To gain an understanding of accessibility, it is helpful to understand better the limitations that people with disabilities face when using websites.
Vision
Blind people in particular face enormous barriers when using websites, as webpages are often structured by different colors and the presentation of information is often visual. The distinction between the header or navigation section and the "application area", which is immediately apparent for sighted users, is not visually apparent to a blind user. Visual marking of required fields in forms is also not helpful. And the connection between an input field and its "label" (field title), which is apparent to sighted people because of the spatial proximity, is not clear to blind people.
For these reasons, a monitor is not useful as a (purely visual) output device for these users. They rely on the use of assistive technologies such as Braille displays and screen readers. The situation is different when using a keyboard. Blind users can also use it as a navigation tool, in contrast to a mouse.
The situation is somewhat different for users with visual impairments. Visual impairments can be (extreme) short-sightedness or long-sightedness, for example. Such users can certainly use a monitor as an output device if the portal or application page meets appropriate requirements, such as a sufficient font size or contrast.
Users with color blindness or color perception disorders can also use a monitor as an output device, provided that colors are used appropriately by the Web author.
This brief description of the limitations related to vision already suggests all the essential measures for accessibility:
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Hearing instead of seeing
For blind users of your portal, the only way to use the portal is to hear the information and functions presented on the page.
Assistive technologies exist for this purpose, especially screen readers that can read information on a page aloud.
For a screen reader to be able to read aloud, the information presented or conveyed on the page must be made accessible to a screen reader. In the case of texts, this is easily possible, since the screen reader can take them directly from the source text of the portal page. This may be more difficult with text on buttons if the button consists of an icon or graphic and the text on it cannot be extracted.
A wealth of guidelines and technical measures on the topic of "hearing instead of seeing" exist. A detailed description and measures for implementation in Intrexx can be found in the section Text Alternatives, for example.
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Keyboard instead of mouse
For blind users, the use of a mouse is practically impossible. Navigation on a page or navigating to certain areas of a page is only possible with a keyboard.
There are also extensive guidelines and technical measures for the topic "keyboard instead of mouse". A detailed description of these can be found in the section Keyboard Accessible.
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Use colors purposefully
For users with visual impairments, the targeted use of colors is crucial. For example, the use of red and green to illustrate differences is not effective.
The relevant guidelines and technical measures can be found in the section Use of Color.
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Use sufficient contrast
For people with visual impairments to distinguish displayed content, the contrast must be strong enough. Precise WCAG specifications are available on this topic. These can be found in the sections Contrast (Minimum) and Contrast (Enhanced).
Hearing
Users with impaired hearing do not face as many barriers because they can perceive and interpret all the visual information that is not available to blind people.
One exception is acoustic media such as videos, for which subtitles should be available. Similarly, audio recordings or podcasts should have accessible transcripts.
There are also guidelines for hearing impairments. When creating portal and application pages, these are not as relevant as the guidelines related to listening, since there is no original audio content in Intrexx.
Motor impairments
Users with motor impairments are mostly people who have limited use of their hands. This makes using a mouse in particular hardly possible, if at all.
Guidelines related to motor impairments can be found in the Keyboard Accessible section, for example.
Even in the case of motor impairments, the measures for creating (more) accessibility are apparent.
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Keyboard instead of mouse
As is the case for blind users or users with severely limited vision, the ability to use the keyboard is critical to operating portal and application pages.
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Structure and order
To be able to access and use a page, a clearly structured and logical layout is extremely helpful. (Similar to "keyboard instead of mouse", this is also true for users with very limited vision) Such structures makes it easier, for example, to navigate to certain areas of a page or control elements.
These guidelines and technical measures can be found in the section Info and Relationships (structure pages and content), for example.
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Sufficient space
For users with motor impairments, it is helpful if graphical elements are large enough. Small buttons and graphical elements with small clickable areas should be avoided, as people with limited fine motor skills have difficulty navigating them with a mouse.
The guidelines and technical measures can be found in the section Target Size, for example.
Impairment of cognitive abilities
Users with diminished cognitive abilities are often unable to grasp complex relationships and understand complicated content.
The measures in this context are primarily authorial in nature, i.e. Web authors who create texts must make sure to use "simple or easy language". There is no direct (technical) connection with Intrexx here.
As already mentioned above, to understand a page better it helps to have a clear, logical structure and unambiguous navigation. This makes it easier for people with reduced cognitive abilities to operate and understand a page.
There are also guidelines for impairment related to limited cognitive abilities. These are included in the following section Info and Relationships (structure pages and content), for example.
And users without disabilities?
Note that not only people with disabilities benefit from accessible sites. Generally, accessible web pages are more user-friendly. Good usability makes all your users happier. And if your portal is accessible on the Internet, you will achieve increased reach with accessible pages, as pages are found more easily by search engines if they are designed to be user-friendly and easily accessible.
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