In the world of digital accessibility, everyone feels welcome

Inclusion seems more popular than ever, but actually that is too silly for words. After all, inclusion has always been important and never will be. Yet the term "inclusion" goes far beyond the image you may have of it. Consider, for example, digital accessibility. Have you ever considered how people with physical or cognitive disabilities navigate online?

Martijn Halekor, our in-house Front End Web Developer, addresses inclusion and digital accessibility within SkillsTown's online learning platform.. He likes to explain to you the importance of this, using the design process behind WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

Introducing...

"I am responsible for the visual and interactive design of the user interface of SkillsTown's online learning platform. Think of buttons, sliders and input fields. You can see my work as the link between the end user and the system on the back end," Martijn explains. "Within my field, digital accessibility is unfortunately a neglected child. A shame, because with relatively little effort you can serve many more people with your digital product."

To make it understandable even for the IT laymen among us, Martijn gives a telling example: consider a large train station, somewhere in the country. That station offers solutions for blind, deaf and wheelchair users, for example. The bottom line is that websites and applications must also take into account a range of possible limitations of any kind.

The four principles of accessibility within your website

The WCAG guidelines for digital accessibility can be summarized in four principles. These are important for digital accessibility, as they provide a basis for creating an inclusive online environment. This results in an accessible website where everyone, including those with visual, hearing impairments or learning disabilities such as dyslexia, can effortlessly access and use information. Below we explain the four principles:

• Your website must be perceivable by (color) blind/blind people, deaf/deaf-hearing people and people with epilepsy, among others. Consider use of color, alternative texts to visual media for reading software and limiting flashy animations.
• An operable website means that a website must also be accessible using only the keyboard, for example. Martijn says, "I myself really like working with the keyboard, but sometimes websites are not optimized for this. Just pull out your mouse and try operating everything on your computer with just the keyboard for a day. Then you'll quickly find out how frustrating it can be for someone who has no choice."
• In particular, the principle of comprehensibility refers to the writing of texts, the correct labeling of input fields and the correct marking of a website's language. "Imagine an English text being read by Louis van Gaal. Exactly, then nobody knows what it's about!"
• The robustness of a Web site colors a somewhat more technical story, but it boils down to error-free programming and maximum compatibility with current and future browsers. Essential content and functionality must remain accessible regardless of device or operating method.

The biggest misconception

The biggest misconception surrounding digital accessibility is that people think it's only necessary for those with disabilities, so at most fifteen percent of your target audience will benefit. "In doing so, you underestimate the importance of these design principles, because meeting these guidelines provides benefits for every end user AND makes your product more accessible to, you guessed it, everyone."

We'll give you some examples

At SkillsTown, we consider digital accessibility in everything we create within the online learning platform. Martijn therefore gives you some examples:

• "Sufficient contrast in color use is necessary in an inclusive website. The standard color palette is carefully tuned, taking into account contrast requirements so that text is always easy to read. In addition, we offer a tool during platform personalization that allows you to check the contrast value of your own brand color and improve it if necessary.
• People with hearing impairments often experience problems with elements such as videos. For this target group, we provide subtitles under videos, for example.
• Text can be read by the computer, but visually impaired people miss images. We compensate for this with alt-texts, which make images accessible. For people with impaired vision, there is the possibility within our learning platform to enlarge text.
• We also have improved navigation menus so you can easily operate them using only the keyboard. This is a must when you are unable to use a mouse.
• Finally, we have incorporated into our design process a periodic consultation with our copywriters so that we can guarantee that all buttons, sliders and menus are clearly labeled and cannot cause confusion."

What about your website?

Do you want to be digitally accessible to everyone? Then you might need some more information and support. Go to your online learning platform and follow the e-learning 'Digital Accessibility'. Are you not yet using the online learning platform? Then discover the possibilities for taking our training courses now!

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