Digital Commons is dedicated to creating a more accessible and inclusive platform by actively identifying and addressing accessibility gaps. Our approach emphasizes implementing meaningful enhancements that adhere to established accessibility standards, while also accommodating the varied needs of our users through ongoing evaluation and targeted remediation efforts.

This page showcases the most recent accessibility updates implemented on the Digital Commons platform, aligned with our annually updated VPAT and Accessibility Statement. It is regularly maintained, with recent changes organized by year for easy reference. 

2024 

July-September 2024

• Multiple improvements to the submission form’s author field: Visual text added to Add Author button; Edit Author/Delete Author icons have accessible names and correct tab order; indication of when field is collapsed/expanded; and superfluous visually-hidden <label> removed.     

April-June 2024

• Correct focus applied to block of error messages received with submission form failure. 
• The link in the Disciplines field’s submission form instruction text updated for accessibility.
• The instructional text for the Cancel/Submit buttons on the submission form has been moved above the buttons and edited for clarity. 
• The Attach Additional Files checkbox now has a label instead of a span on the submission form. 

March 2024

• The contrast was increased for the visible focus for record thumbnails (outline) and Switch View/Slideshow buttons (text) on the index page for Image/Book Galleries. 
• Focus indicators have been added to the search field as well as journal and non-journal submission forms. 
• Focus indicators have been added to PlumX Metrics element on record pages, the checkboxes and buttons on the Research Alerts page, and Social Media Share Icons on the record page. 
• Visible focus indicator has been added to the optional jumplist element on the Series/ETD series homepage, the Help link on submission form(s), the Search button and context drop-down selection in the sidebar Search section, and the “Login” and “Sign Up” buttons and the input fields on the login page. 
• Visible focus indicators have been added to the expand/collapse elements (the "Expand all"/"Collapse all" button and the various +/- buttons) and to the collection links on the Browse Collections (communities.html) page. 

February 2024

• Corrected the heading levels in Event Communities, changing the incorrect hierarchy of H2->H4 to H1->H2. 
• Scope attributes and proper labels for the checkboxes have been added to the Publishing Queue table that appears on the Submission Confirmation page. 
• The headings for each form input section (e.g. “Title”, “Authors”, etc.) on the submission form have been changed to H2 from H3. 
• The focus indicator contrast on the Series and Book/Image Gallery homepages and current pages on paginated publications has been increased to meet accessibility standards. 
• Proper scope (“Row” attributes) has been added to the submission form metadata summary table. 

January 2024

• The contrast for section titles within the PlumX popup on record pages has been increased to meet accessibility standards. 
• Proper formatting for the table on the Edit Profile page within My Account has been applied. 
• H1 headings have been applied to pages where they were known to be missing. 
• Record page titles have been changed from H3 to the correct H2. 
• Increased the contrast for search results text to meet accessibility standards. 
• The green “successful submission” text and the red “author added” text on the submission form have had their contrast increased to meet accessibility standards. 
• The red “error” text on the Edit Profile page within My Account has had its contrast increased to meet accessibility standards. 

2023

October-December 2023

• Proper headings and markups have been applied to Event Community pages. 
• The “Required” tag on submission forms is now text, not an image. 
• Row headers with scope=”row” attributes have been added to the left column in the table in My Account. 
• Search results/records lists now have proper list markup. 
• The year heading (which was marked incorrectly on most pages) has been updated to H3 instead of the incorrect H4. 
• The Follow button on the IR homepage has been placed in the correct location, as before it was improperly located within the preceding H2 tag. 
• Submission form fields are now labeled properly for screen readers/assistive technology. 
• Year headings on Browse Works by Discipline page have been corrected to H3 from H4. 
• In advanced search, sort by “boolean” option is now properly encapsulated within a field set. 
• The cookies notification banner’s background color, link color, and button colors have been updated to meet accessibility contrast standards.

July-September 2023

• Labels have been added to the fields on the account registration form. 
• The labels for the advanced search input fields are no longer hidden and are now readable by assistive technology.     
• The label for the search input field is no longer hidden and is now readable by assistive technology. 
• The password fields on the Edit Profile page within My Account now have proper labels. 
• The Upload Document drop-down menu now has correct labels applied on the My Account page. 
• The checkboxes in My Saved Searches now have descriptive labels. 
• The language on the My Account and Research alert pages now have the proper language specification with the lang="en" attribute. 
• The Submit Research page language has now been properly specified with the lang="en" attribute.