Web Accessibility

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Web accessibility concerns access to web content for all people (including those with visual or hearing disabilities, etc.), regardless of the access devices (mobile, tablet, etc.) and their environment (noise level, lighting, etc.). The challenge is therefore to take into account all the conditions of consultation when creating the site and its content.

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Since 2021 in Belgium, every public service has the obligation to offer accessible web platforms (website or mobile application) according to the WCAG 2 AA criteria. Don't wait for this obligation to apply to the private sector to get up to speed! (opens a new window)
  • For the creation of the site (design and development), the Ariane technical framework is natively ready for different accessibility requirements. Several sites made with it have thus obtained the Belgian accessibility label AnySurfer (opens a new window).
  • When writing and preparing the content of the site, there are a number of good practices to take into account. Here are some of them below.

The images

Avoid using images with text in them. This is invisible for a visually impaired person, but also for a search engine (you will see, an accessible site is also a better SEO).

image

Remember to always specify the "alternative text" of the image. As its name indicates, it allows to have the textual alternative of an image placed in a page (so the person or the search engine that "reads" the page, reads the alternative text instead of seeing the image). This text "describes" the image. On the dashboard of your site, in the left menu, click on "Media", select the desired image and fill in the field on the right "Alternative text".

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  • If it is really not possible to do without an image with text on it, you can also use the alternative text field to place the text that is in the image.
  • If the image is an infographic, it is better to consider a more complete textual explanation, which will then be placed in the caption below.
image
  • If the text on the image has no information value and is purely decorative, you can leave it without fear.

The videos

To qualify as accessible, a video must have subtitles.

Text contents

The shorter your texts are, the easier it is to understand them quickly by all the users of your digital platform.

In addition to the length of sentences and paragraphs, it is also important to create a good content hierarchy: this facilitates reading for both humans and machines (search engines, vocalizers for the visually impaired, etc.). To do this, use different levels of titles, bulleted or numbered lists, line breaks, etc.

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To judge the accessibility of your site, think of extreme situations - a person with foggy glasses in a crowded and noisy public transport, reaching out to try to read your latest news on their smartphone whose screen is broken…