Improve consistency of accessibility information

[guermanc]

Use of accessibility guidance on Styles, Components and Patterns pages

I would like to improve the consistency of how accessibility guidance is presented within the Styles, Components and Patterns sections, as well as setting some standards for how accessibility guidance is used in the future.

Problem

Currently there is a lack of consistency in how accessibility information is presented, and what that information is. There is also a lack of control and risk of contradicting information when linking to external resources.

• Use of the accessibility section on pages is inconsistent. It is present on some pages but not others, sometimes being present but using different wording or heading level
• Some pages have the “If your service uses this component, let us know of any insights you have on accessibility considerations.” and some don’t
• Some pages have a lot of accessibility guidance, which is typically duplicated from the accessibility section
• Some pages link to external resources and some to internal resources

Proposal

Make sure that the accessibility section is present on each page and maintains a standard structure and approach to providing guidance.

On each page the structure will be as follows:

• The accessibility section heading is “Accessibility” at a heading level 2
• If information related directly to the component/pattern in question, and is not covered more broadly within the accessibility section, I will include this first
  • For example "Consider alternative ways a user can submit a declaration offline."
• If relevant information is covered by existing accessibility guidance, provide a key takeaway from the Home Office Accessibility Standard followed by a link to the guidance
  • For example “All images must have an alternative text description that describes their meaning. See the Images guidance for more information”
• Include the boilerplate text “If your service uses this component, let us know of any insights you have on accessibility considerations.” on all pages

Use of external accessibility resources

In all instances, we will link to internal Home Office accessibility guidance over external resources. Where we feel that current guidance doesn't sufficiently cover the information provided by external resources, we will amend our guidance to include this.

This is to address an issue where external accessibility guidance contradicted our own, or made understanding more difficult for users.