Accessibility Statement for the Oxford Drug Discovery Institute’s Website
The University of Oxford is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to University information, courses and activities offered publicly through the web. Our Equality Policy outlines our commitment to a culture which ‘maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected’.
This accessibility statement applies to the University of Oxford, Oxford Drug Discovery Institute (ODDI) website – https://aruk-oddi.medsci.ox.ac.uk/
Our Aims
This website is run by the ODDI Administrator. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We also endeavour to make the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We are aware that some parts of our website are not fully accessible. These include:
- Some images that don’t have a meaningful text alternative
- Not all page titles are unique or clearly indicate the page’s topic or purpose, for example, some pages with a similar function have the same title but relate to different subjects and are found in different sections
- Some link text isn’t meaningful out of context
- Some links to external sites open in a new browser window and some open in the same browser window
- Some video content does not have synchronised captions or subtitles
- Some video content that contains visual information is not accompanied by audio description or text alternative
- When CSS styling is removed from some pages, the content may not be in logical order
- Some pages rely on visual formats such as graphs, flowcharts or videos only to communicate instructions or information
- PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- While content is fully usable and scaled correctly when text is enlarged up to 200%, some images appear lower resolution
- Navigation is not always consistent, with certain pages displaying with or without a side navigation menu and/or are navigable from two separate or unrelated sections.
We are working to address areas where our accessibility needs improvement. Please see our ‘Known issues’ section for more details.
Feedback and Contact Information
If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact the ODDI Administrator:
Email: kate.humphrey@cmd.ox.ac.uk
Postal address:
ODDI Administrator
Centre for Medicines Discovery, University of Oxford
NDM Research Building, Old Road Campus
Roosevelt Drive, Headington
Oxford OX3 7FZ
We will consider your request and get back to you within 14 days. Please note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ODDI Administrator is working remotely, so responses to postal enquiries may take longer.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are 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, please contact the ODDI Administrator:
Email: kate.humphrey@cmd.ox.ac.uk
Postal address:
ODDI Administrator
Centre for Medicines Discovery, University of Oxford
NDM Research Building, Old Road Campus
Roosevelt Drive, Headington
Oxford OX3 7FZ
Other accessibility resources
If you would like more general information about accessibility and resources for students, staff and visitors, please visit our Equality and Diversity pages.
If you’re looking for information on building accessibility, please view the Access Guide or the University’s interactive map.
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 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Oxford, Oxford Drug Discovery Institute is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliance and exemptions listed on our ‘Known Issues page’.
Known Issues
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Issues with video and images
Images
- Some images do not have a meaningful text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1.
By September 2021, all images will have a meaningful text alternative. Purely decorative images will have blank alt text and infographics will have a link to a full description of the content.
- Some images include text as part of the image, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. These mainly relate to embedded images of posters. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5.
By September 2021, all images containing text will have a suitable text alternative to include the image text.
- When page text is enlarged up to 200%, some images appear low resolution or pixelated. While the text content remains fully usable and thus this is not a failure of the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4, poor image quality when enlarged reduces the experience for people with mild visual disabilities.
By September 2021, all images will be at an appropriate resolution so as not to lose significant quality when enlarged up to 200%.
The ODDI website will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
Video
The website currently contains no videos.
Issues with navigation, structure, links and keyboard operability
Navigation
- Not all sections have consistent navigation. This issue occurs in two separate ways: 1) several sections contain a mix of pages that appear with the side navigation in place and pages where the side navigation disappears, 2) some pages are navigable in more than one section, which triggers a change of context in that the side navigation options unexpectedly change. This makes it harder for people to learn how to navigate our website or develop strategies (like using screen reader shortcuts) for more efficient navigation. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.3.
All sections will be reviewed and fixed by September 2021.
The ODDI website will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
Structure
- Not all headings are hierarchical, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology such as screen readers to access. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1.
- Headings have on occasion been used to highlight information rather than for headings, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology to use. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 and 2.4.6.
- When styling is removed on the homepage, not all the content is in a logical order, which is reflective of the rest of the website’s structure. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2. For example:
- Some main navigation items do not appear in the same order
- Some pages within the main navigation items do not appear in the same order e.g. oldest first rather than newest first, or listed either alphabetically or from date created rather than in intended order e.g. by category or theme
- The main content on all webpages appears a long way down the page under all the main menus and sub-menus
- The spacing of items is affected by sub-pages within web pages
This is a complex mixture of CMS and content errors and we will work with our developers to implement fixes over the coming months, by September 2021.
