Blackboard results

• Fall 2001 Version 5.5 [skip to Spring 2001]
  • Modified SNOW method
  • Accessible browsing
  • Validation
  • Section 508
  • What the company has to say
  • Is this LMS accessible?
• Spring 2001 Versions 4 and 5
  • Modified SNOW method
  • Accessible browsing
  • Validation
  • Is this LMS accessible?

Fall 2001 Version 5.5

Modified SNOW method [table of contents]

Accessible browsing [table of contents]

Validation [table of contents]

The W3C/WAI guidelines checklist show high error numbers. We found 28 failures in Blackboard 5.5: There were four priority 1 failures, 14 priority 2 failures, and 11 priority 3 failures. This is a slight improvement over Version 5.0, which in Spring 2001 had five priority 1 failures, 16 priority 2 failures, and 12 priority 3 failures, a total of 33 failures. (Multiple occurences of the same checkpoint are considered as one failure.) Blackboard did not meet the following W3C/WAI checkpoints. (Text below is from the checkpoints page.) Differences from Spring 2001 are noted with **. Of those that now passed, some may not be different from previous versions, but rather reflect a greater understanding of the checkpoint.

Priority 1 (4 failures, 6 passes, 6 not applicable; 14 total items)

• 1.1 Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video.
• 5.1 For data tables, identify row and column headers.
• 6.3 Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.
• 11.4 If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible (original) page.
• Passed: ** 2.1 Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.

Priority 2 (14 failures, 14 passes, 2 not applicable; 30 total items)

• 3.1 When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images to convey information.
• 3.3 Use style sheets to control layout and presentation.
• 3.4 Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values.
• 3.5 Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification.
• **6.4 For scripts and applets, ensure that event handlers are input device-independent.
• 7.5 Until user agents provide the ability to stop auto-redirect, do not use markup to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure the server to perform redirects.
• 8.1 Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets directly accessible or compatible with assistive technologies [Priority 1 if functionality is important and not presented elsewhere, otherwise Priority 2.]
• 9.2 Ensure that any element that has its own interface can be operated in a device-independent manner.
• **9.3 For scripts, specify logical event handlers rather than device-dependent event handlers.
• 10.1 Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user.
• 10.2 Until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls, for all form controls with implicitly associated labels, ensure that the label is properly positioned.
• 11.1 Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions when supported.
• **11.2 Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies.
• **12.4 Associate labels explicitly with their controls.
• Passed: **2.2 Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen. [Priority 2 for images, Priority 3 for text].
• Passed: **13.1 Clearly identify the target of each link.
• Passed: **13.2 Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.
• Passed: **5.3 Do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when linearized. Otherwise, if the table does not make sense, provide an alternative equivalent (which may be a linearized version).
• Passed: **12.2 Describe the purpose of frames and how frames relate to each other if it is not obvious by frame titles alone.

Priority 3 (11 failures, 3 passes, 5 not applicable; 19 total items)

• 4.3 Identify the primary natural language of a document.
• 5.5 Provide summaries for tables.
• 5.6 Provide abbreviations for header labels.
• 9.4 Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and objects.
• 9.5 Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls.
• 10.3 Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render side-by-side text correctly, provide a linear text alternative (on the current page or some other) for all tables that lay out text in parallel, word-wrapped columns.
• 10.4 Until user agents handle empty controls correctly, include default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas.
• 10.5 Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links.
• 11.3 Provide information so that users may receive documents according to their preferences (e.g., language, content type, etc.)
• 13.6 Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group.
• **14.2 Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will facilitate comprehension of the page.
• Passed: **13.5 Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism.
• No longer applicable: **13.7 If search functions are provided, enable different types of searches for different skill levels and preferences.
• Passed: **13.8 Place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.

Blackboard 5.5 failed the Section 508 checklist with 6 failures, 5 passes, and 3 not applicable out of 14 checkpoints. Specifically, it failed on the following:

• (a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content).
• (g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.
• (k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.
• (l) When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology.
• (o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.
• (p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.

What the company has to say [table of contents]

See Blackboard's accessibility page.

According to the company, Blackboard is committed to making its product accessible. One addition is a screen reader tutorial. Blackboard, along with EASI, has written a tutorial explaining how Blackboard works with screen readers.

According to the company, the program meets all of the 508 guidelines, with the exception of the Virtual Chat feature, which violates (m). They also discuss another exception, but do not point out that it violates another standard, (l): When time runs out on a quiz, a javascript-based pop-up window appears. It does not appear to be available in any other way. From the previous section, it should be apparent that we disagree with the company's assessment of meeting Section 508.

