SayPro Website Evaluation for WCAG 2.1 Compliance

SayPro Website Evaluation for WCAG 2.1 Compliance from SayPro Monthly January SCMR-17 SayPro Monthly Inclusive Design: Ensure the site is accessible to users with disabilities by SayPro Online Marketplace Office under SayPro Marketing Royalty SCMR

SayPro Monthly January SCMR-17 Report: Inclusive Design
Conducted By: SayPro Online Marketplace Office
Date of Evaluation: February 2025

Introduction

As part of the SayPro Monthly SCMR-17 initiative, the goal is to ensure that the SayPro website is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. This evaluation assesses the website’s design, content, and interactive features in light of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.1 standards. These guidelines focus on making web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities, covering a wide range of disabilities including those related to vision, hearing, motor skills, and cognitive functioning.

This evaluation is performed to ensure that SayPro’s online presence complies with WCAG 2.1 standards and offers an inclusive digital experience.

Evaluation Criteria:

1. Design:

The design of the SayPro website is an essential aspect of its accessibility. This includes visual elements such as color contrast, typography, and layout consistency.

1.1 Color Contrast

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 requires text to have a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text against its background (Level AA).
Findings: The SayPro website’s design shows areas where text does not meet the required contrast ratio, particularly in footer links and button text.
Impact: Users with low vision or color blindness may find it difficult to read or differentiate text from background elements, which can lead to poor user experience.
Recommendation: Adjust color combinations to ensure compliance with the 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Tools like the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker can help verify compliance.

1.2 Typography

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 advises that text should be readable and easy to understand for a wide range of users, with options for users to adjust font size.
Findings: The font size used in body text is relatively small, especially in mobile versions of the site, making it difficult for users with low vision or older users to read comfortably.
Impact: Insufficient font size and inability to adjust text for better readability can hinder user experience for individuals with visual impairments.
Recommendation: Increase the minimum font size for body text to at least 16px and allow users to zoom in on text without breaking the layout. Also, ensure that the website is fully responsive and that text scales correctly.

1.3 Layout Consistency and Visual Clarity

Guideline Compliance: Consistent layouts help users navigate more efficiently, especially users with cognitive disabilities or those using screen readers.
Findings: While the website layout is generally consistent, some key interactive elements, such as form fields and navigation links, lack adequate visual differentiation. Some elements rely only on color to indicate their purpose, which may not be clear to users with vision impairments.
Impact: Users with cognitive disabilities or color blindness may struggle to recognize or navigate these elements effectively.
Recommendation: Ensure all interactive elements like buttons, links, and form inputs are identifiable using more than just color. For example, use borders, underlines, or icons along with color changes.

2. Content:

Content accessibility is crucial in providing equal access to information. This involves checking for alt text for images, proper text structure, and the clarity of multimedia content.

2.1 Alt Text for Images

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 mandates that all images, unless decorative, include descriptive alternative text (alt text).
Findings: Some images, especially decorative ones, lack alt text, and other meaningful images (such as charts and infographics) lack detailed descriptions for screen reader users.
Impact: Screen reader users cannot interpret the images without descriptive alt text, leading to a loss of information.
Recommendation: Provide appropriate alt text for all meaningful images and use alt="" for decorative images. Additionally, for complex images such as graphs, include a detailed textual description or link to a long description.

2.2 Headings and Document Structure

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 emphasizes the importance of a clear and consistent heading structure for better navigation.
Findings: Some pages of the website have improperly structured headings, such as skipping heading levels (e.g., an h2 directly following an h1).
Impact: Screen reader users may find it difficult to navigate the page and identify the content sections if the heading structure is not logical and consistent.
Recommendation: Ensure proper hierarchical use of headings. The main content should start with an h1, followed by h2 for subsections, and so on. Avoid skipping heading levels to maintain a clear, navigable structure.

2.3 Multimedia Content (Video and Audio)

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 recommends that all multimedia content, such as videos and audio files, includes captions, transcripts, and audio descriptions for accessibility.
Findings: Some video content on the SayPro website lacks captions and transcripts, and there are no audio descriptions for videos that are not purely decorative.
Impact: Users who are deaf or hard of hearing cannot access the audio content, and users with vision impairments miss important visual information in videos.
Recommendation: Provide captions for all video content and transcripts for audio files. Additionally, where necessary, offer audio descriptions of visual elements in videos.

2.4 Readable Text

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 recommends content should be readable and understandable, with simplified language and structure where possible.
Findings: The text in some areas of the site (e.g., terms and conditions, privacy policy) is dense and written in complex language.
Impact: Users with cognitive disabilities or those who are not familiar with legal or technical terminology may find it difficult to understand the content.
Recommendation: Simplify the language in dense content and consider providing summaries or additional explanations where complex terms are used.

3. Interactive Features:

Ensuring accessibility in interactive features (forms, navigation, buttons) is vital for users with motor impairments and other disabilities.

3.1 Keyboard Navigation

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 ensures all interactive elements must be navigable via keyboard alone, without requiring a mouse.
Findings: Some interactive elements, like dropdown menus and modal dialogs, are not fully accessible via keyboard navigation.
Impact: Users who cannot use a mouse due to motor impairments may find it difficult to interact with some parts of the site.
Recommendation: Ensure that all interactive elements, including forms, buttons, and menus, are fully accessible using the keyboard. Utilize proper tabindex attributes to create a logical navigation order.

3.2 Forms and Labels

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 specifies that form fields should be properly labeled and errors should be communicated clearly to users.
Findings: Some form fields lack clear, descriptive labels, and error messages are not always associated with the relevant form fields.
Impact: Screen reader users and those with cognitive impairments may struggle to understand form fields or correct mistakes.
Recommendation: Ensure that all form fields have clear <label> elements associated with them. Provide real-time feedback and error messages that are linked to the relevant fields.

3.3 Focus Indicators

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 mandates visible focus indicators for interactive elements to help users navigate via keyboard.
Findings: Some interactive elements on the site do not display a visible focus indicator when navigated via the keyboard.
Impact: Users relying on keyboard navigation may struggle to determine which element is currently focused, leading to confusion.
Recommendation: Ensure that all interactive elements have visible focus indicators, such as a border or outline, when they receive keyboard focus.

3.4 Dynamic Content and Live Regions

Guideline Compliance: WCAG 2.1 suggests using ARIA live regions for dynamic content updates.
Findings: Some dynamic content (e.g., product updates or notifications) is not announced to screen reader users.
Impact: Users who rely on screen readers may miss out on important updates if the content changes dynamically.
Recommendation: Implement ARIA live regions (aria-live) for dynamic content to ensure screen readers announce content updates to users.

Conclusion and Final Recommendations:

The SayPro website generally provides a good user experience, but there are several areas that require improvement to fully comply with WCAG 2.1 standards:

Color Contrast: Ensure proper contrast ratios for text and background combinations.
Alt Text for Images: Provide meaningful alt text for all images and proper labels for multimedia.
Typography: Increase font size and ensure text is adjustable for users with low vision.
Keyboard Navigation: Make all interactive elements keyboard-accessible.
Forms and Labels: Implement clear labels and feedback for all form fields.
Dynamic Content: Use ARIA live regions to announce content updates to screen readers.
Focus Indicators: Add visible focus indicators to all interactive elements.

By addressing these issues, SayPro can improve its website’s accessibility, providing a more inclusive experience for users with disabilities, as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure that digital content is universally accessible.

Prepared by:
SayPro Online Marketplace Office
Report Version: SCMR-17
Date: February 4, 2025