Europe expects all government websites to comply with the WCAG 2.0 standards, the new regulations for digital accessibility. The main purpose of these regulations is to make web content accessible to all users, regardless of the medium they use (e.g. desktop browser, voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal computer) or the circumstances (e.g. noisy environment, under- or over-illuminated rooms, hands-free, etc.).
Four main principles are connected to WCAG 2.0:
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Perceivable: all information and components of the user interface must be perceptible by the user. There are 4 guidelines for this:
- Provide text alternatives for non-textual content so that it can be converted into other forms such as big letters, braille, speech, or symbols.
- Provide alternatives to time-based media (video, sound).
- Create content that is adaptable so that it can be displayed in other ways (e.g. simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
- Make sure your content is distinguishable so that visitors can easily see and hear it (separate front and background clearly).
- Operable: all components of the user interface and navigation must be operable by the user. Another 4 guidelines accompany this principle:
- Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
- Provide users with enough time to read and use content.
- Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures (e.g. flickering lights).
- Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
- Understandable: all information and use of the interface must be understandable to the user. The 3 guidelines:
- Make text content readable and understandable
- Make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
- Input assistance: help users avoid and correct mistakes.
- Robust: content must be sufficiently robust to be interpreted reliably by various types of user agents, including technical tools (assistive technologies). The guideline:
- Maximise compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.
But why is accessibility so important?
“Because Europe says so” is not a good enough reason according to us. The biggest advantage of an accessible website is of course that you reach more people. But there are more benefits to accessible websites:
1. Easier to be found in search engines like Google
The most important visitor of your website is someone you don’t see nor hear: the search engine. If you know that 94% of Belgians use Google as a search engine and that it is the most visited website in the world, it will not surprise you that analysis shows that 80% of new website visitors come to your website via search engine. Google therefore has to be able to easily scan and index websites. By making your website accessible, information is organised better and Google can index it more easily.
2. Responsive
In general, the number of mobile surfers amounts to 50% of total website traffic. It is therefore essential that your website is responsive and adapted for mobile screens. One of the WCAG 2.0 rules regarding accessibility is about the responsiveness of your website. Make sure you don’t miss out on all that mobile traffic!
3. Faster
If you closely follow the WCAG 2.0 guidelines, you will organise the information and data on your website better. As a result, search engines can index your website better and faster and your website is adapted for mobile screens. However, it also means that your website will load faster as you’ve built it according to the ideal rules of the internet. That is important since visitors will not wait around for your website to fully charge and Google also favours fast websites. They recommend a loading time of less than 2 seconds; otherwise they will punish you with a low Quality Score, which will make you appear lower in the search results.
How can Paddle help you with this?
WCAG 2.0 consists of a number of technical guidelines and a number of content guidelines. Our Paddle CMS is fully accessible according to the WCAG 2.0 guidelines. We are a partner of SiteImprove and continuously scan our CMS to maintain our WCAG A label. All websites built with the Paddle CMS are therefore technically accessible. As far as content is concerned, our experts will be glad to help you out with that!