Digital Accessibility
Our writing style makes sure we are as accessible and inclusive as possible. However creating accessible content is more than making everything simple to read.
When designing and delivering digital content and services we need to ensure that they are accessible for everyone to use and in particular people with disabilities. It’s the right thing to do and the law.
For example, this could include:
- Providing captions, audio descriptions and transcripts for video content
- Ensuring full keyboard navigation, clear keyboard focus and the ability for users to zoom on websites
- Making sure that colour contrasts are correct to help visually impaired or colour-blind users
Guidelines
Accessibility legislation
In September 2018, new regulations were introduced around the accessibility of websites and mobile apps provided by public sector organisations within the UK.
The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 implement the EU directive on web accessibility (EU 2016/2102). It requires all public funded bodies to achieve a number of accessibility standards by a set deadline.
The deadlines for compliance are:
- 23 September 2019 for anything published on or after 23 September 2018
- 23 September 2020 for anything published before 23 September 2018
- 23 June 2021 for mobile applications
Accessibility standards and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1
To comply with legislation and to ensure the best user experience, we follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. The guidelines are an internationally shared single standard for web accessibility.
WCAG provides three ‘conformance levels’. These are A, AA and AAA. As a minimum we aim to adhere to the AA standard.
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), states that a website must satisfy:
• Level A – otherwise some users will find it impossible to access the website
• Level AA – otherwise some users will find it difficult to access the website
• Level AAA – otherwise some users will find it somewhat difficult to access the website
WCAG 2.1 design principles
When designing digital content or services, there are four key principles that need to be considered.
Ensure users can recognise and use the service with the senses that are available to them
Users should be able to find and content, regardless of how they choose to access it, for example, using a keyboard or voice commands
Ensure that users can understand your content and how the service works
Ensure content can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents including reasonably outdated, current and anticipated browsers and assistive technologies
Accessibility guidance
When designing digital content or services they should be tested against the relevant WCAG 2.1 guidelines. Not all guidelines can be applied to all services and content. For example, subtitles and captions can only be applied to video content.
Accessibility testing
Content and services should be accessibility tested before they are published. There are multiple approaches to testing which include:
- Visual testing
- Automated testing
- Focus groups and feedback
You can download a blank copy of the Excel spreadsheet used to test the West Midlands Police website as a testing template. (coming soon)
Advice and support
For further information and advice around accessibility please contact: (coming soon)