Updated 11 January 2024

Accessibility statement for the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

This accessibility statement applies to all of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's websites. By these we mean:

• rbge.org.uk
• all of the microsites and online resources operated by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

These websites are run by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website, and work is continuing so that we can fulfil this aim. In the meantime, on the rbge.org.uk website, you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
• access the website on smaller devices

We’ve also made the website’s text as simple to understand as we can.

How accessible this website is

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

• Some parts of the website, including status messages, online forms, headers, buttons and links, may not be fully compatible with assistive technologies.
• Colour contrast may not be high enough and some text spacing may not match minimum requirements.
• Some text and images may spill off the screen at some screen resolutions.
• Keyboard navigation and its focus indicator do not work on every part of every website.
• Our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard and assistive technologies.
• Most older PDF documents (pre-2018) are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
• Some elements may not always appear in the most logical order if you are using assistive technologies to navigate the page.
• Some videos, created before September 2020, do not have closed captions, transcripts or audio descriptions.
• Some third-party websites to which we navigate, or whose content we embed, are not fully accessible.
• More information on the accessibility issues appears in the section on non-accessible content, below.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, such as accessible PDF or large print, we will do our best to support you:

• email webmaster@rbge.org.uk
• call 0131 552 7171

If you email us, please include ‘accessibility’ in your subject line. We’ll confirm receipt of your request and get back to you within seven days.

You can find more contact details on our contact us page.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that we haven’t listed on this page, or if you think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, we’d love to hear from you. Please send us an email in which you describe the problem and tell us which page you were using when it happened. Send this email to webmaster@rbge.org.uk.

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is committed to making its websites 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 content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Non-text Content

Some images, non-text content and form controls do not have alternative text or descriptive enough labels to explain their content. This means that the information displayed by them is not available to people using a screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1.  

We are in the process of reviewing all images and buttons to ensure that they have meaningful alternative text by April 2024. We will continue to work with our website editors to provide them with training and guidance on best practices. We are working with our developers to fix our form controls and are also working to replace embedded third party software forms across the site. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Info and Relationships

On pages that contain videos, empty headings may be present with no information and may cause confusion to some users who navigate by heading elements, especially keyboard and screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1. We are working with our developers to fix the video component and ensure no empty headings are present by April 2024.

On some of our forms, drop down labels may not be announced by screen readers. Some forms may also be missing correctly associated labels to support users of assistive technologies. We are working to replace embedded third party forms across the site. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Some pages may have incorrect or missing ARIA landmarks which could cause problems for users who use landmarks to navigate, especially screen reader users. We are working with our developers to ensure each navigation landmark has its own unique and correct label. It is expected that this work will be completed within the next 12 months.

Meaningful Sequence

When viewing some of our Word or PDF documents, some images may not be inline which could make it difficult for screen readers to interact with the document.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.2.  All documents are in the process of being checked to ensure images are inline. This work is expected to be completed by April 2024. We will also continue to work with our website editors to provide them with training and guidance on best practices for publishing accessible documents.

Identify Input Purpose

All form fields lack the 'autocomplete' attribute. This makes it harder for the user, especially for people with cognitive disabilities, to fill out forms. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5. We are working to fix or replace embedded third party forms across the site. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Use of Colour

Some buttons on the website do not reach a sufficient colour contrast when the user hovers over them, at 2.4:1. This makes it harder for people who have colour blindness or visual disabilities to be able to tell these are links to click on. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1. We are working with our developers to implement a fix for this issue by April 2024.

Contrast (minimum)

The colour contrast of some text, graphical objects and form fields on the website may not be high enough to display content clearly making it difficult to read or difficult to select form fields for some users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (contrast minimum) and 1.4.11 (Non-text contrast: graphical objects).

We are working with our developers to ensure that text, background colours and form fields have sufficient contrast. Fixes for these issues will be implemented by April 2024. Where these occur on forms, we are working to fix or replace our embedded third party forms. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Resize Text

On many of our pages, rendering issues are observed when the font size is increased to 200%. This makes it difficult for people with low vision to navigate the site when resizing text.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4. We are working with our developers to fix this issue within the next 12 months.

Timing Adjustable

On some of our payment pages there is a time limit on how quickly users can enter their card details. This is not apparent on the page or pop-up so the user is unaware there is a time limit, nor is there a  way for the user to extend this time limit. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.1. We are working to replace our embedded third party payment forms. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Bypass Blocks

On some pages headings are incorrectly nested. On pages with embedded videos or donation forms, iframes lack an appropriate title. Skipped heading levels and untitled frames can result in screen reader users missing content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1. We are working with our developers to add all appropriate frame titles and ensure all page headings are correctly nested by April 2024.

Page Titled

Some of our page titles are not descriptive or informative. This could affect users with cognitive disabilities or screen reader users from being able to quickly differentiate pages. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2. We are in the process of reviewing all pages to ensure they have informative titles by April 2024.

