Accessibility

userEducator & Xello Admin Xello productXello K-5 Time3 minutes

Accessibility ensures that people with disabilities can use Xello. This includes compatibility with assistive technologies like screen readers.

Xello has been designed and developed to be compatible with the following standards:

Core components of accessibility
A myriad of techniques have been implemented to make Xello accessible. Here are some of the main pillars of our accessibility strategy:

  • Color contrast and font sizes meet the standards described in WCAG 2.2 Level AA
  • Captioning for all audio and video content
  • Full keyboard accessibility
  • Use of ARIA-live regionsnew tab for screen readers

Screen readers

All screen readers that support the above standards are compatible with Xello. To verify that we are meeting these standards, we test with the following screen readers:

  • NVDA in FireFox on Windows
  • VoiceOver in Safari on Mac and iOS
  • JAWS in Internet Explorer on Windows
  • ChromeVox
noteNote: Other screen readers will also work with Xello if they are compliant with the standards listed above.

More accessibility techniques in Xello

There are a lot of techniques used to make Xello an inclusive experience. Accessibility is built in at the design stage both for features and content.

  • Links are provided to skip navigation that appears on every page
  • Font sizes are made as large as possible
  • No hover effects are used without equivalent click actions
  • Drag and drop components have keyboard alternatives
  • Images do not contain instructional or informational text
  • Color alone is never used to convey information
  • Focus indicators are maintained throughout the site
  • Forms include explicit labels and placeholder text is minimized
  • Table columns and rows use proper markup
  • Maintain simple navigation to reduce cognitive load
  • Student-facing content in Xello K-2 is written to a 2nd grade reading level
  • Student-facing content in Xello 3-5 is written to a 3rd grade reading level
  • Student-facing content in Xello 6-12 is written to a 6th grade reading level
  • Links use descriptive text, e.g. not “click here”
  • The Xello student experience and Xello Family are available in 135 different languages. Students or parents/guardians click their avatar in the top right corner on any page in Xello to select a different language.
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