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Vevox Web Accessibility Statement

The University of Leeds is committed to making its digital estate accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Vevox is a polling and quizzing tool available for use to all university users. The tool can be used to deliver synchronous polls in class to aid engagement.

This statement applies to accessibility within the system itself, and does not cover content uploaded by hosts and/or presenters. Accessibility statements for other integrated tools are available via the Accessibility Statements for Digital Education Systems page.

Compliance status

Vevox is partially compliant and has been designed and developed in accordance with the internationally standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below. Vevox has provided further accessibility information, including a conformance report for their app, available via the Vevox website.

Accessibility within Vevox

Vevox supports the use of screen readers, keyboard and swipe navigation, and speech recognition software. Adjustable browser settings for magnification are supported as well as colours, contrast and fonts.

Screen readers

Vevox is designed and tested for use with NVDA and JAWS screen readers.

Keyboard navigation and shortcuts

Industry standard keyboard interactions are used throughout to move between menus, open menus, and select items within a menu. Keyboard navigation patterns differ between browsers such as Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. The interactions within any particular browser are common and consistent.

Non-accessible Content

Areas of non-compliance

Info and relationships

In poll responses, headers for response rates weren't linked with percentage of responses. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 Info and relationships (Level A).

Sensory Characteristics

In some question types, 'correct answer' indicators were not navigable or identified by screen readers, indicated by colour and either a check or cross which were not navigable by keyboard or screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (Level A).

Bypass Blocks

No skip content or similar bypass block is available on pages. Submitting a survey response will refresh the page, resetting focus to the start of the page (significantly increasing navigation time required for keyboard or screen reader users). This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 2.4.1: Bypass Blocks (Level A).

Contrast

Input controls and focus indicators within slider question types is has a contrast ratio less than 3:1. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (Level AA).

Some word cloud elements have a text contrast ratio below 4.5:1, and menu items when receiving focus have a contrast ratio below 3:1. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA).

Predictable on Input

When selecting "type a message" in the discussion pane, focus moves away from the text box and is not visible, requiring a user to tab backwards to access the text box.

Selecting an item from the navigation pane opens a context pop-up, though focus is not pulled to the content. These changes to page are not announced to screen readers.

These fail WCAG 2.1 success criteria 3.2.2 Predictable on Input (Level A)

Name, Role, Value

List items in the navigation hamburger menu are not identified as buttons by screen readers, with focus skipping to text label without informing the user of function. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value (Level A).

Status Messages

Some changes to pages are not indicated to assistive technologies. Unsupported alerts include: poll states changing (such as when a poll closes) and poll timers, Q&A notifications, exceeding character limitations notifications, and network errors. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criteria 4.1.3  Status Messages (Level AA).

Advisory Issues

Testing is conducted using default colour options, though custom colour combinations with contrast issues may be set by users. Additional care should be taken by presenters when considering this and other potential accessibility issues when creating polls. Further information is available in the "Tips for Optimizing Your Vevox Experience" section of the Vevox Accessibility guides on their website.

Where images are added as buttons in multiple choice questions, images (and therefore the selection) is read by screen readers as "expand image" rather than the text associated with the image, or the alternative text. This can be reached by navigating further down within the group, though we recognise this is additional burden to assistive technology users.

Page titles within surveys have as a generic "Vevox" title. This meets WCAG AA standards, but fails at Level AAA.

What we are doing about known issues

University of Leeds is committed to improving accessibility across all our sites. Where issues are identified we will work to warn users and provide alternatives, while working with our vendors to enact continuous improvements. Web accessibility statements are developed through testing within the Digital Education in collaboration with University IT and reviewed annually.

Preparation of this Accessibility Statement

This statement was prepared on 11th December, 2024.

Auditing and testing was led by self-assessment from the Digital Education Systems Team. Testing is undertaken internally using VoiceOver and TalkBack screen readers and browser-based accessibility tools in Chrome, Safari and Firefox on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.

Feedback and Contact Info

If you would like more information, find any problems not listed in this statement, or feel we're not meeting your accessibility needs, please contact the Digital Education Systems Team via the IT Service Desk.

via the web: Open an IT ticket on the University IT website

by phone: Call the IT Service Desk on 0113 343 3333

If you encounter issues accessing learning content, please also contact your School in the first instance.

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 concerns, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).