CollectionBuilder Accessibility
This page gathers the IT Subcommittee's resources and reviews of the accessibility of CollectionBuilder. This page will be updated as new information is available or further reviews are conducted.
Accessibility Overview
In our testing, it seems possible to create a site with CollectionBuilder using a screen reader and/or keyboard only navigation, but there were some issues. The biggest barrier is cognitive load and clarity of instructions. The walkthroughs for Google Sheets and GitHub are missing some steps, and the instructions are not clear. The Google Sheets walkthrough was more accessible; however, the keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets changed while we were doing testing, which introduced extra complications. GitHub itself has accessibility issues, but they are currently focusing on improving their accessibility.
On the public side of CollectionBuilder, a lot of the accessibility of the final site does depend on the creator using best practices for accessibility. There were some areas where it seems the basic template of CollectionBuilder may use inappropriate headings, but it was unclear in our testing.
Overall, CollectionBuilder felt difficult to use for a screen reader and/or keyboard only user, with incomplete instructions and audio feedback. In general, CollectionBuilder is somewhat accessible when using Google Sheets (dependent on the user's familiarity with the new keyboard shortcuts), but it still requires use of GitHub. CollectionBuilder is not very accessible when using GitHub (though if you're very familiar with using GitHub, it may be easier for you), and requires you to install software.
General Information
- Accessibility Page
- There is no VPAT, but there is a discussion topic from 2020 about it.
- CollectionBuilder Walkthroughs mainpage
Known Accessibility Issues
Cognitive Load Issues
CollectionBuilder requires prior knowledge of Google Sheets and GitHub. The walkthroughs to build to a test site require a significant cognitive load, as there are steps missing, complicated language, and required knowledge of some programming basics. When following the GitHub walkthrough specifically, our testers found it to be hard to follow. Many testers became frustrated and gave up, while others stuck it out until the file they needed to upload from the walkthrough was too big to work on GitHub. The gifs on the walkthrough pages were only helpful to sighted users; the alt text for the gifs were not helpful at all.
One tester called out the walkthroughs for being especially frustrating for individuals who take step-by-step instructions literally. The steps were unclear, and didn't always match what actually happened in the software.
For a screen reader user, it's a strain to try to remember the steps of the walkthrough and do the steps on another page. It's not an intuitive interface, so frequent referral back to the walkthrough was required. We suggest having the walkthrough on another device or somewhere convenient to access to cut down on the cognitive load.