This document was last updated on 11th October 2023.
In line with our ambition to help the world get money smart, Blackbullion is committed to providing a user experience that is accessible to as many people as possible. This includes people with impaired vision, motor difficulties, cognitive impairments or learning difference, deafness or impaired hearing.
The purpose of this statement is to present clear information about our target level of accessibility and to reiterate our commitment to accessibility and inclusivity in all we do.
We are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of our web platform, app, services and products, and have integrated a number of accessibility features to meet the criteria defined by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The guidelines produced by the WAI are widely regarded as the international standard for web accessibility.
We have met the “Level AA” standard for:
• The presentation of video and text based learning content
• Funding applications
• All other parts of the Blackbullion web platform and app
Web accessibility is an ongoing process, as is development of the Blackbullion platform. As such we acknowledge that sometimes, despite our very best efforts, there are areas of the platform that may be inaccessible or may not adhere to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 standards. We will endeavour to ensure new information on our web platform, app, services and products will achieve “Level AA” conformance to the WCAG 2.1.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
Blackbullion’s web platform and app aim to be accessible to assistive technologies and flexible for all users.
Captioned learning content is available on our web platform video pathway content. To turn subtitles on for a video, users can select the ‘CC’ button on the video player.
Pre-recorded audio description is available for the vast majority of our video content in the form of synchronised media. This provides a higher quality learning experience than relying on built-in screen to text features. Audio volume is easily adjustable.
Across Blackbullion we ensure all touchpoints (including web platform, content and social media posts) meet the standards for colour contrast to a Level AA standard, meaning a contrast of 4.5:1 for normal text, and 3:1 for large text and functional graphics.
We also avoid using colour as the only means to show a state of an interactive element to cater for people who have difficulty differentiating between colours.
Some older content is not yet fully compliant and will be enhanced in a staggered manner in order to be compliant.
Magnifying the screen allows users to improve the readability of on screen text and subtitles. The Blackbullion web platform is fully scalable and usable when used with in-browser zoom features to increase text size.
In addition, on screen control icons are also displayed more clearly to facilitate content navigation. Further to this, our web platform is fully functional across media devices including mobiles and tablets.
In order to make any text on the website understandable for a wide audience of users we make sure we (i) use simple language to explain concepts, (ii) break up paragraphs and (iii) use bullets and numbered lists to make text easier to read.
We also ensure we use logical heading structures, ensuring proper mark-up and hierarchy of headings so screen readers recognize them as headings and the page is clear and easy to navigate.
A key factor of web accessibility is through ensuring keyboard accessibility (WebAIM, 2018b).
In order to facilitate ease of navigation through our learning platform and funding application process, we have incorporated several keyboard accessibility features.
Users can navigate the Blackbullion web platform using standard keyboard controls (such as, but not limited to, using the ‘tab’ key to navigate around the page). Our code is structured to create a logical navigation hierarchy for keyboard input and a focus state is provided to show the user which interactive item they have selected on a page.
This includes the ability to: cycle through the video player navigation controls using the tab key, complete a funding application using only keyboard input and providing a ‘skip to content’ link to ensure users are able to quickly navigate to the most relevant content.
Our web platform and app are structured logically and can be navigated and read by a screen reader.
The navigation controls located on our video player inside pathways are compatible for use with a Screen Reader. Users are able to navigate through a video by tabbing through navigation tags which are screen readable via our media player.
Funding applications have been developed with screen reader capability in mind, providing users with additional context where needed.
Blackbullion gives the control to the learner — ensuring all forms of controls have descriptive labels, instructions, and error messages.
We strive to make the Blackbullion platform fully accessible with speech to text software. Users can use voice commands to navigate and complete forms on the Blackbullion web platform and app.
In the majority of cases, hyperlinks are described within page content and contextually explain their target destination.
We have avoided duplication of link text, so a single page with two links to the same location in page content will always point to the same address.
Links to PDFs are present within resource sections of the web platform. We continually make efforts to limit direct links to PDF documents as resources. Direct links to PDFs as resources will also have descriptive hyperlinks that include target destination (new tabs or new windows).
You can download Adobe Reader through the link available in the footer of the website, on all pages to access PDF documents. Adobe Reader also has screen-reading functionality.
Images used for decorative or layout purposes have been assigned a null ALT attribute, and all other images contain alternate text or text description for images so that screen readers can “read” an image.
We try to limit the use of text as much as possible in images in our web platform content, except where absolutely necessary to explain a concept. In this case text will be printed in conjunction with the image to provide context, either in ALT text (read by a screen reader), in a voice over/video caption, or with text content.
If you encounter any difficulty in accessing the website, app or any documents, do contact us at support@blackbullion.com and we will do our best to provide an accessible alternative.