Mission Statement
GDC Vault is committed to ensuring that its digital product is accessible to all users, regardless of their ability or the technology they're using. This includes people with visual, hearing, cognitive or motor impairments.
We are continually working on improving the accessibility and usability of our platform.
GDC Vault is working towards conforming with level A of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and Section 508 Standards of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act for its platform.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 standards are set by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for the Internet. These guidelines are widely accepted as the gold standards for digital accessibility and serve as the basis of most accessibility regulations worldwide.
The Section 508 Standards were established to implement Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, which requires government agencies to provide access to electronic and information technologies for disabled individuals that is comparable to access available to non-disabled individuals.
Accessibility explained
GDC Vault recognizes that a clear accessibility commitment improves the online experience for all users of our digital products and that disabilities can take many forms including visual, motor and cognitive.
We are committed to ensuring that our digital products are accessible to all users, regardless of their ability or assistive technology they use.
Visual - includes blind low vision and color blind:
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GDC Vault strives to ensure compatibility of its platforms with popular screen readers. To support users who do not have a screen reader, we offer a text-to-speech functionality at the top of each journal article page. Furthermore, text on GDC Vault can be resized without assistive technology (up to 200%) without loss of content or functionality.
Motor includes people who are not able to use a mouse:
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GDC Vault platform is navigable via the keyboard, without the need to use the mouse.
Cognitive - includes dyslexia, ADD, and epilepsy:
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Pages are descriptively titled, and global navigation links are consistent across pages to make it easy to understand the layout of the platform.
For a more comprehensive list of accessibility enhancements implemented on GDC Vault, please visit the Accessibility features section of this page.
Accessibility principles
All accessibility enhancements on GDC Vault have been implemented in line with the Four Principles of Accessibility, as published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These principles provide that websites should be:
Users must be able to perceive the information being presented to them by at least one of their senses.
This means that users must be able to operate the interface. The interface cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform.
Users must be able to understand the information as well as the operation of the user interface.
Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This means that users must be able to access the content as technologies advance.
Accessibility features
GDC Vault is committed to meeting the Four Principles of Accessibility, as set out above. We have implemented the following accessibility enhancements to GDC Vault.
Readability
- Information on GDC Vault is presented with consideration for readability. Foreground is separated from background with the use of appropriate color and contrast.
- Text can be resized without assistive technology (up to 200%) without loss of content or functionality.
Adaptable content
- The reading and navigation order are logical and intuitive.
- The display is responsive. Content view and operation is not restricted to a single display orientation, such as portrait or landscape.
A user can easily use controls, buttons, navigation etc.
Keyboard accessible
- All platform functionalities are operable through keyboard interface. The user can navigate to and from all navigable page elements using only a keyboard. For example, volume, share button and dropdown can be all operated using tabs.
- Headings hierarchy is correctly used to organize content.
- Web pages have titles that clearly describe topic or purpose.
- All labels and fields are clearly defined.
- The purpose of each link can be determined from the text alone or the link text.
- Components receive focus in an order that preserves meaning and operability.
- The navigation order of links, form elements etc is logical and intuitive.
- Consistent, global navigation links are provided.
- All pages on GDC Vault contain a search box.
- There are multiple ways to navigate GDC Vault e.g. Browse by Conference, browse Free or Members Only content and the Search functionality.
- There is a mechanism in place to bypass the main navigation.
- Web pages do not contain anything that flashes more than three times in any one second, or the flash is below the general flash and red flash threshold.
Technology is consistent in its presentation and format, predictable in its design and usage patterns.
Input assistance
- Provides text descriptions to identify required fields that were not completed. These suggestions help users to complete required information.
- Web pages are predictable and operate in a consistent way. Repeated components are presented in the same relative order every time they appear.
- Headings are used correctly to display content.
- Focus is used appropriately.
- Navigation is consistent.
I.T. is standards-compliant and designed to function on all appropriate technologies.
Browser support
- GDC Vault supports all modern browsers and follows the graceful degradation web design strategy for older browsers. This means that all content should be available but newer features may not be fully supported.
- GDC Vault has been built to modern web standards using valid HTML5 and CSS.
- GDC Vault is compatible with all known major hardware devices and it automatically adapts to different screen sizes depending on the device being used (e.g. mobile, tablet or laptop).
- We use a combination of manual testing and automated tools to test GDC Vault for accessibility. Automated tools used include:
- WAVE plugin for Chrome
- Google Lighthouse tool
- No accessibility tool provides a 100% thorough assessment of a website's level of accessibility. Therefore, we also carry out manual reviews of the GDC Vault.
- To ensure that accessibility standards are maintained, we plan to carry out a thorough platform accessibility audit on annual basis.
- At GDC Vault we also continually monitor our practices to ensure that accessibility is embedded at every step of the process.
GDC Vault content and access options
All newly published content videos will contain closed captioning.
We aim to publish all content with searchable, selectable text, but cannot guarantee this for some of our older or acquired content. Where content is not accessible, our customers can submit a request to
GDC Vault Help, who will endeavor to provide an accessible version of the content.
At present, we cannot guarantee that all images contained within our content include alt-text, but this is a key objective for 2020, and we are currently exploring various options for implementation.
Help and support
If you have any accessibility issues in using GDC Vault, or if you have any comments or questions related to accessibility, please let us know by emailing
[email protected].
The information on this page is specific to GDC Vault. If you would like more general information or help with web accessibility, we recommend the BBC website My Web, My Way.
Ability Net provides guidance on how to make your computer more accessible.
The above statement and report were created and updated on December 1st, 2020.
