[Chapter-delegates] Website Accessibility Update

[Dan Graham]

Hi all,

I wanted to provide you with an update regarding efforts to make our site more accessible.

- Overview of changes
The following changes have been made to the site over the past few months:


  *   Transcripts:  Written transcripts have been added to many audio and video clips. This allows people with hearing disabilities to access such content (it also helps people who aren't proficient in English to read the content instead of listening to it).


  *   Responsive design: Accessibility is also about making our site easier to access using different devices. If you access our site using a mobile or a tablet, you'll notice how the site adapts itself based on the device being used. Our site also adapts itself when resizing your browser when viewing the site on a desktop or laptop.


  *   Heading colour changes: Our site's headings (the bold titles that appear on our pages) have changed to improve colour contrast and to ensure that we are using colour combinations that make our text easier to read for people with visual impairment (colour-blindness, trouble reading text...etc).


  *   Forms: Changes to our forms (donation, registration forms...etc) have been made to improve the experience for people who use screen readers.


  *   Content Management System (CMS) Changes: Changes have been made to ensure that when images are added, content authors must add alternative text (i.e. text that is read by screen readers).


- User testing

Our site was recently tested by people with disabilities (using a company called Knowbility: http://www.knowbility.org). Further changes to the site will be implemented based on the results of this test.


- Next steps

Improvements to the site will continue as ensuring a site's accessibility is a continuous job. Content editors will be trained on what makes content accessible and decisions will need to be made about items such as the hompepage image carousel and the Chapter map which continue to represent accessibility challenges.


There's still a lot of work to be done, however we're moving in the right direction.


This has been a great team effort and I want to thank IT (especially Henri for the form improvements) and our web developer (Balance) for their help.


Best Regards,


Dan


Dan Graham

Director, Online Marketing Programmes

Internet Society




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