibility, see our separate site accessibility report guide.

Relevant VLE site design principles

  • 3.4 Essential: Site and materials content is accessible.
  • 3.6 Essential: Links and materials titles describe the destination or content.
  • 3.7 Essential: Direct, descriptive links are given to open embedded content (eg. video, Padlet or Xerte objects) in full screen.

Overview

Ally has two functions for individual content items:

  • Accessibility checker

    • identifies key accessibility issues and suggests improvements
    • only available for staff

  • Alternative format generator

    • users can download content in a range of other formats
    • available for staff and students

Ally automatically processes various content types:

Functions: accessibility checker, alternative formats

Documents are the main page type to present your site materials. Ally checks the accessibility of content within a Document:

  • processed directly: content added in a Content block (the text editor): text, images, files, YouTube videos etc.
  • processed separately: content uploaded in an Image or File block has its own Ally icons. They must be checked or downloaded in alternative formats separately.
  • not processed: other embedded content, eg. Xerte or Padlet objects

Ally icons relating to content directly added to the Document are shown in the heading bar. The accessibility score icon is only shown in Edit mode (this may take a few seconds to appear).

Document Ally icons in title bar. Uploaded files and images have separate Ally icons

Functions: accessibility checker, alternative formats

Ally processes files uploaded as standalone content items or within Ultra Documents. It will process text, images, tables and other content within the file.

Key file types processed:

  • Microsoft Word (.docx)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx)
  • PDF (.pdf)

Ally icons appear alongside the file name:

Uploaded lecture slides in a weekly content folder, showing the accessibility score and alternative formats icons

Functions: accessibility checker only

Ally checks accessibility of various image types including .png, .jpg, .jpeg and .gif formats. These can be uploaded as standalone content items or within an Ultra Document.

The accessibility score icon appears alongside the file name for standalone images, and overlaid on images within Ultra Documents under the three dots editing icon. Hover over this area to show a higher contrast background.

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Accessibility checker

Using automated tools effectively

The Ally accessibility checker may not identify all issues within content, so treat it as a starting point for your accessibility considerations.

Content items are checked and assigned an accessibility score depending on the issues identified. Ally checks for issues including:

  • missing ALT text for images
  • skipped heading levels
  • low text contrast
  • missing headers in tables
  • untagged PDFs and scanned PDFs that aren't OCR-ed

An accessibility score icon appears on the item with a gauge (or dial) giving a quick measure of content accessibility.

This may take up to a few minutes to appear, depending on the complexity of the content.

Gauge with needle pointing from low to high value to show accessibility score

Accessibility score icon

Step 1: Open the accessibility feedback page

The accessibility feedback page details the issues identified and how to fix them. This can be opened in two ways:

  • Click the accessibility score icon wherever it appears.
  • In the Course Content area, click the three dots icon then select View Accessibility Score.
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Step 2: Review the accessibility score

The score panel at the top of the page shows the item's accessibility score as a percentage.

Accessibility score for the item: 37% (with the gauge icon)

This score gives a combined measure of the severity of issues identified within the item. Lower scores reflect more problematic issues.

Accessibility score Details of issues Actions
Low (0-33%) Severe and/or numerous issues found Must be improved
Medium (34-66%) Less severe and/or slightly fewer issues found Must be improved
High (67-99%) Some minor issues found Possible to improve
Perfect (100%) No issues identified, but some may be present May be possible to improve

Step 3: Address the highlighted issue

The issue panel under the score shows:

  • A brief description of the issue (eg. "This presentation contains images without description").
  • What this means button: to show more details on what the issue is and why it's important to fix it.
  • How to... button: to show guides on how to fix the issue in various content formats.

The review panel highlights the affected content within the item. Scroll through the item or use the up/down arrows in the top bar to review all affected content.

Lecture slides with missing description for image on title page

Edit the content item to improve the accessibility:

  • Uploaded files: update content in the the original file. Download this from the site if needed.
  • Ultra Documents: update content directly within the review panel or issue panel. The accessibility score will update as you edit.

Step 4: Repeat for other identified issues

By default, the issue panel shows the most problematic issue first, but there may be others that also need to be addressed.

  1. Click the All issues button in the score panel.
  2. Select the next identified issue in the list and repeat steps 2 and 3.