The ODDI website will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
Links
- Some links do not use text that is meaningful out of context, which can result in users of screen readers not being able to understand the link without reading the surrounding text and users of speech recognition software being less able to target links accurately using voice commands. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4.
All links will be reviewed and fixed by September 2021.
- Some links to external sites or files open in a new browser window and some open in the same browser window making the site behaviour unpredictable, which can result in the site being less accessible for people with some cognitive disabilities and people who use screen readers. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.2.
All links to external websites and files will be reviewed and will open in a new browser window by September 2021.
The ODDI website will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
Keyboard operability
- Some menus, links, buttons, and other controls cannot be operated using the keyboard alone, which can cause problems for people who are blind, have low vision and/or hand tremors. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1.
The ODDI website will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
Issues with contrast, use of colour and visual characteristics
- Some elements have low contrast levels (e.g. image copyright), which can result in text being difficult to read, especially for people with low vision, poor eyesight or colour blindness. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3.
- Some pages rely on visual formats such as colour themes only to communicate instructions or information, which means that users who are unable to see or recognise information communicated using sensory characteristics are unable to perceive that information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.3.
The ODDI website will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
All pages with be reviewed and fixed by September 2021.
Issues with language and content
- When using mobile or tablet devices, it may not be possible to dismiss or interact with some extra content without moving focus or it disappearing. This may cause problems for disabled or sight impaired users as pop-up content may be accidentally triggered or pop-up content may not stay on the screen. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.13.
The ODDI website will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
Issues with documents, including Word files, PowerPoints, PDFs
- The PDF and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards, which could result in them not being fully accessible to users of screen readers.
- Documents that are essential to the service we provide will be either converted to HTML pages, have plain text equivalents supplied, or be replaced with accessible versions by September 2021.
The ODDI website will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
Issues with Content Management System (CMS)
We are aware of the following accessibility issues relating to the Newt CMS that this site is built with. As a result, the ODDI website content will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
- Content structure that is communicated visually on this site may not be made available to assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.4.4.
- This site's design is non-responsive so device screen size, shape and orientation does not affect the presentation of the content. This fails WCAG 1.3.4 and WCAG 1.4.10.
- Form fields on this site may not contain appropriate HTML autocomplete tokens to assist with their automatic population. This fails WCAG 1.3.5.
- This site does not have automatically generated links to skip over blocks of links and other interactive elements. This fails WCAG 2.4.1.
- This website does not have the content language indicated in each page's HTML markup. This fails WCAG 3.1.1.
- The HTML markup used to generate the webpages on this site is not always completely correctly formed and may throw some errors if ran through a validation service. This fails WCAG 4.1.1.
Disproportionate burden
We’ve assessed the cost of fixing these issues and believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.
We are aware of the issues using the Newt software. As a result, the ODDI website content will be moving from Newt CMS to a different platform by January 2021, with the aim of eliminating the issues highlighted in this audit.
We will make another assessment after this has been complete.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Third-party content
Our site includes third party content and functionality. This may direct you to a related service, link to another site or supporting documentation. We are not responsible for the accessibility of third-party content or to other sites we link to. This includes directing you to YouTube videos.
We will endeavour to provide an accessible alternative to any third-party content that isn’t compliant.
Documents (Word &PDF)
This site has some Word and PDF documents which were published before September 2018. These aren’t essential to the service we provide and won’t be replaced. If you experience any difficulties accessing these documents, please email kate.humphrey@cmd.ox.ac.uk.
Video content
This site has pre-recorded video content that was published before 23 September 2020, which is exempt from the accessibility regulations.
Archived content
This site contains archived content, which is exempt from the accessibility regulations. The archived content is mainly hidden webpages and sections that are not currently relevant but archived for potential future review, published prior to 23 September 2018, but which have not since been updated.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We want to provide the best possible experience for all our website visitors. To achieve this, we will:
- Be moving the existing content on the ODDI website to a new content management system.
- Fix known issues
- Check all new content for accessibility
- Obtain training for the content editor on accessibility
- Carry out periodic accessibility checks.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 18 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 18 September 2020. The test was carried out by the ODDI Administrator using a sample of pages and content types. The CMS has been audited for accessibility by the Nuffield Department of Medicine Web Team and the ODDI Administrator.
The pages were checked manually using a combination of the following methods:
- Checked against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1, with a focus on the items in the Gov.uk’s WCAG 2.1 Primer Checklist.
- Viewed without style sheets
- Checked using the WebAim’s Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
Newt