The Importance of Building Accessible Websites
Of course, adapting the web for different needs is not a new phenomenon, it is commonplace for everyone who has worked with websites since the beginning of the internet. On the other hand, there are many websites today that are still not accessible.
This also applies to businesses that have accessibility as a requirement under the Digital Public Service Act (DOS). The requirements went into effect for new sites from September 23, 2019, and one year later, on September 23, 2020, for existing sites. The requirements of the DOS Act regarding websites are about adapting accessibility so that no one is prevented from using the website in any way.
Who is affected by the new directives?
They may not be new anymore, it has been a few years. However, two years to adapt can be a short time for a large business, especially those that don't have a good platform at their core.
Those who are affected at present are public actors who work with digital services. A public actor can be, among other things, a public authority, a municipality, a region or municipal and state-owned companies. But the concept also includes certain private actors with public funding in, for example, schools, health and social care.
Not sure if your site is affected?
Read more about which actors must comply with the DOS Act.
Let everyone experience the web
Even if you are not affected by the directives, you should still adapt the content so that everyone can see your website. Accessibility affects everyone sooner or later. Keep in mind that there may be many of your visitors who may have different difficulties. Accessibility adaptation is not made for a specific group, but anyone can experience something that would have made it easier to have an accessible website – for example, visual impairment or a temporary disability such as a broken wrist.
A website that doesn't put any technical barriers in the way of making it difficult for people, often also works well in search engines. It is also the case that an accessible website has often been designed and developed so that functions, structure and content work better for all visitors, so that the entire user experience is better.
At Epinova, we have always placed great emphasis on adapting our customers' websites to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which is an international standard for accessibility adaptation on the web. Our goal is for everyone to be able to experience the web!
Are you in need of an accessible website built on a quality platform where you have the opportunity to make changes yourself? We have developers with specialist expertise in technical accessibility adaptation as well as designers with expertise in structure and the visuals, which make up a large part of accessibility.
We are here to support you throughout your digital journey with strategy, UX and design, development and launch, to management and support, and to building an accessible website. We work with Optimizely as a platform. Talk to us!
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