SundaySky and Accessibility
According to the WHO, more than a billion people worldwide experience some type of disability. In the United States alone, 26% of adults are living with some kind of disability. For many of these people, it can be difficult to engage with a video. The combination of sight, sound, and motion can make the interaction with the video challenging. To meet these challenges, it is necessary to design videos with accessibility in mind. When a video is accessible, you can reach and connect with all members of your audience.
Over the years, SundaySky has worked with web accessibility experts to ensure that the SundaySky video player (used to watch SundaySky videos) meets the major accessibility standards so that no viewer is left behind.
Accessibility Guidelines and Standards
SundaySky was guided by the following principles and guidelines in ensuring that the SundaySky player is compliant with accessibility standards:
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
This is a federal law that prohibits discrimination based on disability in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.
Section 508
Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This is a federal law mandating that all electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by the federal government be accessible to people with disabilities. This means that financial institutions, telecommunication companies, and healthcare organizations (among others) that provide services to or do business with the federal government must make their services available to people with disabilities.
WCAG 2.0 AA (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
This is a set of voluntary technical guidelines for web accessibility. The guidelines were developed and published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for the Internet.
SundaySky Player—Accessibility Features
High Contrast Control Bar
Purpose:
With a high contrast control bar, it is easier to distinguish between the elements on the screen. This is helpful for users with visual impairments such as color blindness or low vision. In addition, when the control bar is pinned, inactivity will not cause the controls to be hidden and there is never a need to restore the control bar to the bottom of the player.
When configuring the player—in the SundaySky landing page or your own page—you can define the control bar to be pinned permanently by toggling on Pin player bar in the Player section.
How is this supported in the SundaySky player?
The control bar, pinned under the player, is solid black with white controls.
Closed Captioning
Purpose:
Closed captioning enables hearing-impaired users to read the captions on the screen as an alternative for video narration.
The closed captions are generated automatically by the platform according to the text that is entered into the voice-over placeholders. See Adding Closed Captioning to a Video to learn more.
How is this supported in the SundaySky player?
The viewer can enable closed captioning by clicking the closed captioning icon that appears on the control bar.
Keyboard Support
Purpose:
Using a keyboard instead of a mouse is essential for people with physical disabilities who cannot use a mouse and for those who are visually impaired and cannot see the mouse pointer on the screen. There are also people with chronic conditions, such as repetitive stress injuries, who should limit the use of a mouse.
How is this supported in the SundaySky player?
Pressing the Tab key advances the cursor to the next function in the player control bar.
Detailed Video Transcript
Purpose:
The detailed video transcript is a record of all the content included in the video. It is generated automatically for every video without requiring any action by the user. Produced in HTML format, the transcript can be read to visually-impaired users using screen-reading technology.
If you are creating a landing page using SundaySky's landing page builder, the video transcript functionality can be configured as a button on the control bar. To learn how, see Using the Landing Page Builder (player tab).
The transcript, divided by scenes, begins with the name of the video. When you create a video from scratch, you provide the name for the video. When using a Story Template or AI Copilot, the video is named automatically but you can always rename it.
Each scene can include, depending on the content, any or all of the following three sections:
1. Narrator: the voice-over that is heard as the video plays is recorded in this section.
2. Screen text: this section displays the on-screen text, bullets, and the text that appears on a media asset. If the scene includes a button, the button text is displayed as a clickable link.
3. Screen visuals: descriptions of the media assets included in the scene are displayed in this section. The description is taken from the Media Description field in the Details dialog window.
Tip!
If the transcript is not generated in HTML format, use this quick workaround:
Slightly edit the video (for example: add and then delete a scene) and then approve the video edits.
How is this supported in the SundaySky player?
Clicking the transcript button in the SundaySky player displays the detailed video transcript in a new tab.
Screen Reader Support
Purpose:
With a screen reader, a visually-impaired person can consume content and interact with the player using hearing rather than sight.
How is this supported in the SundaySky player?
Text-to-speech output of all player controls, among them:
- Pause and play a video
- Mute a video
- Enable full screen mode
- Visit the SundaySky website