Providing accessibility of products to all users is not only important to us but a priority to our clients and learners.
At The Regis Company, we are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible learning environment for all users. WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is the standard for the SimGate platform to ensure that individuals of all abilities can benefit from our educational content.
SimGate supports WCAG 2.1 AA standards
As of Q2 2024, all our decision-making activity templates and all but one "page template" can be designed to be fully WCAG 2.1 AA compliant!
Our current platform efforts include:
End User Optimization: Improving the overall flow of the "end-to-end" user experience (i.e. fluidity of keyboard navigation, reader flows, etc.)
Designer Guidance: Creating materials for Designers on "How to Design with WCAG in Mind".
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 defines how to make Web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities. source
Fully Compliant SimGate Studio Templates:
Scenario
Course of Action
List Builder
Resources
Slide Show
Video Response
Conversation
Page Builder (all components are compliant)
Perspectives Add-On
Decision Rationale Add-On
Add-on Builder
Partially Compliant SimGate Studio Template:
Network Map - keyboard navigation
In this template, relationships with your contacts improve or decline and are presented in a visual format as being either closer or farther away from you on a circular graph. Users can tab through the contacts and a screen reader will say if your relationship has improved or declined, however, due to the information presented to the user in a visual format, this component could be confusing to those visually impaired.
WCAG requirements overview
Below is information sourced from: The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which develops standards and guidelines to help everyone build a web-based on the principles of accessibility, internationalization, privacy and security.
What are WCAG requirements?
To conform to WCAG 2.0, 2.1 or 2.2 at Level AA, a website needs to meet several technical and design-based requirements. While the full list is longer, here are a few examples of such requirements:
Provide captions for live videos
Ensure compatibility with screen readers and other assistive technologies
Allow for keyboard-only navigation
Ensure a high contrast between text sections and their backgrounds
Ensure that text can be resized to 200% without loss of content or function
Ensure that when website visitors adjust text spacing, there is no loss in functionality
Use clear headings and labels
Ensure your website is responsive
What are the three levels of WCAG conformance?
Each version of WCAG has three levels to which a website can conform to:
Level A: This is the foundational level of WCAG conformance, ensuring basic accessibility features are in place. Websites meeting Level A standards remove the most significant barriers for people with disabilities, making content accessible but not covering all accessibility issues
Level AA: A step above Level A, Level AA conformance addresses a wider range of accessibility issues. This level includes all Level A criteria and adds more rigorous standards, improving accessibility for a broader range of disabilities, including color contrast and error identification
Level AAA: The most comprehensive and demanding level, Level AAA encompasses all criteria from Levels A and AA, with additional, more stringent requirements. While achieving Level AAA conformance makes a website highly accessible, not every organization can or should strive to conform to WCAG at this level
What version and level of WCAG should you conform to?
This is a question for your legal department!
However, as a general rule, most websites should conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. However, if Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act applies to you, you will need to conform to WCAG 2.0, the older version of these guidelines, at Level AA.
What is Section 508?
Section 508 is a section of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. One of the most prominent web accessibility laws in the United States, primarily focuses on ensuring that information and communication (ICT) products are accessible to people with disabilities. This law applies to three types of organizations:
Government bodies
Organizations that receive federal funding
Service providers to government agencies and organizations that receive federal funding
FAQ
What are Regis's Accessibility Standards?
WCAG 2.1 AA compliance is the standard for the SimGate platform.
View our VPAT Assessment here.
We understand that technology evolves, and so do accessibility standards. Our team is dedicated to staying informed about the latest developments in accessibility and continuously improving our platform to meet and exceed those standards.
How do I know which templates in Studio are compliant?
In the "Pages" tab, under "Templates" - Indicators show up next to each template description identifying if they are currently compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
Currently, all Studio Templates are compliant except for the Network Map (used for relational feedback).
