UserVoice is committed to a course of accessibility compliance and transparency, and works with independent 3rd-party consultants to assess our products for compliance with the Level A and AA Success Criteria in WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0.
Accessibility Standards Compliance
UserVoice has adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, at the Level AA conformance level, for all websites and mobile applications. WCAG 2.0 is a set of voluntary technical guidelines for web accessibility. It is the most well-documented set of accessibility standards in the world, and there are numerous resources available of how to comply with the Success Criteria across a wide variety of technologies.
WCAG 2.0 Level AA meets the legal requirements of most domestic and international accessibility laws:
- The Final Rule for Section 508 sets WCAG 2.0 Level AA as the standard for websites.
- The Department of Justice has proposed using WCAG 2.0 Level AA for web accessibility under the Americans WIth Disabilities Act (ADA).
- The web requirements for EN 301 549 reference and correspond directly with the WCAG 2.0 Level AA success criteria.
- The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) currently requires WCAG Level A compliance, and starting in 2021 it will require WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance, other than criteria 1.2.4 (live captions) and 1.2.5 (pre-recorded audio descriptions).
In addition, as a platform with complex widgets and applications, we are working to comply with the WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices 1.1 to ensure a standards-compliant site that provides a good experience for users of assistive technology.
Reports
How we perform audits
Audits are performed by independent 3rd-party consultants using a combination of automatic and functional tests to test website and mobile application accessibility. Using automatic testing tools, we look for common issues like missing alternate text, incorrect form labels, and low-contrast text.
Manually conducted functional performance tests are done using only a keyboard, screen magnification software, and a desktop and/or mobile screen reader, identifying issues that cannot be automatically detected, like components that do not work with a keyboard or focus traps. Tools used include the WAVE Toolbar, NVDA, JAWS, and ZoomText.
A couple of things to be aware of
- If you create a custom design for your UserVoice Web Portal, your team will be responsible for ensuring your custom design is accessible.
- If you use our Knowledge Base feature, this content is created and formatted by your team, so your team will need to ensure they are creating accessible content.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What standards does UserVoice comply with?
A: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, at the Level AA conformance level. Learn more at w3.org or Wikipedia.
Q: Does UserVoice support Section 508, WAI, EN 301 549, and other guidelines?
A: Yes. These guidelines are all based on the WCAG 2.0 AA standard.
Q: How do you pronounce "WCAG"?
A: “way caag”
Q: Are known issues being addressed?
A: Yes! We’re currently working to resolve accessibility issues for our Web Portal and Widgets first because they affect our customers customers. We’ll then be working to resolve known issues in our Admin Console and Contributor Sidebar apps.
Q: I’ve found an issues that’s not on one of the reports. Where do I report this?
A: Please let us know at accessibility@uservoice.com with details of the issue, as well as the corresponding WCAG 2.0 success criteria it applies to.
Q: I have other questions regarding the accessibility of UserVoice. Who should I talk to?
A: Please contact accessibility@uservoice.com.