Editors can easily find and fix accessibility issues on their pages using the Editoria11y accessibility checker tool.
What is it?
Editoria11y (short for "editorial accessibility ally") is designed specifically to help editors improve the accessibility of their pages and sites. It only checks for issues you can fix, and you can choose whether to view or hide the issue alert icons. The issue alerts include an explanation of the issue and how to fix it. The tool runs automatically and unobtrusively. Though we encourage you to review each issue it finds, the tool doesn't require you to fix an issue.
Editoria11y is invisible to your site's visitors. The issue alert icons are only visible to editors who are logged into the site. Editoria11y is installed on all DWF websites that have been upgraded to Drupal 10.
How to use it
Log into your site as an editor and visit a page. In the lower right of the page, click the round icon. This displays the issue alert icons, which appear adjacent to any content that has a potential accessibility issue.
There are three colors of issue alert icons, which are shown below:
- Blue: no issue found on the page
- Red: definite issue found on the page
- Yellow: potential issue found that requires review
To view details about the issue, move your cursor over the alert icon to see the tooltip window, shown below, that explains the issue and its fix.
Note: If you want to edit the page while also viewing the alert icons and tooltips, open two tabs or windows in your browser: one for viewing the page and one for editing it. When you finish editing, save your work then refresh the other window to confirm your updates.
To hide the issue alerts, find the Editoria11y window in the lower right of the screen, shown below, and click the "x" button.
The Editoria11y window that displays in the lower right of the screen contains two helpful features:
- Outline: Clicking this displays an outline of all the headings on the page
- Alt Text: Clicking this displays the alternative text for all images on the page
Who can use it?
To use Editoria11y, you must be a web editor for the site. You can only see the issue alert icons after you have logged into the site. The alert icons are hidden from general site visitors and people who are logged into the site but who are not editors (e.g., faculty and students).
Accessibility issues flagged by Editoria11y are not required to be fixed, and use of the tool is optional. However, we recommend reviewing all issues and contacting the web team at asweb@uw.edu with any questions.
Questions?
Contact the web team at asweb@uw.edu with any questions about Editoria11y. We are happy to answer questions about how the tool works or about the accessibility issues it finds.
To learn more about accessibility visit UW-IT Accessible Technology Services, which provides helpful and comprehensive resources, including best practices and guidelines for website accessibility.
The Editoria11y ally checker tool is a Drupal module maintained by the Drupal community. To learn more, visit the Editoria11y module page.