About 2 million people in the Netherlands have a disability. To ensure that websites become digitally accessible to everyone, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) have been drawn up.
Most websites are not accessible to people with disabilities. For example, if someone has a visual or hearing impairment, this will affect the interaction with your website.
Since June 2021, websites and applications of government institutions must comply with the WCAG guidelines. WCAG 2.1 is the most recent and currently valid version. The current guidelines apply to all government institutions, regional or local government agencies, public law institutions and associated partnerships. Municipalities, hospitals and schools also belong to this group. Curious whether your organization belongs to the target group? You can check this on the WCAG website .
The legislation does not apply to commercial companies. However, you also have to take digital accessibility into account. The right to equal treatment of people with disabilities also requires commitment from commercial institutions, based on reasonableness.
Everyone should be able to use your website at any time without experiencing any problems. That is the purpose of the WCAG. The guidelines are made up of four principles. These principles are: observable, operable, understandable and robust.
1. Observable
All content, including text, images, forms and navigation, must be presented in such a way that different users can perceive them. The information must be perceptible with more than one sense.
To give hearing impaired people access to information, sound fragments must be made visible by also offering them as written text. And you should give visually impaired people access to information by also presenting written text as an audio fragment.
The use of colors is also important. Visually impaired people can absorb more information if sufficient use is made of contrast. For people with color blindness, certain color combinations should be avoided.
2. Operable
All parts of the website or application must be operable via a keyboard. Users must be given enough time to read and use the content. This means, among other things, that animations must be able to be paused.
Flashes and other content known to cause seizures or physical reactions should be avoided. Users must be able to easily navigate through the website, find content and determine where they are.
3. Understandable
Information and operation of the user interface must be understandable. Make sure the website is written in easy-to-read language and avoid difficult words or jargon. Easy-to-read language here refers to the reading proficiency level of lower secondary education.
The appearance and operation of web pages should be predictable. Users must be helped to avoid errors. Consider a specified error message that the user receives after he/she has made an input error when completing a form.
4. Robust
The website must be built according to a correct structure, so that content can be interpreted reliably by, among other things, different browsers and screen readers. The code must be written without errors so that correct representation and use are facilitated.
These four principles include guidelines. Each guideline contains success criteria, which are divided into three levels:
Government organizations in the Netherlands are legally required to comply with level AA. A website or application belonging to the target group must therefore meet a total of 50 criteria of level A and level AA.
To check whether your website meets the success criteria, you can do a free quick scan on the WCAG website. This allows you to test some of the success criteria and you will receive an overview of the errors and points of interest within a few minutes. If you want a more extensive investigation, you can check all the criteria yourself using this checklist or have a professional audit carried out.
As a commercial company, you currently have the choice to make your website or application digitally accessible. As stated above, you must take the right to equal treatment into account. Moreover, it is not only an added value for the users, but also for your business objectives, to be accessible to as many people as possible.
We developed a new website for social service provider Farent. For an organization with a social function such as Farent, it is of course very important that the website is digitally accessible.
The website is fully operable with a keyboard. We have added skip links for this, among other things. All forms include clear instructions for the input fields. If the user notes an incorrect answer, this is indicated and a suggestion is made as to what he/she should change.
You've come to the right place at Vrolijk Online. We have the knowledge and experience to make your website digitally accessible.