With this ongoing pandemic across the globe, we are now much more dependent on the internet. Most of us will sooner or later face some kind of disability to access the web world, which makes it imperative that our websites are accessible to everyone.
Web accessibility is a practice where websites are designed and developed considering all the users in mind including those with visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor disabilities. Web accessibility helps us to achieve our goal of making websites accessible to all.
In most countries, there are laws governing accessibility. If you own a website or are planning to get one, do remember to have a look into the standard called Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the laws that your state follows. In Norway and the EU, you run the risk of getting penalties if your website is not following WCAG.
In Norway, all websites must follow WCAG version 2.0. While your website might have followed all rules by the time it was launched, content, code, and structure change over time. So a good rule of thumb is to do an accessibility audit annually. Many of the requirements, must be checked manually but others can also be checked automatically, and there are several free tools you can use.
Check how accessible your website is on wave.webaim.org
A new EU directive was admitted as Norwegian law by Stortinget on May 28th, 2021. The law is in effect from 2022 with a year of implementation time, and from the year 2023, all public sector websites and apps in the EU must follow the Web Accessibility Directive (WAD) and WCAG version 2.1. In addition, it requires the publication of an accessibility statement for websites and mobile apps and calls for a feedback mechanism for users to flag accessibility problems.
While non-public sector websites still can follow WCAG 2.0, it doesn’t hurt to help people with disabilities more by also following the new rule sets.
So if your website is not updated as per the WCAG 2.1 guidelines, now is the time to get it upgraded.
WCAG 2.1 doesn’t replace version 2.0 but it’s an extension of WCAG 2.0. This section is for those who are a bit more into the technical definition, you might want to skip this part. Let’s have a look into the new guidelines that were introduced in WCAG 2.1 in order of their success criteria.
Motion Actuation: According to the success criteria 2.5.4, if a function is triggered by device motion, there should also be an option to activate it using the User interface components.
At Ramsalt, we strongly believe that everyone should get an equal opportunity. If you are looking to get an accessible website or just need accessibility improvements for your website, we’d be happy to help you.
Ramsalt Lab, one of Northern Europe’s leading web development agencies, is pleased to announce a new phase of growth with strategic changes to its leadership team.
Ramsalt is a people-first, remote-first agency built on Scandinavian values of openness, responsibility, and trust. We work with mission-driven clients — from NGOs to universities and publishers — and care about clean code, real collaboration, and a sustainable way of working.
Ramsalt is a people-first, remote-first agency built on Scandinavian values of openness, responsibility, and trust. We work with mission-driven clients — from NGOs to universities and publishers — and care about clean code, real collaboration, and a sustainable way of working.
Vi ser etter en prosjektleder som elsker å jobbe med både mennesker og teknologi – en som trives i dialog med kunder og teamet, og evner å holde roen og oversikten når tempoet er høyt. I denne nøkkelrollen vil du drive komplekse webprosjekter fra idé til vellykket lansering, med et kontinuerlig fokus på fremdrift, kvalitet og fornøyde kunder.