All items list of 2 issues: missing image description, insufficient text contrast

Tip

Feedback for Ultra Documents only identifies issues in content added directly within a Content block (ie. with the text editor). Any files or images within the Document have their own separate accessibility feedback.

Step 5: Check for unidentified issues

Warning

Ally can't identify accessibility issues that depend on context, such as appropriate descriptive text for links and file titles.

Ally may not identify all accessibility issues in a content item, so do your final own check for any remaining issues.

Common unidentified issue: non-descriptive link text

Link text is the part of the link that displays for users to click. This must describe the destination content or reason for using the link.

However, Ally generally can't identify if a link isn't appropriately descriptive. For example, here Ally did not identify the poor raw URL or click here links.

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Why use descriptive link text:

  • Assistive technology can isolate links, so descriptive link text is needed for these to make sense without the surrounding text
  • Descriptive links are better integrated with the text and so are more readable for all users

How to write descriptive link text:

  • Describe where the link goes or the reason for using it, eg: Guide to the Ally accessibility tool or Give us feedback on Ultra
  • Don't paste a raw URL without link text, eg: https://vle-support.york.ac.uk/ultra/ally-tool/
  • Don't use text that gives no information about the destination, eg: Click here or More information
Common unidentified issue: missing direct links for embedded content

Direct, descriptive links should be given to open embedded content (eg. video, Padlet or Xerte objects) in full screen.

However, Ally can't identify if an embed has an associated direct link. For example, here is didn't identify the missing link to the embedded Xerte object.

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Why use direct links for embedded content:

  • Being able to open the embedded content and control the size can make it easier to access for users of assistive technology and also on small screens.
  • A direct link provides a fallback incase the embed fails for any reason.

How to add direct links for embedded content:

  • Add the link under the embed using the usual method for your content type.
  • Use link text that describes the embedded content, eg: Open the embedded Padlet in full screen
Common unidentified issue: non-descriptive file names

Uploaded materials such as lecture slides, pre-workshop tasks etc. must have a descriptive file name. This allows users to know what the content is without opening the file.

For example, IFR_W5_Slides_Navigation is much more helpful than Slides or Week 5 - think how many of files students may have like this!

Why use descriptive file names:

  • Descriptive file names quickly summarise the content and help users search site content and organise downloaded files easily.
  • This is helpful for all users, but is especially important for users with dyslexia or other neurodiversities and for users of assistive technologies.

How to write descriptive file names:

  • Describe the content so that users don't have to open the file to know what it is.
    • module identifier, week, materials type, summary of content etc.
    • eg: IFR_W5_Slides_Navigation, IFR_W7_Seminar_Environment
  • For uploaded files, a different display name can be shown that makes sense in the context of the page, eg: Lecture slides displayed within a weekly Ultra Document.
  • Use the naming format consistently for all files across the site.
  • Don't use generic titles, such as slides or week 1

Step 6: Save your improved content

Uploaded files and images:

  1. Save the updated file on your device.
  2. On the Accessibility feedback page, upload the improved file in the upload box.
  3. The improved file overwrites the original file and generates an updated accessibility score.

Improved slides with image description, good text contrast and descriptive link text. Accessibility score = 100%

Ultra Documents:

  1. When you have finished updating content, click the X icon in the top right to close the feedback panel.
  2. This returns you to the Document edit view. Click Save.

Other accessibility checkers

There are also various other platform-specific accessibility checkers available. The checkers below are approved for use at UoY:

Alternative format generator

Tip

The alternative format generator works best if the original content is well-structured and accessible. It can't fix accessibility issues in the content.

Ally allows staff and students to download Ultra Documents and uploaded files in a range of alternative formats.

This helps users access content in a way that suits their needs and preferences.

Large 'A' with a download arrow

Alternative formats icon

Formats available

Alternative formats available include (depending on the content type):

  • Tagged PDF: add structure to aid machine-readability
  • OCRed PDF: convert scanned PDF to machine-readable text
  • Audio: MP3 version (popular with students)
  • Electronic braille: for use with electronic braille displays
  • ePub: for reading in ebook format or on tablets
  • BeeLine Reader and Immersive Reader: tools to improve readability

Download

To download content in an alternative format:

  1. Click the 'A' Ally icon on the item.
  2. Select the desired alternative format from the list of options.
  3. Click Download.

Alternative format options: listed in text