Web²Access

Results for Ning

Description

Ning allows you to create your own social networking space to collaborate with friends, colleagues, students and others in a user friendly way. However it does require some development as has been stated by Webmonkey "The Ning gnomes provide a number of custom PHP classes, both for interacting with the database and for quickly adding sprinkles of Ajax, web services, and other treats to an application. There's a lot there, and plumbing all of Ning's continually growing possibilities is a big job..." They give an example of a bookmark manager with the code.

Accessibility Testing Results

It is a shame that this service begins by requiring users to sign in with a captcha and offers no alternative. This reduced the scores. The other aspect was the way other users had developed their sites but if the standard Ning template is used most aspects are easy to read. YouTube is used for videos which means that captions and transcriptions can be added but we could not find any on the day of testing.

#	Test	Score	Summary
1	Login, Signup and Other Forms Accessible		There is a captcha and cookies plus JavaScript has to be enabled on the browser and this is true for every social networking group developed in Ning. However, the text is clear and the help centre offers a contact address. Once you have overcome the captcha problem, the log-in works well in Webbie and with a screen reader as the form is clearly labelled.
2	Image ALT Attributes		Some images have alt attributes but they do not describe what is in the image. Other images lack the alt tag completely.
3	Link Target Definitions		Some links lack titles or definitions whcih can cause confusion when linked to an image.
4	Frame Titles and Layout		There are no frames
5	Removal of Stylesheet		The site linearised in the correct order
6	Audio/Video Features		Videos and graphics have text descriptions and audio tracks but no captions or transcriptions were available on those viewed at the time of the evaluation
7	Video/animations - audio descriptions		Videos and graphics have text descriptions and audio tracks but the amount of audio description depends on the user.
8	Appropriate use of Tables		Tables are rarely used on the site, and have headers where required.
9	Tab Orderings Correct and Logical		Tab order is in a logical top-to-bottom or left-to-right format.
10	Page Functionality with Keyboard		The video You tube player is not accessible in certain browsers but otherwise keyboard access is good.
11	Accessibility of Text Editors		Although there are no rich text editors and the forms are accessible and well labelled, the use of captcha on the sign in page which reduces the score.
12	Appropriate Feedback with Forms		Feedback was appropriate, with no time restrictions enforced.
13	Contrast and Colour Check		Very good when using NIng colours but other sites have not always used good contrasting colours.
14	Page Integrity when Zooming		No problems occurred on the pages tested.
15	Text size, style, blinking elements and Readability		Serif fonts were found on some sites and some text was very small. There is no flashing or blinking content.

Disability-Tailored Results

The following table shows how well the product performs for people with disabilities, as listed in the Disabilities section.

Percentages do not indicate how much of a site is accessible. They indicate the average figure of test results relevant to each disability. Select a disability to see which tests are relevant to it.

Activities you can do with Ning

• Image Sharing
• Group Discussion
• Appointment Creation and Sharing
• Comments and Sharing Views
• Finding People