Borderless network? Accessibility for all!

Aspiration and reality

Too many websites still do not use an accessible web standard. This is alarming when you consider that around 7.5 million people in Germany alone are severely disabled and dependent on assistive technology or appropriately adapted apps and websites. Worldwide, almost one in seven people has some form of disability that restricts their use of technology. In addition, people with disabilities use the internet more frequently and intensively than average. Accessibility is also a key issue for older people and non-native speakers.

So why do many website operators and digital agencies pay so little attention to equality and accessibility online? A lack of budget and expertise may be the reasons. Accessible web standards benefit everyone because they promote communication (clear information design, comprehensible texts), increase user-friendliness (intuitive operation, clear structure) and are particularly search engine-friendly (alternative texts, audio descriptions).

Breaking down barriers

In principle, people with disabilities - sensory, motor or cognitive impairments - should not be prevented from using publicly accessible internet services. The four principles of perceptibility, usability, comprehensibility and (technical) robustness provide orientation in the implementation.

Perceptibility begins with the contrast between text and background, the choice of colours for buttons (keyword: colour weakness) and the scalability of texts (keyword: age-related short-sightedness). Sign language and text alternatives for video, audio, graphics and images should be provided for the hearing impaired and visually impaired. Overall, information, structures and relationships between elements and content should not be conveyed purely graphically.

Usability: Navigation and interaction must not only work via mouse or touch, but should also be possible with input and output devices such as keyboards, Braille displays, joysticks or voice commands. This also applies to accessible input options in the CMS for editors with disabilities. In addition, players, sliders, etc. must be manually controllable and all content and control elements must be structured and identifiable using correct markups.

Comprehensibility can be achieved for users who use a screen reader primarily through the consistent labelling of navigation and functions that occur repeatedly on a website. Additional navigation options such as a search function, breadcrumb and a meaningful page structure with corresponding HTML elements for headings, lists, labelling etc. make it easier to access the content. Comprehensibility is also promoted through the use of simple, appropriate language and the avoidance of technical jargon and foreign words.

Robustness is achieved by adhering to modern web standards that guarantee the optimal display of content in various common browsers without plug-ins and are compatible with assistive technologies such as screen reader programmes. Content should therefore function independently of hardware and software.

Overall - as we at 3pc often experience in our consulting work - there is an awareness of the general concerns of the Barrier-free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV). However, the specific requirements and tasks involved in implementation are often unclear.
Website providers and agencies will have to rethink and deal with the topic more intensively. Accessibility is not a special case or a niche requirement that does not affect people without disabilities. We are all helped if, for example, texts remain recognisable on the display even in direct sunlight thanks to high contrasts. Or think of the rapidly growing importance of voice search queries and voice output via Siri, Alexa & Co: Let's get fit for the future!

Adaptation of the BITV test procedure

The testing of websites for accessibility is based on the Barrier-free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV 2.0 from May 2019). This is based on the EU standard EN 301 549 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1.

The test procedure and evaluation scheme were changed in 2019. Twelve new test steps have been added (now 60 in total), such as screen orientation, use of input fields, adjustment of text spacing or alternatives for gesture control.
The previous points system has been dropped. Previously, websites with 90+ points were categorised as "easily accessible" and those with 95+ points as "very accessible". From now on, the following applies: A website is only BITV-compliant if it "fulfils" or "tends to fulfil" ALL test steps (whereby test steps may only be rated as "tends to fulfil" in the case of minor deficiencies).
Accordingly, there are also new test marks. If a final BITV test of a website has shown that there are still individual deficiencies, the "BIK BITV Test Report" test mark can be used. This is not yet proof of accessibility and lists the deficiencies in the linked test report. Website operators or app providers may only use the "BIK BITV-compliant (tested pages)" test mark once they have passed the test in full.

But what does all this mean for website providers and the digitalisation industry?

More work? More maintenance?

Firstly, it should be noted that the changes to WCAG and BITV represent an adaptation to new technical standards and to the growing expertise on the usage needs of people with disabilities. This is to be welcomed in principle. However, many fear that the additional work involved in creating accessible websites will grow immeasurably and will no longer be in proportion to the benefits.

It is crucial that digital agencies and online editorial teams consider accessibility from the outset, maintain it continuously and, last but not least, test it again and again. In detail, this involves easy language, meaningful keywording, the filling of alt tags for images and graphics, extended captions and full text alternatives for multimedia content, correct HTML structural elements for a clear page and text structure, the concrete designation of the destination and purpose of a link, the labelling of acronyms and abbreviations with abbr tags as well as foreign-language words or text sections with the corresponding attributes, the labelling of form elements including information on the input format, etc.

And editors are not only supposed to know all this, but also maintain it manually in the CMS in addition to the often already heavy workload? Not necessarily.

The future of digital accessibility

We are already implementing special editorial assistants in our customers' content management systems that automatically analyse texts. This involves AI taking over what were originally manual tasks: This recognises entities such as people, places or organisations, generates suitable keywords, identifies abbreviations and glossary terms and links them to internal knowledge sources. The assistance system therefore automatically creates accessible content, minimises editorial maintenance work and also optimises the content for search engines. Editors now act as trainers for the AI and can dedicate the time they have gained back to creating high-quality content.

And the future holds even more smart solutions:
For example, we are working with partners from science and research on intelligent algorithms that will soon be able to independently provide suggestions for image captions and alternative texts.

As already mentioned, voice control of devices is also on the rise. By 2020, half of all search queries will probably be voice-based - even for people without sensory, motor or cognitive impairments. However, this also means that web content will have to be reorganised for voice input and output. This kills two birds with one stone, because the requirements for accessibility and voice search optimisation are almost identical: simple language and text alternatives for visual content that can be read aloud by screen readers.

In the areas of voice search optimisation, image recognition, automatic audio transcription and metadata maintenance, AI technologies based on natural language processing and deep learning processes, for example, will rapidly increase digital accessibility. And also improve the usability and search engine friendliness of digital information offerings.

Links and reading tips:

www.bitvtest.de/bitv_test/das_testverfahren_im_detail/pruefschritte.html

www.bitvtest.de/bitv_test/das_testverfahren_im_detail/vertiefend/ueberarbeitung/2019.html

www.bitvtest.de/bitv_test/einfuehrung/kurzvorstellung.html

www.bitvtest.de/bitv_test/das_testverfahren_im_detail/vertiefend/bik_pruefzeichen.html

www.gesetze-im-internet.de/bitv_2_0/BJNR184300011.html

www.bik-fuer-alle.de/barrierefreiheit-umsetzen.html

www.barrierefreies-webdesign.de/

www.einfach-fuer-alle.de/

About the author

Nattaphong Kosakul is a trained media designer and works at 3pc as a frontend developer. Before devoting himself to frontend development and TYPO3 integration, he worked as a graphic designer for a long time. Usability aspects are therefore a particular focus of his work. At 3pc, he also specialises in compliance with the BITV and WCAG guidelines and carries out internal accessibility tests.