Accessibility statement for the Portable Antiquities Scheme Website (https://finds.org.uk/)

finds.org.uk

This website is run by The British Museum. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this site. For example, that means you should be able to:

change colours, contrast levels and fonts
view the website in both portrait and landscape orientation on mobile
zoom in up to 400% without the text overlapping for most content

navigate most of the website with keyboard only
listen to most of the website using a screen reader such as JAWS or NVDA
navigate most of the website using speech recognition software

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:

Some links and buttons may not be fully accessible to users relying on keyboard and assistive technologies.
Some form field components may not be fully accessible to users relying on assistive technologies.
Some content such as headings and tables may not be fully accessible to users relying on assistive technologies.

A full listing of known issues with our web pages that may affect users with disabilities is available below under non-accessible content.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille we'll do our best to support you:

email access@britishmuseum.org

We will pass on your request to the relevant people and aim to get back to you as soon as possible.

If your inquiry relates to a find in your area, you can contact your local Finds Liaison Officer.

Contact information for Finds Liaison Officers

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of the British Museum websites, and we have tried to provide an accurate summary of how our websites currently meet the accessibility requirements.

However, due to the age and complexity of the British Museum websites, there may be issues of which we are unaware. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or you think we're not meeting accessibility requirements in any way, please email us at access@britishmuseum.org

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). If you're not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

If you need any assistance or information to help you visit us in person, please contact us:

Email: access@britishmuseum.org
Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8971

Technical information about this website's accessibility

Portable Antiquities Scheme is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The following list provides details of the content on the www.finds.org.uk website which is currently non-accessible. We are currently reviewing all of our websites and this list will be updated as more information becomes available. In the meantime, we are working to address all of the issues listed below and will update this statement as necessary. 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Images and non-text content

There are informative images that have an inappropriate alternative for assistive technology users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1)

Some of the images or icons which are purely decorative are not identified for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1)

Some images of text are used which may not magnify well for users with low vision. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5)

Colour and contrast

The colour scheme on the website does not provide sufficient contrast for some text against the background. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3)

The colour scheme used on some user interface elements such as icon buttons, input textboxes and focus indicators does not have sufficient contrast against the background. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11)

Page and content structure

Some text is displayed visually as a heading but is not marked up as such for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)

There are headers within a table which are not marked up as such for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)

Keyboard navigation and focus order

Some buttons within the "Timeline" component are not keyboard focusable. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1)

The mobile navigation menu link is not exposed to assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1)

The formatting buttons within the CKEditor (Rich Text Editor) component are not operable using standard keyboard operation. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1)

The hidden link elements on the mobile navigation menu receive screen reader focus with swipe navigation on iOS with VoiceOver active. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3)

Form controls

Some form fields have visual label with the fields, but they are not programmatically associated with the form fields. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)

Description text for some form fields is placed after the fields, but is not programmatically associated with the field, so it may be missed by assistive technology users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)

Some form fields are related, but they are not marked up as such for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)

Some form fields have error message feedback with the fields, but the error message is not associated with the form fields programmatically for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1)

There are form elements which use placeholder text for communicating instructions. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2)

There are required form fields that have not been identified. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2)

The combobox components are not marked up with the correct semantics for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2)

The combobox dynamic updates are not announced for users of assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.3)

In the add a new object form, a character counter is updated visually for sighted users, but this is not announced for users of assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.3)

Skip links

Pages lack skip links to bypass repetitive content (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1).

Interactive components

Some interactive controls are missing an accessible name (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2)

Some links do not communicate their current state to assistive technology consistently with their visual state. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2)

The mobile menu and the sub menus on the side navigation do not communicate their expanded or collapsed state to assistive technology consistently with their visual state. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2)

The switch controls do not communicate the correct role and state that is consistent with their visual state to assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2)

The mobile menu link has anchor tags with no href attribute which do not communicate the link role to assistive technology. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2)

The toolbars on the CKEditor (Rich Text Editor) component are not entirely exposed to assistive technology due to incorrect semantics. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2)

Coding

There are parsing errors in the markup of pages. These are technical failures for WCAG 2.1 but may not have a direct effect on users. (WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.1)

Disproportionate burden

The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) website is built on old technology that cannot easily be updated to resolve particular issues. Due to the size of the database and the limitations of the current technology which supports it, this would need considerable investment at a time when we are actively seeking funding to build a new PAS application (i.e. website and database) which would resolve the accessibility issues while also overwriting any changes made in the short term. We've assessed the work that would be required to update the PAS website and we believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden, within the meaning of the Accessibility Regulations.

In the meantime, we have tried to mitigate the accessibility issues by ensuring that, as far as possible, all text and media content on the website are kept up to accessibility standards. Information about archaeological items on the database can also be made available in alternative formats upon request. If any users experience accessibility problems, please contact us and we'll endeavour to provide the data required in a more suitable format for your needs.

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents  

Many of our older PDFs and Microsoft Office documents that you can view from our websites' do not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured in a way that makes them accessible to a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships). The Accessibility Regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018. Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards.  

Objects within our database

These are exempt under the Accessibility Regulations and there are no plans to update all historic content. However, where possible, and on request, we may be able to provide information in alternative formats.

Third party content 

We use a number of third-party services on www.finds.org.uk. The design and implementation of these are not under our control, and therefore they are exempt from the Accessibility Regulations. However, we aim to make them accessible where we can and raise any other issues with the supplier. These include:

Google maps (interactive maps)
Twitter (social media feed)

What we're doing to improve accessibility

As noted above, the British Museum runs many websites, including a large number of microsites that were developed at different times using different technologies. We are committed to providing websites that are accessible to all and we are working hard to achieve that, but the scale and complexity of the task provides a number of challenges. 

We are also:

Ensuring that all new components are built to the highest WCAG standards possible.
Continuing to test our new designs and products with a broad and diverse range of audiences.
Rolling out accessibility training to staff who create content and new products.

Raising general accessibility awareness across the Museum.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared in 2010. It was last reviewed on 27 August 2021.

This website was last tested on 08/07/2021 - 14/7/2021. The test was carried out by AbilityNet.

9 pages from https://finds.org.uk/ were selected to be audited, representing pages that have high usage and that contain different representative types of components. Pages were tested against WCAG 2.1 A & AA on Windows desktop with Chrome and JAWS screen reader and on mobile using an iPhone with VoiceOver.