Also note, after discussing that they meet the guidelines except (m), then they note that a total of 20 violations appeared. They indicate that "an interim patch" will fix these, but do not indicate which patch does so. They also do not list what these 20 violations are.

Is this LMS accessible? [table of contents]

Spring 2001 Versions 4 and 5

Modified SNOW method [table of contents]

Blackboard 4 SNOW data Rank: 1/4

Excel spreadsheet with complete data for Blackboard 4. All SNOW spring 2001 Excel files in zip file.

Blackboard 5 SNOW data

Spring 2001 Excel spreadsheet with complete data for Blackboard 5. All SNOW spring 2001 Excel files in zip file.

Blackboard 4 is clearly on top of these ratings; it has both the highest Total Accessibility as well as the highest Access Support Functionality Ratio. Blackboard 5 has the lowest Total Accessibility.

Accessible browsing [table of contents]

JAWS was able to interpret Blackboard 4 and Blackboard 5 correctly, with one exception. When images were turned off, as many JAWS users might do, the user cannot tab past the image map in the navigation frame. This image map is for the minor navigation features course map and search. Using the tab key while on the second button, course map, took the curser back to the first button, search. Using the tab on the first, took the user to the second. This endless loop made it difficult to go to other sections of the course. However, if images were turned on, tabbing worked properly on the image map.

None of the programs had problems when read with HPR 3.0. Use of HPR 2.5 caused problems with all programs, ranging from the inability to access the chat feature of Blackboard 4 to difficulty logging in or accessing any course sections with the other three programs.

HPR 2.5 had little difficulty navigating Blackboard 4, with one exception. HPR locked up when attempting to use Virtual Chat. The chat program required JavaScript, but gave no warning of this requirement. HPR could not access JavaScript-based applets such as this chat program.

We were unable to read the Blackboard 5 site with HPR 2.5, except for the text on the first login page. We believe the extensive use of JavaScript was the cause of the errors.

No navigation problems discussed here were present with HPR 3.0.

Lynx had no problems reading the text-only version of Blackboard 4, the only version of any program it could easily access. No other product included a text-only version of their site.

Unfortunately, Blackboard 4's text-only sites do not include all features. In the graphics version, these features cause problems in Lynx. Links throughout the product did not work because they used JavaScript, which Lynx could not interpret. The most apparent example of this was the automatically generated link to a quiz on the announcement page. This means a user dependent on a text-only browser can not take quizzes in Blackboard unless provided a direct URL. While this is possible, it is neither easy nor practical.

Attempts to use form-based functions encountered problems as well. Lynx included a workaround to missing default selections within forms: it added a default entry to form fields. In a quiz, Blackboard depended on these blank form fields to determine if a student skips or misses a question. If a Lynx student accidentally skips a question, an answer was marked by default, so she would get no warning. The form-based discussion boards had an even greater problem. Users could not fill in the text fields or modify the radio button options.

In the instructor entry area, form submissions continued to cause concern. As with the discussion board, an instructor using Lynx could not submit anything to the course. Many course areas returned JavaScript, form syntax, or address errors. In Course Documents, the same problem as with the discussion board appeared; none of the fields could be modified. In many instances, attempts to post submissions with the unmodified fields returned error messages.

Neither Blackboard 5 nor WebCT could be viewed with Lynx. When attempting Blackboard 5, we could only get a blank screen. Even when we tried to use the URL of a specific frame within the course, we failed.

Validation [table of contents]

A-Prompt revealed a number of similarities across the products. The same seven errors occurred in each course package. A-Prompt reported missing DOCTYPEs, fixed font sizes, missing descriptive text for images, link text that is not meaningful, missing captions, and missing summaries for tables.

A-Prompt found unique errors in the products as well. Two products, Blackboard 5 and Prometheus, do not identify the language of the page. All products save Blackboard 4 had JavaScript problems. These products provided no alternative to JavaScript-based functions, such as login and chat forums. This issue is reflected in the reader tests we did with these products. A-Prompt found suspicious alt tags and input label problems in WebCT, and auto-refresh errors in Blackboard 5.

The W3C/WAI guidelines checklist show high error numbers. We found 26 failures in Blackboard 4, six of which were Priority 1. Blackboard 4 did not meet the following W3C/WAI checkpoints. (Text below is from the checkpoints page.) There were six priority one failures, 12 priority two failures, and eight priority three failures, a total of 26 failures (the fewest). Multiple occurences of the same checkpoint are considered as one failure.

