|By Gale Staff|
You may have noticed changes to your Gale resources in 2026, and we are continuing to make our resources more inclusive and accessible for all users. As schools prepare for the new academic year, we’re introducing additional enhancements designed to improve accessibility and usability while maintaining the familiar experience educators and students know and trust.
One key area of focus is Gale In Context: Elementary. In late summer 2026, users will see the following improvements, which are designed to enhance visibility, reduce cognitive load, and ensure that content works more consistently with assistive technology such as screen readers and magnifiers.
Enhancements include:
- Visual changes throughout the product, including improved alignment and color adjustment to address issues with cognitive load and color contrast
- A new square tile layout for home page topics and subtopic pages to improve navigation, focus, reflow, and link behavior
- Refreshed styling for topic page elements to improve color contrast, focus, labeling, and link behavior
- Relocation of navigation controls to the top of the book viewer for improved color contrast, focus, and navigation
- Removal of the “Sound On” button, which interfered with assistive technologies, and updated labels to improve their functionality with screen readers
While users will notice these visual and accessibility improvements, the core functionality, content, and navigation of Gale In Context: Elementary remain unchanged, ensuring a seamless transition for classrooms and libraries.
These enhancements are part of Gale’s ongoing commitment to incorporating accessibility into every stage of product development and responding to evolving standards and user feedback. By sharing these updates, we hope to help our partners, educators, and librarians prepare confidently for the back-to-school season.
To learn more about Gale’s accessibility initiatives, visit Gale Accessibility. For accessibility support resources and the latest VPAT information, visit Gale Support.
