Magus Digital's web site
The Magus Digital website substantially achieves AAA compliance with the WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) when checked with automated assessment tools. That does not necessarily mean that it is fully accessible to all disabled users though. It means that there are no known or likely problems that might obstruct access. A further manual assessment of possible problems that automatic checking cannot evaluate suggests that there are few of any significance. So, it is reasonable to assume that for most of its audience there will not be accessibility issues.
The accessibility of the website will be periodically reviewed to maintain or improve on this position.
This has been arrived at by applying best practice to the design and build process, with good usability in mind and adaptability to different circumstances anticipated at the outset. The objectives were to target an inclusive audience and to maximise cross-platform and device independent compatibility without compromising quality or design. Relatively minor revisions and extensions of the outcome of this were all that was required to achieve the high level of accessibility.
Arguably this has not been too difficult to deliver because the Magus Digital website is a straightforward collection of information. It is not an eCommerce site and does not involve interactivity or media enhancements, which it has no current need for. However, it is never-the-less a valid demonstration of what may be done when best practice is applied and that designing for accessibility does not mean designing for a lowest common denominator, or dull production values.
The Magus Digital website uses valid HTML5 and CSS3. The supplementary documents that the website contains may not all be as accessible as they could be. That position will be reviewed as they are updated.
Magus Digital's eBook Production
Because Magus Digital understands the relationship between eBooks and web technologies and, as may be evident has a background involving accessibility—and because it recognises the huge potential of ePUB3 to deliver rich experiences and transforming education, its eProduction makes every effort to ensure that the publications of its imprints are accessible. In fact it was doing this before the current guidelines were in place.
Its current focus is on ePUB3 and EDUPUB development. These formats are inherently accessible and offer the possibility of alternative and enriched forms of content within an eBook, thus making it available in different ways to the user. So, a separate accessible version of a book is no longer necessary. The same eBook may present itself as a beautifully produced work to one reader, as a large print book to another, with differently styled text and colourways where that is helpful, be read aloud by assistive technology, or may also be an audio book if a soundtrack is included. When applied to eTextbook creation it also becomes possible to deliver content for different learning styles, which is accessible for students with disabilities and impairments—and to reach a virtually limitless audience with the very best Learning and Teaching materials, enriched with interactive elements, video, audio and images (including graphs, charts and diagrams), to illustrate and give insight into the content.
Magus Digital has adopted a Digital-first workflow to deliver this and outputs print editions directly from its eBooks as Digital2Print conversions. This means an accessible version of the work exists before a print edition does, which is the opposite of what most of the established publishing sector is currently doing.
As with its website Magus Digital applies best practice to its eBook creation and sees accessibility as a facet of that. Since the technology is still evolving and being implemented the accessibility of its eProduction and eBooks will be periodically reviewed to maintain standards, whilst still aiming at high production values.
Digital Accessibility resources
To encourage and support an inclusive approach to accessibility Magus Digital has provided the following introductory guides to Digital Accessibility that assess what that means and that contain insights into making content accessible in well-designed webpages, as well as ePUB3 eBooks and Word and PDF documents:
- Digital Accessibility (PDF 287 KB)
- Making Documents Accessible (PDF 500 KB)
- Making Websites and eBooks Accessible (PDF 757 KB)
These reflect the knowledge and expertise of Magus Digital and sample techniques used on this website. They are, however, simply an overview and are not intended as definitive documents. These resources are made available in accessible PDF format.
Magus Digital is also pleased to have contributed to the Make Technology Work for Everyone video and to the Accessibility Tips that accompany it.