How we are bringing Web Accessibility to Luxembourg
2025 is the year of accessibility! And yay us, because we just reached our 100% accessibility rating!
But how many other Luxembourgish companies are actually accessible and working towards the goal of digital inclusion? Having worked within the Luxembourgish digital sector for quite a few years, we noticed that there is still a long way to go. Let’s dive into the subject of accessibility together and explore how we can help your digital product become accessible.
What is web accessibility?
Web accessibility is the practice of making the information/content of your digital product available to as many people as possible. More precisely, ensuring the content on your website or app can be used by all users, even those with physical disabilities and temporary impairments or users experiencing situational barriers.
In an offline environment, a sign of accessibility can be the installation of a ramp or a lift next to a staircase to facilitate the access to a building to people with a physical or temporary disability. In a web environment, the context might be a little different but the outcome remains the same. Implementing alternative texts to photo and video files which are compatible with screen readers will facilitate the access to information to users with visual impairments who would otherwise be unable to use your website, for example.
Web accessibility is split into 3 levels: A, AA and AAA, A being the least accessible and AAA being the most accessible. Websites can increase their rank by integrating accessibility features. Specific examples of these implementations are: Adding subtitles to all your audio files, adding alternative text to all your visual files, making your website compatible with a screen reader, allowing website navigation without the use of a mouse, respecting contrast ratios to increase visibility of your website elements.
Why is web accessibility important now?
To respond to the needs of a significant part of the European population (135 million people live with a disability in the EU according to WHO), the European Union member states voted on an EU-wide directive, the European Accessibility Act, which will enter into force in 2025. All companies with European operations, whether they’re from the public or private sector, are impacted by this Act and will have until June 2025 to comply with the accessibility regulations. Not only will companies need to respond to the accessibility standards as defined by the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and reach an AA rank, they will also have to release an accessibility statement and be able to provide feedback about accessibility issues.
How to comply with the EU directives?
Meeting accessibility standards can be very time-consuming because it relies heavily on testing. The easiest way to ensure that all the standards are being met is by working with a tool. Luckily we have the right tool for you! We used Eye-able, a tool developed in the EU and tested by people with disabilities, to reach a 100% AAA rating for our Apart website within one month! The tool audits your website, identifies all accessibility issues and even tells you how to fix them.
After having thoroughly reviewed the tool, we decided to enter a partnership with Eye-able to bring accessibility to Luxembourgish companies and we would be happy to help our clients onboard. You’ll be able to reach that AA rating in no time!
Testing is, however, not enough. We recommend that you, additionally, implement an ongoing accessibility strategy to ensure your website and your content stay accessible. Not only will you be able to avoid fines, your website will also attract a wider audience which will be thankful for your continuous efforts.
Until then, happy testing and good luck getting that AA (or AAA) rating!
Got any questions?
How to proceed?
If you feel unsure, or even overwhelmed, after reading this article and still do not exactly know where to start, we recommend you collaborate with a web agency such as ourselves. Accessibility is not just about adding alt texts but often requires development skills to add more advanced features such as aria-labels and keyboard accessibility. If you do not have an in-house developer team, it might be difficult to integrate these features and we recommend instead getting in touch with an agency to ensure your compatibility with the accessibility norms.
What if I don’t reach the required score?
Even if not reaching the required score does not have any legal consequences at the moment, it is still important to consider accessibility at this time. By providing an accessible website, you are able to strengthen your brand image and widen your audience because you avoid losing business from users unable to navigate your offering.
In the future, more severe consequences could touch you, such as fines based on your annual turnover, sanctions and market access restrictions.
How much time do I have to make my site accessible?
Websites had until June 2025 to at least start implementing accessibility features and releasing an accessibility statement going into detail about the already implemented features and give explanations about the missing features and why they are still missing. All new websites, released past this date, already have to be fully compliant with Accessibility norms.
Existing websites have until 2030 to be fully compliant according to the European Accessibility Act.
Does the accessibility act also concern mobile apps?
Mobile apps fall under the same scope as websites and therefore need to comply with the same Accessibility regulations.
Here at Apart, we develop all of our websites and mobile applications with accessibility in mind and have experience with transitioning our existing clients to an accessible web experience. If you have any other questions regarding accessibility or need help getting your website accessibility ready, please get in touch with us via hello@apart.lu and we will be more than happy to help you!
