Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is committed to making its websites and mobile application as accessible as possible in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This accessibility statement applies to ‘The Antonine Wall – Frontiers of the Roman Empire’, available at https://www.antoninewall.org/.
Compliance status
This website site is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and the exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Images
Some images on the site do not have alternative text (alt text) or do not have sufficiently detailed alt text to be useful for assistive technology. This fails success criterion (SC) 1.1.1 Non-text content (A). To improve, we are working with staff and content providers to educate how to write effective alt text. In our next round of development, some of the images will be marked as ‘decorative’ to improve the experience for screen reader users.
Colours
Within our embedded interactive maps, the ‘close button’ for information dialogue boxes do not meet SC 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA). We will adjust the colours to improve visibility in our next round of development.
Videos
Videos on the site do not have audio descriptions and do not have alternatives provided for content. This fails two SC, 1.2.3 Audio description/alt media (prerecorded) and 1.2.5 Audio description (prerecorded). An organisation wide method to produce Audio Description is in discovery phase.
Where videos have been embedded, they lack suitable title attributes. Screen reader users on desktop are not offered a video title until they pass through other pieces of meta-data. This fails SC 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
Recordings
A ‘Roman sound cloud’ was developed as part of the Roman Granary Garden at Bearsden Baptist Church. The project was made in collaboration with the Rediscovering the Antonine Wall project. The recordings while not directly hosted on the website are part of the materials we promote and offer, therefore efforts will be made to offer transcriptions. Without the transcriptions, these materials fail SC 1.2.1 Prerecorded Audio only and Video-only.
Maps
Our maps are embedded Google maps that have controls and modifications for which we have responsibility. The controls we have added are problematic for screen readers and fail on several success criteria. The map’s SVG icons fail SC 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A) as they lack appropriate alt text. The buttons that surround the map and offer options for content (map or list) fail SC 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A) as their roles and values have not been added. The dialogue boxes within the maps offer descriptions of archaeological sites, but these are currently inaccessible to screen readers and also fail SC 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
Navigation
The headings used to navigate through pages are sufficient in their meaning, but on some pages we have not followed best practice by placing them in a correct hierarchy. Visually they look correct, but assistive technology users will find unhelpful semantic structure, which fails SC 1.3.1 Info & Relationships.
After toggling browser magnification in and out again, some menu items become inaccessible to keyboard only users causing a failure of SC 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A). Further errors for SC 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A) are seen when trying to collapse secondary navigation with a keyboard. A consequence is that the ability to see visual focus and to activate some menu parts is lost meaning a failure of SC 2.4.7 Focus Visible (level AA).
Forms
Form fields have markings with an asterisk to indicate that they are required, but there is no onscreen explanation that this is the case. This fails SC 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A). There is also some ambiguity in the terms and conditions check box where an asterisk is placed next to a link even though the field is not compulsory. We will amend this explanatory text at the next round of development.
Content not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
The site contains collections of PDF and Word documents produced before 2018 which are not always fully accessible to screen reader software. When documents are updated, we will ensure that appropriate remediation takes place before publishing.
Our embedded video player is currently Vimeo which does not offer full keyboard access on all desktop browsers. This would fail SC 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A) if tested, although as a third-party tool, it is outside of the scope of the regulations. However, as better options are now in the market, we will look to move content over to better providers so that keyboard users have full access.
Our cookies management tool is difficult for iPad users to navigate with keyboards and the option to customise cookies is not accessible. This is a third-party product, but efforts will be made to find better tools or to resolve this issue. Currently the tool would fail SC 2.4.7 Focus Visible (level AA) and SC 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A).
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 25 August 2023 It will be reviewed on 25 August 2024.
This website was last tested on 21 August 2023. The tests were carried by Historical Environment Scotland’s Digital Accessibility Lead.
How the website was tested
A sample of 10 pages were chosen, knowing that they would have differing components, content types and templates. Popular user journeys were also tested for usability.
The webpages and journeys were manually tested with screen readers and popular combinations of hardware and software:
- Firefox and Chrome with NVDA (desktop and laptop)
- Safari with VoiceOver (MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone)
- Chrome with TalkBack (Android)
Automated tests were conducted using Deque’s AXE extension on Chrome and WAVE on Edge. A series of bookmarklets were used to test alt text and text resizing.
Next steps and roadmap
As a result of the initial audit, we are now in a position to review and prioritise remediation work for our website’s issues. Development work will be commissioned, and high priority issues will be resolved before January 2024. Lower priority issues will be addressed before the site’s next audit which will be conducted by an organisation external to Historic Environment Scotland.
Feedback and contact information
If you need information found within the website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
Email: worldheritage@hes.scot
Telephone: World Heritage +44 (0) 131 668 8716
We will consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact:
Email: worldheritage@hes.scot
Telephone: World Heritage +44 (0) 131 668 8716
Enforcement Procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).