Our Auditing Tool - OARC
OARC
The Open Accessibility Review Checker
Our custom auditing tool has been developed by Open Book Futures to help small presses audit their static eBook files for accessibility. There are 40 points on the checklist, split into 5 sections: Text Features, Non-Text Features, Semantic Tagging, Reading Order and Navigation, and Metadata. To determine these checklist points, we took out just the elements of WCAG that apply to static eBook files, removing those that apply to dynamic and interactive web pages, and adding in some additional EPUB or PDF specific points. Therefore the checklist is not suitable for auditing websites.
You can also access OARC formatted as a spreadsheet: OARC [Google Sheets]
On the spreadsheet you can find some additional context including whether each feature can be audited by a machine or needs to be done manually, and our approximation on how complicated each task is. Therefore, below, we present the checklist 3 times, in section order, and then split by human or machine audit and then by complexity.
OARC
A Text Features
- Text is actual text; not images of text.
- Colours of text has contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
- Headings are descriptive of the content they contain
- Text is reflowable without causing horizontal scrolling or other problems
- Text can be resized without causing horizontal scrolling or other problems
- Line height and spacing, letter spacing and word spacing can all be changed without problems
- Orientation can be changed without problems
- Fonts are coded correctly
B Non-Text Features
- Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) have meaningful ALT text
- Colours of non-text features (figures, graphics) has contrast ratio of at least 3:1
- Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) have multiple ways of conveying meaning
- Links are accessible and meaningful
- Other clickable elements are 24 x 24 pixels
- Other clickable elements have visible text that matches the text in the underlying code
- A list's numbers, letters or bullets are displayed and tagged correctly
- A tables's headers, rows and columns are tagged correctly
C Semantic Tagging
- Non-decorative/real and decorative/artefact content is all tagged correctly
- Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) are tagged and grouped correctly
- Lists, tables and TOCs are tagged correctly
- Headers, footers, notes and references are tagged correctly
- Headings are tagged as headings
- Headings have just 1 <H1>, at the beginning
- Headings <H2>-<H6> don't skip levels
- No headings <H7> or higher
- Other non-PDF structure elements tagged correctly (EPUBs)
- PDF tags support the separate reading order (PDFs)
- PDF role mapping is correct (PDFs)
- Other structure elements in PDF tagged correctly (PDFs)
D Reading Order and Navigation
- Multiple ways to navigate
- Static page breaks are present (EPUBs)
- Static page breaks are navigable (EPUBs)
- Navigation consistent throughout
- Reading/focus order retains meaning when using tabs or a screenreader
- Repeating blocks of content can be skipped
E Metadata and Conformance reporting
- File has metadata
- File metadata has a title that is used instead of file name
- File metadata has a valid language
- Where the language changes, individual parts have a valid language
- Source of static page breaks/pagination is identifiable (EPUBs)
- File metadata includes full accessibility conformance information
OARC by auditing type
Machine/Automated Auditing
A2. Colours of text has contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
A8. Fonts are coded correctly
B2. Colours of non-text features (figures, graphics) has contrast ratio of at least 3:1
B5. Other clickable elements are 24 x 24 pixels
B6. Other clickable elements have visible text that matches the text in the underlying code
C6. Headings have just 1 <H1>, at the beginning
C7. Headings <H2>-<H6> don't skip levels
C8. No headings <H7> or higher
C10. PDF tags support the separate reading order
C11. PDF role mapping is correct
C12. Other structure elements in PDF tagged correctly
D1. Multiple ways to navigate
D2. Static page breaks are present
D3. Static page breaks are navigable
E1. File has metadata
E2. File metadata has a title that is used instead of file name
E3. File metadata has a valid language
E4. Where the language changes, individual parts have a valid language
E6. File metadata includes full accessibility conformance information
Human/Manual Auditing
A1. Text is actual text; not images of text
A3. Headings are descriptive of the content they contain
A4. Text is reflowable without causing horizontal scrolling or other problems
A5. Text can be resized without causing horizontal scrolling or other problems
A6. Line height and spacing, letter spacing and word spacing can all be changed without problems
A7. Orientation can be changed without problems
B1. Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) have meaningful ALT text
B3. Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) have multiple ways of conveying meaning
B4. Links are accessible and meaningful
B7. A list's numbers, letters or bullets are displayed and tagged correctly
B8. A tables's headers, rows and columns are tagged correctly
C1. Non-decorative/real and decorative/artefact content is all tagged correctly
C2. Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) are tagged and grouped correctly
C3. Lists, tables and TOCs are tagged correctly
C4. Headers, footers, notes and references are tagged correctly
C5. Headings are tagged as headings
C9. Other non-PDF structure elements tagged correctly
E5. Source of static page breaks/pagination is identifiable
OARC by complexity
Easy wins
A1. Text is actual text; not images of text
A2. Colours of text has contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1
A4. Text is reflowable without problems
A5. Text can be resized without problems
A6. Line height and spacing, letter spacing and word spacing can all be changed without problems
A7. Orientation can be changed without problems
B5. Other clickable elements are 24 x 24 pixels
B6. Other clickable elements have visible text that matches the text in the underlying code
B7. A list's numbers, letters or bullets are displayed and tagged correctly
C1. Non-decorative/real and decorative/artefact content is all tagged correctly
C2. Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) are tagged and grouped correctly
C3. Lists, tables and TOCs are tagged correctly
C4. Headers, footers, notes and references are tagged correctly
C5. Headings are tagged as headings
C6. Headings have just 1 <H1>, at the beginning
C7. Headings <H2>-<H6> don't skip levels
C8. No headings <H7> or higher
C9. Other non-PDF structure elements tagged correctly
D1. Multiple ways to navigate
D4. Navigation consistent throughout
D6. Repeating blocks of content can be skipped
Medium
A3. Headings are descriptive of the content they contain
A8. Fonts are coded correctly
B2. Colours of non-text features (figures, graphics) has contrast ratio of at least 3:1
B4. Links are accessible and meaningful
B8. A tables's headers, rows and columns are tagged correctly
D2. Static page breaks are present
D3. Static page breaks are navigable
D5. Reading/focus order retains meaning when using tabs or a screenreader
E1. File has metadata
E2. File metadata has a title that is used instead of file name
E3. File metadata has a valid language
E5. Source of static page breaks/pagination is identifiable
E6. File metadata includes full accessibility conformance information
Complicated
B1. Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) have meaningful ALT text
B3. Non-text features (figures, graphics, captions, links, mathematical expressions) have multiple ways of conveying meaning
B10. PDF tags support the separate reading order
B11. PDF role mapping is correct
B12. Other structure elements in PDF tagged correctly
Variable
E4. Where the language changes, individual parts have a valid language
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