Accessibility statement
WEB ACCESSIBILITY GUIDE UNDER THE REQUIREMENTS OF WCAG 2.1 OF THIS WEBSITE.
INTRODUCTION
Royal Decree 1112/2018, of September 7, on the accessibility of websites and applications for mobile devices in the public sector, specifies that the harmonized European standard EN 301 549 v2.1.2 must be met, which means that satisfy requirements A and AA of the WCAG 2.1 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Furthermore, the obligated entities, as is our case, must establish communication mechanisms on accessibility, which has materialized in the creation of the URA (Unit Responsible for Accessibility) of the UMH, a mechanism for requesting accessible information and complaints, claims, issue public reports to the European Commission and carry out follow-up, monitoring and reporting (EU Implementing Decision 2018/1524).
Of the 50 accessibility requirements established in levels A and AA of WCAG 2.1, not all are the responsibility of blog editors, but we will review them all, placing special emphasis on those that may be most sensitive for the WordPress UMH blogging platform. . These recommendations are grouped according to 4 Principles that define an accessible website: Perceptible, Operable, Understandable and Robust ; and each recommendation contains one or more verification points that explain how it should be applied, and in turn, each point is assigned a priority that indicates the impact of the verification point on the accessibility of the site.
At the end of the document, an annex is provided with different tools that will help us validate the accessibility of our pages.
ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 define how to create more accessible web content for people with disabilities, in addition to providing improvements in usability for older people and users in general.
This tool from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is made up of 4 principles, 13 guidelines and 78 compliance or success criteria, as well as sufficient techniques and advice for its implementation. The following describes the principles and guidelines corresponding to the double A (AA) compliance level, that is, 50 compliance criteria.
PRINCIPLES OF ACCESSIBILITY
Perceptible, Operable, Understandable and Robust are the fundamental principles that underpin the W3C recommendations. Additionally, these principles are divided into 13 guidelines, which provide the basic objectives that web authors must achieve in order to create more accessible content for users and that will help them understand the compliance criteria and better implement the techniques. The first principle has four associated guidelines or guidelines, the second 5, the third three and the fourth one.
PRINCIPLE 1 – PERCEIVABLE : Information and user interface components must be presented to users in a way that they can perceive them.
Guideline 1.1 – Textual Alternatives : Provide textual alternatives for all non-textual content so that it can be converted to other formats that people need, such as expanded text, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
Guideline 1.2 – Time-dependent media : Provide alternatives for time-dependent media.
Guideline 1.3 – Adaptable : Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example, with a simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
Guideline 1.4 – Distinguishable : Make it easy for users to see and hear the content, including separation between foreground and background.
PRINCIPLE 2 – OPERABLE : User interface and navigation components must be operable.
Guideline 2.1 Keyboard Accessible : Provide access to all functionality using the keyboard.
Guideline 2.2 Sufficient time : Provide users with sufficient time to read and use the content.
Guideline 2.3 Seizures : Failure to design content in a way that is known to cause seizures, spasms, or convulsions.
Guideline 2.4 Navigable : Provide means to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
Guideline 2.5 Input Modalities: Make it easy for users to operate the functionality through various forms of data entry, beyond the keyboard.
PRINCIPLE 3 – UNDERSTANDABLE : The information and operation of the user interface must be understandable.
Guideline 3.1 Legible : Make textual content legible and understandable.
Guideline 3.2 Predictable : Make web pages appear and operate in a predictable manner.
Guideline 3.3 Assisted data entry : Help users avoid and correct errors.
PRINCIPLE 4 – ROBUST : Content must be robust enough to be reliably interpreted by a wide variety of user applications, including technical aids.
Guideline 4.1 Compatible : Maximize compatibility with current and future user applications, including assistive devices.
COMPLIANCE AND PRIORITY
Each of the 13 guidelines that originate from the four major principles of web accessibility mentioned above, has verifiable conformity criteria. In total, there are 78 success criteria, but in our case there are 50 criteria that must be met for the site to obtain the double A (AA) compliance level, which marks our current regulations.
To achieve Level AA compliance, the website satisfies all of the Level A and AA Success Criteria, or an alternative Level AA version is provided. However, this last alternative is not considered universally accessible, since there must be a single site for all users, with or without disabilities.
The 78 points or conformity criteria of the W3C Accessibility Guidelines are divided according to priority:
Priority 1 or minimum level of accessibility: Points that must be met because certain groups of users could not access the information on the website. It can be applied to all content on the website.
Priority 2 or optimal level of accessibility: Points that should be met since otherwise, it would be very difficult to access information for certain groups of users. It can be applied to all content on the website.
Priority 3 or advanced level of accessibility: Points that should be met since, otherwise, some users would experience certain difficulties in accessing the information. It is not necessary to apply it to the entire website.