Accessibility
Last updated: 25 October 2026
We want everyone who uses Sooner to be able to use it: students, teachers and module leaders. This statement covers this home website and the four apps: the Module Manager and Evaluator, the Classroom Facilitator, the Self-Paced Classroom and the Virtual Lecturer.
How accessible Sooner is
Sooner partly meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA. The problems we know about are listed below. We do not think any of them stops a person from doing a task, but some make a task harder.
We built Sooner so you can:
- use every page with a keyboard, and see where you are on the page;
- zoom in, and use Sooner on a phone, with no sideways scrolling of the page;
- use a screen reader: pages have headings and labels, pictures have descriptions, and feedback and status messages are read out;
- watch the films with captions;
- always type an answer, where a task also lets you draw or add a photo.
Problems we know about
- Some small controls (some tick boxes, switches and short links in the apps) are smaller than 24 by 24 pixels, so they are harder to tap or click (WCAG 2.5.8).
- Short messages in the Classroom Facilitator, the Self-Paced Classroom and the Virtual Lecturer, such as "Saved", disappear after about 3 seconds, and error messages after 6 seconds. Screen readers read them out, but a slow reader can miss them (WCAG 2.2.1).
- The drawing pad in the Classroom Facilitator and the Self-Paced Classroom needs a mouse, finger or pen. You can always type your answer instead.
- The class timer in the Classroom Facilitator is not read out by screen readers. The task does not close when the time runs out.
- The four apps have no "Skip to the page" link, as this home website has. Their pages do have headings and a main area, so a screen reader can jump to them.
- The films have captions, but we have not checked every caption by hand, and the films have no audio description.
We fixed these on 25 October 2026: the borders of text boxes were too light to see; some Help centre links ran off the edge of very narrow screens; and the Why Sooner page had no main heading on some tabs.
How we checked
On 24 and 25 October 2026 we checked 32 pages and screens of Sooner, on a test copy with made-up people, at laptop and phone sizes. The checks covered labels, picture descriptions, headings, colour contrast, the size of controls, the keyboard focus, captions and zoom. We have not yet tested Sooner with people who use assistive technology, or with an outside expert.
Tell us about a problem
If something in Sooner is hard to use, or you need it in another format, tell us:
- Staff: use the Feedback button on any page after you log in.
- Students: tell your teacher or module leader, who can pass it on.
- Visitors: reply to the email that gave you access, or send an "Interested in Sooner?" message.
We reply as soon as we can.