Priority 1 (6 failures)

• 1.1 Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video.
• 1.2 Provide redundant text links for each active region of a server-side image map.
• 12.1 Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and navigation.
• 6.3 Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.
• 11.4 If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible (original) page.
• 8.1 Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets directly accessible or compatible with assistive technologies [Priority 1 if functionality is important and not presented elsewhere, otherwise Priority 2.]

Priority 2 (12 failures)

• 3.1 When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images to convey information.
• 3.3 Use style sheets to control layout and presentation. 3.4 Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values.
• 3.5 Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification.
• 10.1 Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user.
• 11.1 Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions when supported.
• 13.1 Clearly identify the target of each link.
• 13.2 Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.
• 12.2 Describe the purpose of frames and how frames relate to each other if it is not obvious by frame titles alone.
• 10.2 Until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls, for all form controls with implicitly associated labels, ensure that the label is properly positioned.
• 6.4 For scripts and applets, ensure that event handlers are input device-independent.
• 9.2 Ensure that any element that has its own interface can be operated in a device-independent manner.
• 9.3 For scripts, specify logical event handlers rather than device-dependent event handlers.

Priority 3 (8 failures)

• 4.3 Identify the primary natural language of a document.
• 9.5 Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls.
• 10.5 Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links.
• 11.3 Provide information so that users may receive documents according to their preferences (e.g., language, content type, etc.)
• 13.5 Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism.
• 13.6 Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group.
• 13.7 If search functions are provided, enable different types of searches for different skill levels and preferences.
• 13.8 Place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.

Blackboard 5.0 did not meet the following W3C/WAI checkpoints. (Text below is from the checkpoints page.) There were five priority one failures, 16 priority two failures, and 12 priority three failures, a total of 33 failures. Multiple occurences of the same checkpoint are considered as one failure.

Priority 1 (5 failures)

• 1.1 Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). This includes: images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects, ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video.
• 2.1 Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.
• 5.1 For data tables, identify row and column headers.
• 6.3 Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.
• 11.4 If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page, provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is updated as often as the inaccessible (original) page.

Priority 2 (15 failures)

• 2.2 Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen. [Priority 2 for images, Priority 3 for text].
• 3.1 When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images to convey information.
• 3.3 Use style sheets to control layout and presentation.
• 3.4 Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values.
• 3.5 Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification.
• 7.5 Until user agents provide the ability to stop auto-redirect, do not use markup to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure the server to perform redirects.
• 10.1 Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the current window without informing the user.
• 11.1 Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for a task and use the latest versions when supported.
• 13.1 Clearly identify the target of each link.
• 13.2 Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.
• 5.3 Do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when linearized. Otherwise, if the table does not make sense, provide an alternative equivalent (which may be a linearized version).
• 12.2 Describe the purpose of frames and how frames relate to each other if it is not obvious by frame titles alone.
• 10.2 Until user agents support explicit associations between labels and form controls, for all form controls with implicitly associated labels, ensure that the label is properly positioned.
• 8.1 Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets directly accessible or compatible with assistive technologies [Priority 1 if functionality is important and not presented elsewhere, otherwise Priority 2.]
• 9.2 Ensure that any element that has its own interface can be operated in a device-independent manner.

Priority 3 (12 failures)

• 4.3 Identify the primary natural language of a document.
• 9.5 Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form controls.
• 10.5 Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters (surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links.
• 11.3 Provide information so that users may receive documents according to their preferences (e.g., language, content type, etc.)
• 13.5 Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the navigation mechanism.
• 13.6 Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group.
• 13.7 If search functions are provided, enable different types of searches for different skill levels and preferences.
• 13.8 Place distinguishing information at the beginning of headings, paragraphs, lists, etc.
• 5.5 Provide summaries for tables.
• 5.6 Provide abbreviations for header labels.
• 10.3 Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render side-by-side text correctly, provide a linear text alternative (on the current page or some other) for all tables that lay out text in parallel, word-wrapped columns.
• 10.4 Until user agents handle empty controls correctly, include default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas.

Is this LMS accessible? [table of contents]

Blackboard is not accessible given W3C/WAI Priority 1 guidelines. Version 4 had six Priority 1 errors and version 5.5 had five. Therefore, it is also not Section 508 compliant.

Content authored by AnnMarie Johnson and Sean Ruppert. ©2001
last updated November 20, 2001 by AnnMarie Johnson.