Focus Order

When tabbing on some pages the tab order may not be logical, which may result in some keyboard and screen reader users finding it difficult to understand or operate the web page. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.3. Within the next 12 months we are working with our developers to implement fixes to ensure tab order is logical on all pages.

Link Purpose (In Context)

Some links do not use meaningful text regarding the links destination. This can introduce confusion for keyboard and screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4. We are in the process of reviewing all links and form image buttons to ensure they have clear text indicating to the user the link’s destination by April 2024.

Headings and Labels

On some pages, headings and labels do not describe their associated topic or purpose. This may confuse screen reader users who navigate using headers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.6. We are working with our developers to implement fixes for these issues by April 2024.

Focus Visible

In some places, a visible tab focus indicator is not present to highlight the element in focus for keyboard operable user interface components. This makes it harder for people using a keyboard to navigate the website. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7. We are working with our developers to implement a fix for this issue by April 2024.

Label in Name

Some labels for user interface components do not match the visually displayed name on the page.  This may result in users of assistive technology inputting incorrect information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.5.3. We are working on a with our developers to implement a fix for this issue by April 2024.

On Focus

Some unexpected behaviour can be experienced whilst tabbing on our payment pages which may confuse or disorientate users with visual disabilities, cognitive limitations and motor impairments. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.1. We are working to replace our embedded third party forms. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Error Identification

On some of our forms mandatory fields do not show a text error to indicate which field is incorrect when left blank. This may make it difficult for users to identify which field is incorrect. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1. We are working to replace our embedded third party forms. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Labels or Instructions

Within forms, some elements may be missing labels or instructions. This means that some users may experience confusion over what input data is expected.  This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2. We are working to replace our embedded third party forms. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Error Suggestion

Within forms on the site, suggestions for input errors are not provided. This means that some users may find it difficult to understand how to correct errors. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.3. We are working to replace our embedded third party forms. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Accessible Authentication

During the card payment authentication process, the CSV code is obscured. This prevents the user from being able to check what they have entered. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.8. We are working to replace our embedded third party payment forms. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Name, Role, Value

When navigating the website with a screen reader JAWS some components across the page are announced twice which may disorientate users of assistive technologies. Also, when navigating forms with Dragon Naturally Speaking, markup has not been used to aid accessibility and the user may be unable to navigate and select options via voice command. These fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2. We are working with our developers to implement a fix by April 2024.

Status Messages

On our e-news signup form, there is no status message announced by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.3. We are working to replace our embedded third party payment forms. This work is anticipated to be completed by December 2025 (please see the ‘Disproportionate Burden’ section below for more detail).

Disproportionate burden

Online forms

Some pages have third party software forms embedded. We have minimal influence on the code that is delivered to users and addressing accessibility issues on these forms would require development work by the supplier, who we are currently in contract with. As part of an organisation-wide programme of digital transformation, we are in the process of reviewing some systems, including our CRM. This programme is underway and we expect  to migrate to a new platform by December 2025. During this interim period we are developing a 12 month plan to resolve accessibility issues by trialing Blackbaud's new system of NXT Forms and also exploring the potential of an API as a solution for integrating our CRM forms within Umbraco forms.  Further details can be found within our Disproportionate Burden Assessment, which is available upon request.

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

PDFs and other non-HTML documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Pre-recorded video

Videos created before 23 September 2020 might not have closed captions, alternative text, audio descriptions or transcripts that describe the events and content of the video in text format. We do not plan to add these alternatives because pre-recorded video from before 23 September 2020 is exempt.

Third party software, tools and content

Some types of content and technology used on the website are provided by third parties (like Google Translate and Google Maps). We have not paid for, developed, or controlled these services at any time.

Heritage collections

The heritage collections composed of digitised mediums delivered by the website fall into the accessibility regulation’s description of a heritage collection. Therefore, the Herbarium, Library and Archives collections are exempt.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are continually working to improve the accessibility of our website. We conduct regular accessibility audits and act on their findings. We learn from these audits and other accessibility information, and we apply our increased knowledge to all updates we make.

To address the issues outlined above, many fixes are in development and will be implemented by April 2024 for independent assessment by our auditors Zoonou. Following this, we are working with our developers to implement a programme of fixes over the next 12 months.

We are also:

• ensuring that all new components are built to WCAG 2.1 AA standards at a minimum
• continuing our commitment to user testing and listening to our digital users
• raising general accessibility awareness and training across the organisation

Microsites 

We have a number of microsites that are non-compliant with many of the WCAG 2.1 AAs success criteria. We are currently in the process of having these sites audited to allow us to identify the work that needs to be carried out to make them accessible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 March 2021. It was last reviewed on 11 January 2024.

This website was last tested via audit on 4 January 2024. The audit was carried out by Zoonou.

We tested:

• all pages on rbge.org.uk, with a full automated audit of every page
• a sample of pages and templates manually. Three user journeys were conducted to test the usability of the website across seven assistive technology combinations.

If you would like to view the full accessibility test report, please email webmaster@rbge.org.uk

The audit used the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 AA, to determine how accessible the selected pages are.

This statement was last updated on 11 January 2024.