Accessibility Statement for the Digimap for Schools website
Website accessibility statement inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
This accessibility statement applies to https://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/
This website is run by the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this application. For example, that means you should be able to:
- Using your browser settings, change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- Zoom in up to 200% 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
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use without changing what the text means.
Customising the website
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:
AbilityNet - My Computer My Way
With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:
Additional information on how to customise our website appearance
If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- Screenreaders may not be able to fully navigate the site
- Assistive technology functionality may not work on all parts of the site
- Accessing all content may not be possible by using the keyboard alone
- Text appears over background images
- Users need to scroll to access specific content
- Not all colour contrasts meet the recommended Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 AA standard
- Not all links indicate whether they open as new pop-up or browser windows
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille:
- Email edina@ed.ac.uk
- Telephone +44 (0)131 650 3302
- British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.
We will consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact:
- Email edina@ed.ac.uk
- Telephone +44 (0)131 650 3302
- British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.
We will consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.
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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:
Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)
The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:
Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website
Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language
British Sign Language service
contactSCOTLAND-BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
contactSCOTLAND-BSL service details
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its websites and applications accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
The full guidelines are available at:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard
Non accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations
The following items do not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:
- Not all non-text content presented to users has alternative text
- Audio description is not provided for all prerecorded video content
- There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours, especially where the text size is very small
- Information is conveyed as an image of text rather than as text itself, making it not compatible with screen readers and other assistive technology
- Visual information to identify user interface components, such as keyboard focus, do not always have a sufficient contrast ratio
- Content implemented using markup languages can not always be read by assistive technologies
- It is not possible to use a keyboard to access all the content
- Scrolling is an essential activity for accessing relevant mapping content
- Some functionality requires dragging movements
- Screen readers are not able to identify some parts of the page
We aim to improve our website’s accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below (‘What we’re doing to improve accessibility’) on how we are improving our site accessibility.
Where possible we are working towards solving these problems and expect improvements by September 2026. The site is fully within our control, but we do use external libraries and frameworks such as OpenLayers, Angular and Angular Material Components.
Disproportionate burden
We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Online Maps and Mapping Services
As mentioned throughout this statement, the site comprises exemplars of maps available in the full subscription service. These maps are complex in nature and therefore not fully accessible. However, maps are currently not within the scope of the regulations, as long as information needed for navigation is provided in an alternative format. An example includes any of the World and Continent Maps. The maps fail various WCAG 2.2 criteria, in particular 1.1.1 - Non-text Content.
PDFs and other documents
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not necessarily meet accessibility standards, for example, and they may not be easy to view using a screen reader. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2019 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix old news articles relating to time-specific events, but these may still have some education value, such as the Conserve Challenge of the John Muir Award. We will also try to ensure any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards, and where we find any that are not accessible, we will rectify this as soon as possible.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We will continue to address and make adequate improvements to the accessibility issues highlighted. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or improvement will be in place by September 2026. As noted above, due to the complex nature of the information displayed and the content type, specifically the mapping, it will not be possible to resolve all accessibility issues.
While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this website.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 23rd September 2019 and reviewed on 27th February 2023. It was last reviewed on the 17th July 2025
The website was last tested on 24th June 2025. The testing was carried out by the Software Engineering team within the Information Services EDINA directorate at the University of Edinburgh using both automated and manual methods. The site was tested on a PC, primarily using Microsoft Edge alongside Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
Recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are increasing in popularity and Google Chrome is now the favoured browser for screen readers:
WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey
The aforementioned three browsers have been used in certain questions for reasons of breadth and variety.
We ran automated testing using Google Chrome’s lighthouse accessibility tool and then manual testing that included:
• Spell check functionality;
• Scaling using different resolutions and reflow;
• Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour, etc);
• Keyboard navigation and keyboard traps;
• Data validation;
• Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
• Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
• Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
• Operability if JavaScript is disabled;
• Use with screen reading software (using the [JAWS screen reader](https://www.freedomscientific.com/products/software/jaws/);
• Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content;
• Time limits;
• Compatibility with mobile accessibility functionality (Android and iOS).
Change Log
- Relevant tooltips have been provided for all appropriate icons and images