Accessibility

Accessible websites: Better for everyone

The creation of websites has evolved on many levels. A wide range of devices has to be taken into account for display, from smartphones and tablets to laptops and classic desktop PCs up to large screens (“responsive design”). Data protection regulations regulate how visitors’ personal information is protected. “Accessibility” now concerns another aspect: the aim is to create technical conditions so that people with personal limitations can also use the website as fully as possible.

Specific barriers are, for example:

  • People with a visual impairment have difficulty recognizing text or form fields if they do not stand out enough from the background.
  • Deaf and hard of hearing people need videos with subtitles.
  • Blind people cannot use websites properly if images, forms and buttons are not described in the code of the webpage.

Complex standards have been developed for the design of accessible websites. Website systems such as WordPress are implementing these standards step by step, and accessibility is becoming increasingly widespread. Legal regulations are providing an additional boost: EU-wide rules on digital accessibility came into force in June 2021.

By the way: this topic is not only important for marginalized groups. We all benefit from easy and convenient access to websites:

Accessibility on the Internet is essential for ten percent of visitors, necessary for around 30 percent and helpful for 100 percent.

Aktion Mensch

Accessibility on our website

This website is a central instrument of our association’s work and should be as easily accessible as possible for all kinds of visitors. We therefore follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This international standard includes detailed recommendations and best practices for making content accessible.

We have implemented the following features on our website:

  • Color contrasts: Sufficient contrast between foreground and background color so that, for example, texts and control elements are clearly visible.
  • Scalability: To increase the font size, you can enlarge the website using your browser’s zoom function.
  • Clear operation: Control elements such as menus, links or form elements are designed in terms of size, display, labeling and response behavior so that navigation is as simple and understandable as possible.
  • Keyboard operation: Links and buttons can be accessed using the keyboard and are then highlighted.
  • Accessible forms: Form elements can be easily reached using touchscreen, mouse and keyboard. Their labeling and technical markup ensure comprehensibility.
  • Screen reader compatibility: Internal page structure and image labels (alt texts) help when using tools with a read-aloud function (screen readers).
  • Easy-to-understand language: When creating the texts, we paid attention to good comprehensibility. This benefits all visitors, but especially people with comprehension difficulties or limited language skills.

Limitations to accessibility

The barrier-free design of this website is an important step towards making our content as easily accessible as possible to all visitors. However, accessibility has not yet been taken into account for linked content:

  • PDF documents offered for download are not optimized for accessibility.
  • Videos are without subtitles.

Accessibility is an ongoing process. To create our website, we use WordPress with a range of plugins for additional functions. How far the providers of these systems implement WCAG guidelines is not in our hands. We use the WordPress plugin Accessibility Checker and the online tool WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation to check new pages, website functions and designs. However, there are some deviations from the guidelines, as we are not (yet) able to implement some details with standard systems.

Feedback / Contact

Your experiences, suggestions and questions regarding accessibility on our website are very welcome. If, for example, you encounter errors or general difficulties when using assistive technologies such as screen readers, your feedback with a description of the errors found will be a valuable help to us.

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