Selecting Compliant Style Colors

Adhering to WCAG 2.0 criteria for color contrast can be important for many organizations to meet the needs of their users. The following articles and websites are resources for understanding guidelines regarding colors.

• The World Wide Web Consortium has detailed extensively the guidelines for color contrast on the web with examples.
• Color Safe or WebAIMs Contrast Checker are both excellent resources for assembling compliant color palettes to be used for styles. 
• After applying compliant styles to your 360° Tour, test that it passes contrast tests using WebAIM's Wave Accessibility Checker.

You can control all your colors in the Styles Tab of Tour Builder.

Provide Alternatives to Non-Text Content

Add Alternative Text to Panoramas & Static Images

You can add Alternative Text (also known as Alt Tags) to all panoramas and images within Tour Builder.

Provide an Audio Transcript

When uploading audio files, you have the option to add an Audio Transcript. We at this time do not have the option to generate or display transcripts. The recommended option is to add in the transcript of the audio or have the speaker read off exactly what is in the description box.

Ensure Accessible Tour Settings

Disable Autoplay Audio

When adding audio to a tour stop, Tour Builder offers the option to "Autoplay" the audio as soon as the user loads the tour stop. It is not WCAG compliant to do so, so the recommendation is to leave this disabled.

Disable Auto-Rotate

While editing or previewing a panorama, Tour Builder offers the option to "auto-rotate" the image so it slowly and automatically pans the image around in a direction of your choosing. Our recommendation is to disable auto-rotate. The name of the game with accessible 360° Tours is to never have something automatically do anything.

Use Out of World Hotspots

Hotspots are accessible via the keyboard for all 360° Tour users. If you use a keyboard or screen reader to access content on the web, you will be able to use your usual keypresses to access Hotspot content.

Be sure to use Out of World (OOW) Hotspots so the content within the hotspot can be accessed by a screen reader.

Keyboard users will be snapped to the Hotspot they tabbed to and focused on.   

Do not Enable VR Mode

360° Tours offer mobile users a virtual reality (VR) display option. Because VR uses the mobile devices sensors to control the view, it is inaccessible. Please see WCAG 2.5.4 for more information on motion actuation. We suggest that users only use the non-VR 360° Tour for the most accessible experience.

Ensure Video Content is Accessible

Use Captions on YouTube and Vimeo

Captions are crucial for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. Both YouTube and Vimeo offer straightforward captioning tools.

Best Practices for Captions: Ensure captions are accurate, properly timed, and easy to read.
Use clear, descriptive language, and include non-verbal sounds when relevant.

Ensure Videos contain Audio Descriptions

Audio descriptions provide essential visual context for users with low vision. Since YouTube and Vimeo don’t natively support separate audio description tracks, here are two options for implementing them:

1. Two Versions of the Same Video

• • Upload two versions of the video: one with audio descriptions embedded and one without.

  • Add a clearly labeled link or button below the embedded video (e.g., "Watch with Audio Descriptions").

  • Pros: Easy to implement within the existing platform.

  • Cons: Users must interact with an external link, and managing two video versions increases overhead for your clients.

2. Burn-In Audio Descriptions

• Create a single video file where audio descriptions are embedded directly into the video.

• Upload this file to YouTube or Vimeo.

• Pros: Meets WCAG requirements and is simple to share.

• Cons: Forces all viewers to hear audio descriptions, which may not be necessary for most users.