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EndNote Online

Summary

This report reflects the findings of a high-level assessment of the EndNote (web version) platform for its conformance with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 (WCAG 2.1). Overall, there are very few issues with the EndNote platform. There are, however, some essential WCAG 2.1 A and AA level requirements that need to be met for compliance around the use of semantic HTML, accessible naming, and bypassing content blocks. There are also a few issues with keyboard navigation and focus. Below are the most critical issues to address to improve system compliance.

Top Findings

  1. Semantic HTML: This is the most important issue with the system as it stands right now. Currently, the main content section of each page is structured using a semantic HTML <table> element. This presents significant issues for screen readers as they rely on the programmatic relationships of semantic HTML to read the page to non-sighted users. Because of the scale and complexity of the <table> element, this forces the screen reader to continue reading a large amount of table elements until it finds the element the user is actually looking for. We strongly recommend retooling this section to use CSS to structure the page and only use semantic elements when that element is actually being used as a table for information.
  2. Accessible Naming: There are a few instances where select elements on the page lack an accessible name. This can also cause significant issues with screen reader support and should be addressed.
  3. Bypass Repeated Blocks of Content: The site currently lacks skip links at the top of the page that allow the user to bypass the navigation and skip directly to the main content of the page. Adding these will allow users that require keyboard navigation to bypass this block of content to keep their workflow from being interrupted.
  4. Keyboard Navigation: There are a few minor issues with keyboard navigation. In general keyboard navigation on the site works well, but there are a few areas where keyboard focus throws off the navigation of the site.