Accessibility

Our commitment

GALGO is a teaching platform, and a teaching platform that some students cannot use is not doing its job. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, Level AA, the standard commonly referenced by universities in the United States and by public bodies elsewhere.

Conformance status

GALGO is partially conformantwith WCAG 2.2 Level AA. “Partially conformant” means most of the standard is met, but some parts are not yet. We have chosen to say so plainly and list what is outstanding rather than claim more than we can evidence.

This assessment is our own. GALGO has not been independently audited, and this statement should not be read as certification.

What we have done

• Every control in the reading toolbar carries a descriptive name that works for both a pointer and a screen reader, from a single source, so the two cannot drift apart.
• Colour contrast is checked automatically against the design system on every code change, in both light and dark themes.
• Page structure — labels, roles, headings, form fields — is checked automatically on every code change.
• The reader offers adjustable text size and line spacing, and remembers the choice.
• The interface is available in English and Spanish.
• Meaning is not carried by colour alone: annotated words are underlined as well as tinted.

Known limitations

We are aware of the following and intend to address them:

• Border contrast. The outlines of some input fields are lighter than the 3:1 ratio the guideline asks for. Focus outlines meet the requirement; resting borders on some controls do not.
• Cross-text search results. The results page has not yet had the keyboard and screen-reader pass that the in-text search bar has had.
• Screen-reader experience in the reader. A text with many annotated words has not been fully evaluated for how it sounds read aloud end to end.
• Touch target sizes on small screens have not been measured against the 24×24 pixel minimum.
• Third-party content. Source texts come from external scholarly editions. We convert them for display but do not alter their content, and their original structure can affect how they are read aloud.

How we test

Automated checks for colour contrast and page structure run as part of our normal test suite. Beyond that we use a manual checklist covering keyboard operation, zoom and reflow, visible focus, reduced motion, and screen-reader output — the things software cannot judge on its own.

Tell us about a problem

If any part of GALGO is difficult or impossible for you to use, please tell us — including which page, what you were trying to do, and what device or assistive technology you were using. Reports from people who rely on these features are more useful than any audit.

Contact the platform administrators at Providence College. We aim to respond within five working days.