This article is an overview of Boom's accessibility options for differently-abled folks using the platform to play Boom decks, create them, or both. If you are a creator looking for tips on how to make your decks accessible, check out our Making your Self-Made Boom Decks Accessible article.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Is Boom VPAT compliant?

Boom has filled out a VPAT evaluation form for your convenience. Click here to get our VPAT.


Accessibility within Boom Cards

We provide several options for Publishers to create accessible cards for people with a variety of abilities and needs.


Colors for Backgrounds and Text

Authors can select a solid color or upload an image as a background for the selected card to create more contrast to improve visibility. They can also change the color of text boxes, including the text itself or the background color behind the text to improve visibility as well.


Images

Images can be inserted onto a card for visual aids and can also be used as answer choices or draggable items. 


Sounds

Creating cards with custom sounds is an important feature to allow authors to add sounds they make to their decks like the directions on the card read out loud. Sounds can be used to aid students with special needs, English as a second language, or those who need assistance with vocabulary development.


On-Screen Keyboards

For special symbols or language-specific characters, authors can add an on-screen keyboard for students to use. This makes fill-in-the-blank answers much easier for students who need to use mathematical symbols or other characters not traditionally found on an English keyboard. Here is an example using the Spanish on-screen keyboard:


Alt Text (Alternative Text) / Accessibility Text

ALT text, also known as alternative text, or ALT attributes, are snippets of text that describe the content of an image or a sound.


Screen readers will read the ALT text of the image, allowing the student to understand the image's content or its context in the card. Without descriptive text, the program may skip the image altogether or offer a notice to the user that no description is offered.


For sounds, the ALT text will display on the screen for people with auditory issues or are in an environment where they cannot listen to sounds.


Our Player allows student to enable Sound to text, when this is turned on the text will display the ALT text of the sound, allowing the student to understand the sound's content or its context in the card. 


Accessibility within the Boom Card Player

Students can use their keyboard to move through cards in a deck and to select fill-in-the-blank answers. We currently do not support screen-reader or switch control technology, but we hope to develop it in the future! For now, students are able to utilize their arrow keys and the tab key.


Arrow Key Navigation

Instead of relying on a mouse or trackpad, students playing Boom Decks can navigate between cards using the arrow keys:  left for "Previous" and right for "Next/Skip".


Note: This function does not currently work on Flow Magic decks since the cards are formatted to be in a certain order depending on a student's answer.


Tab Key Navigation

The Tab key can be used to scroll through answers on a card. Pressing "Tab" will move the user through the card and pressing "Shift" + "Tab" will move the user backwards in the other direction. The user will still need to use a touch screen or a mouse to interact with drag and drop elements. 


Highlighting each answer on a card using the tab key


When you reach a fill-in-the-blank text box, the cursor will automatically appear in the box and will allow students to type their answers. They can submit the answer by pressing the Enter key.


If there are multiple fill-in-the-blank text boxes on one card, pressing the Tab key will move through them based on their z-order. 




Using Accessibility Tools in Boom Cards

The majority of screen readers like JAWS, NVDA, and Apple's VoiceOver are compatible with Boom Cards that are marked as visually accessible. 


Finding Accessible Decks in the Boom Store

Decks can be filter in the Boom Store using the Accessibility Toggles shown below. 


Audio accessibility means all the sounds in the deck (if any) are captioned and the deck is accessible for deaf/hearing impaired Learners. 


Visual accessibility means all the images in this deck (if any) are labelled and accessible for blind/vision impaired learners and proper z-order is used.


Motor accessibility means the deck does NOT have heavy or any use of Drag/Drop and proper z-order is used and the deck is accessible for users who required alternative navigation tools, such as Tab navigation or a switch. 

Note: If you come across a deck that is not accessible in the way that you expect, please feel free to leave Feedback for that deck. Our Authors value helpful feedback from their customers and they are able to fix issues or apply provided advice at their discretion. You can find instructions on how to leave feedback in, Feedback: How to Contact a Public Author on the Boom Store


We at Boom are constantly working to make our platform accessible to more people. Please stay tuned for announcements as we develop more accessibility features.


If you have any further questions, please feel free to email us at [email protected]  or call us at (833) WOW-BOOM. A real human will happily help you!