Making Content Accessible When Is It Appropriate to Use "Manual Resolution"?

As you are resolving issues with UDOIT, in some cases, an issue cannot be fixed within the UDOIT tool itself. When this happens, you have the option to use the "Manual Resolution" feature. However, it is important to know when it is appropriate to do so.

Examples of When to Use "Manual Resolution"

Manually resolving an issue is particularly useful in cases where UDOIT cannot scan the content. Below are some, but not all, common examples of when you would ideally mark an issue as resolved.

YouTube Captions Scanning Unavailable

Although UDOIT can scan videos hosted on YouTube, the YouTube API only allows a certain number of scans for captions per day per YouTube API key. Given the volume of checks that are occurring each day in UDOIT, sometimes the YouTube API key that Cidi Labs provides will run out of credits before the end of the day, resulting in the "YouTube Captions Scanning Unavailable" error.

This error should only be manually resolved if you have watched the video and determined that the captions are both present and accurate.

Screenshot of the "YouTube Captions Scanning Unavailable" error found in UDOIT when a YouTube API key has run out its daily credits for captions scanning.

Private or Unlisted Videos

While UDOIT does have the ability to scan within YouTube, Vimeo, and Kaltura, if a video on any of these platforms is private or unlisted, UDOIT will not be able to scan that video for captions. Additionally, users will not have the option to preview that particular video within UDOIT. However, UDOIT will provide a link to the specific page this private or unlisted video is found on in order to assist users in replacing the video with an accessible alternative.

This error should only be manually resolved if you have watched the video and determined that the captions are both present and accurate.

Screenshot of the "Captions Scanning Unavailable for Unlisted YouTube Video" error flagged by UDOIT when a video on YouTube is either private or unlisted.

Closed Captions Were Auto-Generated

When a video is uploaded from YouTube, Kaltura, or Vimeo, UDOIT can scan those videos for captions and will not only be able to detect if there are captions present, but also if those captions were auto-generated. As useful as auto-generated captions are, they are not always the most accurate. We strongly suggest you return to the video wherever it is hosted, adjust the captions as needed, and return to the UDOIT tool.

Once the captions are accurate, you can then select "Scan Video For Caption Updates" or simply use the Manual Resolution feature to mark the video captions as resolved.

Screenshot of the "Closed Captions Were Auto-Generated" error flagged when UDOIT detects that video from either YouTube, Vimeo, or Kaltura has auto-generated captions and needs to be reviewed for accuracy.

"False Positive" Issues Flagged by UDOIT

When scanning for accessibility issues, UDOIT errs on the side of caution. This means you may occasionally see "false positives," where UDOIT flags an issue that doesn't actually need to be addressed.

For example, this sometimes happens with "Avoid Using Color Alone For Emphasis." In the screenshot below, UDOIT flagged text because it detected a color applied in the HTML. However, the color is a dark gray that is not actually being used to emphasize. In this case, because color isn't being used to signal meaning or importance, the issue can be manually marked as resolved.

Once you have used your human intelligence to determine that an issue is a false positive and is not, in fact, inaccessible, using Manual Resolution will remove it from future scans.

Screenshot of the "Avoid Using Color Alone for Emphasis" error flagged when UDOIT detects a "false positive" in a page's HTML when the color isn't actually being used to signal meaning or importance.

As you can see from these examples, "manual resolution" should only be used in cases where an issue cannot be resolved within UDOIT -- but can be manually corrected by the user -- or with any issues that would be considered false positives flagged by UDOIT out of an abundance of caution.

Examples of When NOT to Use "Manual Resolution"

Manual resolution should be used sparingly and only when an issue cannot be directly addressed within UDOIT. Below are just a few examples of when you would want to avoid using this feature.

Alt Text For Images

A common fixable issue often found with UDOIT is alt text for images. For these issues, you can choose to either:

provide a description of the image, if it is important for learners to understand the content on that page
mark the image as decorative if that image is not relevant to understanding that page's content

Manually resolving this issue does not provide proper context for screen readers and should not be used.

Screenshot of an image being flagged by UDOIT as needing alt text for screen readers.

Avoid Using Color Alone For Emphasis

As mentioned previously when discussing appropriate times to use Manual Resolution, UDOIT may sometimes flag issues as a false positive, specifically with "Avoid Using Color Alone for Emphasis." In the example below, there actually is a short phrase of text emphasized using color alone (red), and thus, this would not be considered a false positive.

This issue can be resolved here in the UFIXIT window by either adding bolding, italicizing the text, or removing the styling altogether. Manual resolution does not resolve the issue and should therefore not be used.

Screenshot of "Avoid Using Color Alone for Emphasis" error flagged by UDOIT because the color red alone was used for emphasis. User should also either bold or italicize the text.