Digital accessibility ensures that all users, including those with disabilities, can access and interact with online content.
Implementing accessibility is essential not only for inclusion, but also to comply with legal requirements in various jurisdictions, as well as benefiting your website’s SEO.
Using the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), together with the Government’s digital accessibility regulations, establishes a crucial standard for website developers and administrators.
Accessibility Principles: The POUR Model
The POUR model is a conceptual framework to aid in the development and evaluation of web accessibility. It was as part of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which are by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
The acronym POUR represents four fundamental principles that should guide accessible design and content:
Perceivable: This means that users must be able to perceive the information being , regardless of their sensory abilities, ensuring that everyone can receive and understand the information being .
Operable: Refers to the for interface components and navigation to be operable by all users. This includes adapting the interface so that it can be by various means, such as keyboard, mouse, voice commands, among others.
Understandable: The information and operation of the user interface must be understandable, ensuring that everyone can understand the content and operate the interface successfully.
Robust: Content must be robust enough to be reliably by a wide range of assistive technologies and to be able to adapt to evolving technologies.
These principles were to ensure that developers and designers can create content that is accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, linguistic, learning, and neurological disabilities.
Read also: Digital accessibility for people with autism
International Digital Accessibility Guidelines
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, known as WCAG , establish international standards for creating accessible content on the web, meeting legal requirements and promoting digital inclusion for individuals and organizations. These guidelines are essential for web developers and authoring tool creators, as well as anyone in developing accessible websites.
Globally, many accessibility policies adopt WCAG 2.1 or 2.0 as the foundational reference for developing accessible paraguay phone number list websites, and these guidelines are as an ISO standard. WCAG 3.0 is currently being to cover a wider range of user , provide a more holistic approach to testing, and allow for periodic updates as technologies evolve.
WCAG compliance criteria are into three levels:
Level A: Represents basic accessibility. If a website does not meet this level, it is not accessible to all users with disabilities.
Level AA: This is the standard for most websites, indicating that major accessibility barriers have been .
Level AAA: This is the highest level of accessibility, although it is not feasible for all websites to achieve this level due to the extent of the necessary requirements.
These guidelines not only help improve accessibility, but also ensure that content on the web is more inclusive and accessible to all users, regardless of their limitations.
The Brazilian Federal Government’s vision on digital accessibility
As previously , digital accessibility is crucial to removing barriers on the web, ensuring that all users, regardless of their abilities, can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with web pages. In the exploring magento files: updated guide for professionals context of the Government, this means designing websites and portals in a way that is universally accessible, meeting the of all citizens.
The main goal of digital accessibility by the Government is to democratize access to digital information and services. The objective is to ensure that all users, including those with physical-motor, perceptive, cultural and social disabilities, can understand and control their navigation of online government content.
This effort aims to include more than 45 million Brazilians, since, as by the 2010 IBGE Census, 23.9% of the country’s population has some type of disability .
And to support this initiative, eMAG was , which is a set of specific recommendations for the accessibility of Brazilian government websites and portals, standardizing processes to facilitate the implementation and maintenance of accessibility.
The most recent version, eMAG 3.1, in 2014, brought important improvements to make the text clearer and more inclusive, including new recommendations on the use of HTML5 and WAI-ARIA, showing the constant evolution of accessibility practices in response to new technologies and research in the area, and also being with international standards.
Advantages and benefits of digital accessibility
There are countless advantages, but we can highlight 3 main ones:
Universal Access : Implementing digital accessibility helps make government services more inclusive, ensuring that all citizens can equally access the services .
Digital and Social Inclusion: The internet and digital technologies enable the social and digital inclusion of people with b2b phone list disabilities, allowing them to study, work, shop, pay bills and share without having to travel.
Indexing and Navigation: Accessible websites are more easily and better by search engines. Additionally, they tend to be more compatible with a variety of devices and technologies, making navigation easier for all users, including seniors and those with technological limitations.
Digital accessibility challenges
Adopting accessibility practices isn’t just a matter of legal or ethical compliance; it’s a crucial aspect of user experience and SEO performance. An accessible website expands your reach and strengthens your brand by ensuring that all potential users, regardless of their limitations, can access your services and content.
With the increasing reliance on digital technologies in many aspects of everyday life, ensuring that everyone has equal access to these resources has become a global priority, in the legislation of many countries and the policies of international organizations.
Although digital accessibility is essential to ensure effective inclusion and expand the reach of digital services, many companies still resist its implementation.
This resistance often stems from a lack of information about how to make digital projects accessible and a hesitation to allocate the necessary investments for such improvements. It is crucial that organizations recognize digital accessibility not only as a legal or ethical obligation, but as a strategic investment that can significantly expand their consumer market and improve the experience for all users.
Remember: web accessibility is not just a best practice, but a necessity for inclusion and legal compliance.
Do you want to implement digital accessibility in your digital project?
At VitaminaWeb , we are to leading by example when it comes to digital accessibility, providing a more accessible and inclusive internet for everyone.
That’s why we’ve strategic partnerships with EqualWeb and ICOM , two organizations leading.
