Dawsonera ebooks - accessibility enhancements coming on 2nd February

Dawsonera have announced new enhancements coming on 2nd February as part of their work towards RNIB approved status:



A number of the pop-up box error messages on the platform were not intuitively interacting with screen readers. These will now function correctly and will be clearly announced when used with a screen reader. We have made these improvements to the following pop-up messages:

1.     Account settings.

2.     Add to MUA queue.

3.     IP passport request account.

4.     Modify search modal.

5.     Request rental.

6.     Suggest for purchase.

7.     Forgotten password reset.

Site Navigation Links have been improved. Previously, some of the links and navigational elements were not being announced and appearing in the correct sequential order. These have been corrected and users can now easily navigate around the following areas when using a screen reader:

1.     Title and description for books in different languages are now recognised by screen readers.

2.     Improved focus on Contact us page to ensure compatibility with screen readers.

3.     Social Media links now appear in the correct order when swiping with screen readers.

4.     Screens are now showing a more responsive layout and resizing correctly when screen readers are enabled.

5.     After searches are completed, users will now be able to skip straight to the results via a new link that has been incorporated.

6.     Using the back button when the sign in or contact us modal window is displayed will now close the modal window.

7.     When a user filters a ‘search’ according to title/author, the focus is now taken to the search button to improve navigation.

8.     The label for the ‘quick search’ text input box has been improved so that it will be clear to the user what the function of this box is.

9.     We have improved the overall accessibility of the ‘skip links’ so that they are always displayed when using the site with an Android device.  This addresses an issue on Android devices when Talkback is enabled and the ‘focus’ event is not fired when the skip links are in focus, which was preventing the links from being displayed or utilised.