A Note About Accessibility

It is core to bswift’s values to ensure that all the people that we serve have equal access to our services and to our information. Although bswift is not a covered entity under ACA 1557, we have taken many steps to ensure the most universally accessible web and mobile experience.  We are continually improving our websites and mobile applications to conform to accessibility standards.  We have adopted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.0 AA as our company standard.

We do not ensure compliance on behalf of our clients who wish to perform extensive customizations to their site.

What about ADA and Section 508? Are you compliant?
ADA (American Disabilities Act) has no actual rules for accessibility, but they use WCAG 2.0 as a guide on what is accessible. Section 508 was updated to reference WCAG 2.0 Level A and Level AA guidelines.

1  Basic HTML

2  Client Site Theme

Please utilize the Client Site Theme located in Clients > Client Admin.

Only use Advanced Options if you are comfortable with CSS. Client CSS files are the responsibility of the client services team to test and maintain. If assistance is needed, a request must go through the proper channels. CS must create a ticket submitted to PM, and PM will determine if it's something UX can assist with.

About Client CSS

bswift provides no warranty on client uploaded CSS
  • Client CSS are effectively hacks that override the base stylesheet. There's no guarantee that any code updates bswift performs won't break a client uploaded CSS.
  • Client CSS must be QA'd every release on the correct environment to make sure it isn't broken. This is the CS team's responsibility.
Clients own their Client CSS
  • UX is not responsible for someone overwriting provided CSS.
  • UX is not responsible for someone making inaccessible color choices.
  • UX is not responsible for someone making inaccessible choices such as using pseudo selectors for content. (Pseudo content is not available to all assistive technology users.)
  • UX doesn't manage client CSS.
  • If ongoing updates are performed by the client team, there's no warranty that what they add or change won't break any provided CSS.
Maintenance must be performed on client CSS
  • If the CSS is not properly commented, it is difficult to understand what a line of code does.
  • If this knowledge is not passed down properly to team members, it's also difficult to understand the CSS file or to understand what elements on the front end are affected by CSS or by actual configuration.
  • Lines of code are copied from file to file, and, if not properly commented, no one knows what it does.
  • Client CSS must be QA'd every release on the correct environment to make sure it isn't broken. This is the CS team's responsibility.
What is Client CSS for
  • Client CSS is for making color or other simple changes, such as font size or padding, to visible elements.
  • Client CSS is not for adding or changing content/text such as headers or labels or altering functionality.
  • Client CSS is not included in PDFs such as the Compensation Statement. What may look fine on the screen does not translate to print.

The system's default color scheme has been carefully designed to meet color contrast ratio requirements to make the site more accessible for those with visual impairments. When you change these default colors, you may be affecting the experience for these users. For more information, please refer to WebAim.org's Introduction to Web Accessibility.

You can use WebAim.org's Color Contrast Checker if you'd like to verify if the text color (foreground) has an appropriate contrast ratio on the background color. It is best if the color passes WCAG AA for Normal Text. If it fails either, please consider using a different color.

Client CSS Testing Recommendations

Test in the correct environment. Between releases, test in PROD since this is the most stable environment. Before a release, when new code is pushed to QA, test there; it will have code that will eventually be pushed to PROD.

Always copy your CSS file and upload it to the correct testing environment. Client CSS is not included in environment refreshes; you must manually upload it. The same holds true for any client uploaded images.

3  Images