On behalf of your global retailer network, 1WorldSync will be making the following enhancements to our tools and review process, in regards to accessibility requirements.

Note: 1WorldSync uses WCAG standards as the guideline for these updates.

Inline Content Builder Enhancements

1. Short Description (Alt tag) will be *expected on all images and 360 spins (max 100 characters)

Short descriptions (presented as alt-tags in html) should describe the image for visually impaired users who are unable to see the image. These descriptions should be descriptive enough so that the user has a clear understanding of what is shown in the image and the context within.

*note: The system will allow you to publish without alt-text for now, in which case we will use a default ‘product image’ text, but this is not a good experience for the end user and we will eventually be requiring it.

Bad Short Description example: “Person standing at window with laptop.”

Good Short Description example: “Businessman standing at a window in a corporate skyscraper holding a laptop.”

2. Extended Description (longdesc) will be optional for images and 360 spins

Extended descriptions (presented as longdesc in html) can be added to describe images that require additional description. A common case for this is annotated images that contain embedded text.

3. Subtitles will be *expected on all videos

Adding a video into ICB will prompt the user to add .vtt closed captioning files, or indicate if the video has the subtitles embedded.

.vtt files are simple text files that instruct the video player to display text on the screen based on timelines. The Closed Captioning should be text transcription of any spoken language in the video, as well as describing other audible elements (such as music playing) for hearing impaired users.

https://www.w3.org/TR/webvtt1/

*note: The system will allow you to publish without closed-captions for now, but this is not a good experience for the end user and we will eventually be requiring it. Some retailers may also not take any of your video content if it does not have Closed Captions.

Updates to 1WorldSync Review Process for Accessibility

Pages that are manually built in the Inline Content Builder go through our standard review process when published. Typically, we are checking for common issues or content that is not allowed on our retailer network.

The 1WS Review team will begin providing feedback for the following accessibility guidelines. If they find that a page does not meet the  standards, they will send feedback to you (the brand) so you can update, but will still publish the content.

*Note: In the future this will no longer be optional feedback, but will be a rejection of the page if it does not meet standards.

1. Images with embedded text have clear extended descriptions

1WorldSync will validate that there are clear extended descriptions for any images that have embedded text.

2. Text over backgrounds has high contrast

The visual presentation of text and images of text has a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1, except for the following:

•  Large Text
• Large-scale text and images of large-scale text have a contrast ratio of at least 3:1;

Content Suggestions

1. Avoid embedded text entirely

When possible, instead of embedding text on images, use the image as a background and our text overlay. Not only will this mean the image doesn’t require extended description, but will also scale better in different widths and on mobile devices.

2. Use available tools to check the content

There are available tools to check for WCAG accessibility issues, such as

https://wave.webaim.org/

Why is 1WorldSync making these enhancements?

There are 2 main reasons for us to make these enhancements.

1. It will help brand sales to visually / hearing impaired consumers

If you are not including these accessibility elements in your content, you are effectively not presenting the content to visually / hearing impaired consumers. These are essential to ensure that all consumers are benefiting from the rich content provided by your brand, which is known to increase sales substantially in ecommerce.

2. Protecting our retail partners

More and more of our retail partners are facing legal challenges for displaying pages that are not accessibility compliant. By ensuring content we pass to them has met the standards, we lower their risk of legal action against them. Many of the major retailers are also now requiring this and will begin turning off rich content that does not meet their standards.

Have Questions?

Please start by checking our FAQs section in the Vendor Portal.

If the answer to your question is not listed there, then please reach out to our Support Team by submitting your question HERE