Overview

This article aims to provide guidance for students who are experiencing accessibility issues with Journal. The Digital Learning Team can recommend some Journal-specific solutions, but as Journal is a web based app, many accessibility issues will be best solved by wider web solutions. 


Therefore, where this accessibility guidance is not Journal-specific and signposts to external services and resources, students may find it useful in making other websites more accessible.


For more information on any of the solutions mentioned in the article, email dlsupport@falmouth.ac.uk or get in touch with the FXPlus Accessibility and Inclusion Team by emailing inclusive@fxplus.ac.uk.

Contents

FXPlus Accessibility and Inclusion


For any accessibility issues effecting your experience at University, we would urge students to contact the FXPlus Accessibility and Inclusion Team for more guidance. The Accessibility and Inclusion Team advise and support students with disabilities, health conditions and specific learning differences, and can recommend a variety of solutions and support.


My Computer My Way

As Journal runs in a web browser, certain improvements can be made in the way that your computer or browser is optimised to improve your experience.


My Computer My Way is an independent website providing guidance for making your computer, tablet and smart phone easier to use and is divided into the following sections: vision, hearing, motor and cognitive (learning differences). A wide range of devices are covered with downloadable factsheets.


Browser Extensions


Browser extensions can be an extremely effective way of improving the accessibility of websites by giving you more control over the way that websites are displayed. To give you an idea of the potential benefits of browser extensions to working with Journal, the Digital Learning Team has investigated 3 options below.


Exclamation mark iconImportant: Browser extensions are external 3rd party applications with their own privacy and user agreements, which you download onto your own device. Falmouth University does not formally endorse any of these 3rd party applications, and it is up to you to decide for yourself whether to accept the terms and conditions.



Dark Reader


Journal with Dark Reader switched on causing a high contrast view


Dark Reader creates a dark mode on websites which the user can control through a settings panel. It can invert bright colours making them high contrast and easy to read at night. It is marked in the Chrome store as an eye-care extension.


Dark Reader works much like the High Contrast view on the Journal Accessibility plugin, but is more customisable, and doesn't have additional features. Scroll down to find out more about activating the Journal Accessibility plugin.



Visor


Visor extension activated in Journal showing a blue tint


Visor offers customisable coloured screen overlays, adjusted by RGB, contrast and transparency sliders.

As well as being a general purpose screen dimmer, Visor's overlays and point of focus feature may be beneficial to users with visual perceptual difficulties such as Dyslexia, Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome and Visual Stress.



nOverlay


A blue colour profile activated on nOverlay in a post in the backend


nOverlay tints web pages to a range of recommended or customisable colours, replacing the need for a physical overlay.


The effect of nOverlay is similar to Visor, but it tints the background colour of websites instead of overlaying a colour.

Installing Browser Extensions 


In Chrome


You can search extensions using the puzzle piece icon in the top right hand corner of your Chrome browser.


In Safari


You can search extensions in the Safari menu in the top left hand corner of your Mac.


Journal Accessibility Plugin 


Within Journal it's possible to activate the Journal Accessibility plugin. The Accessibility plugin is developed by Campus Press and helps with a variety of common accessibility issues in WordPress themes. To request to have it enabled on your Journal, email dlsupport@falmouth.ac.uk. 


Exclamation mark iconImportant: The Journal Accessibility Plugin is targeted as much at helping users to produce accessible content as improving the user experience. Therefore some functionality may be unhelpful to students who are already experiencing issues with Journal.


Specific information about the plugin can be found in the Campus Press Knowledge Base.


The most common uses of the accessibility plugin are the 'high contrast' toggle, and the 'force alt text' functionality. 


High Contrast view

Journal with the high contrast toggle switched on

When the Accessibility Plugin is enabled, a contrast toggle will display on the left of the screen, allowing the user to easily switch between the ordinary and high contrast view. The colours are fixed to the black, blue and yellow, considered the maximum high contrast possible.



Force Alt Text


Force Alt text in a post on front end of site


When the Accessibility Plugin is enabled, it becomes essential to add alt text to images. If an image is uploaded and alt text is not added, the image will display as a red cross with the message "This image requires alt text, but the alt text is currently blank. Either add alt text or mark the image as decorative.



Additional Functionality


The plugin also has a range of additional functionality which we recommend discussing with Digital Learning, or the FXPlus Accessibility and Inclusion Team, including:

  • Configure Skiplinks
  • Adjust font size 
  • Remove target attributes from links
  • Force search error on empty search submission
  • Remove tab index from focusable elements
  • Add post title to “more” links
  • Add landmark roles to HTML5 structural elements
  • Automatically Label WordPress search form and comment forms
  • Support longdesc on featured images
  • Remove title attributes inserted into post content and featured images
  • Enable diagnostic CSS
  • Add outline to elements on keyboard focus
  • Non-visually identify currently active menu item
  • Color Contrast Tester



Toggle the Block editor on and off

 

Since September 2020, the default editor for all Journals has been the block editor because of its intuitive visual layout. However, some students have found some aspects of it challenging, and there is an alternative 'text editor' which is also available for editing.


The text editor maintains the functionality of the block editor, and may suit students with more advanced web-editing experience, students who want more control over formatting, or simply students who think about content creation differently.


The Digital Learning Team can enable access to the text editor on your Journal, just email dlsupport@falmouth.ac.uk 


Block Editor view

The Journal block editor


Text Editor view


Question mark iconFurther support

For further support on Journal, or to report any issues with this guide, please get in touch with the Digital Learning Team via dlsupport@falmouth.ac.uk. Alternatively, please refer to the numerous help guides found on our Knowledge Base. 


View the Accessibility Statement for all of our support guides.