Creating accessible content for people with disabilities

Among the many major challenges facing businesses today, the fight against discrimination is a major issue. That's why businesses need to get to grips with the issue of digital accessibility, with the support of standards and guidelines designed to help them. Between responsibility and popularity, they need to adopt good practice to win the battle against discrimination. accessibility challenge and, by extension, non-discrimination. Sébastien Chalmé and Tania Béguin, experts and trainers in digital accessibility, take stock.

The Internet is, in itself, a promise of accessibility: the promise of being able to obtain information at any time, in any place and using any type of medium. But putting content on the web is not enough to make it accessible to everyone. Some editorial and multimedia content offered online remains inaccessible to people with disabilities. More often than not, this lack of accessibility is due to ignorance of simple rules.

Accessibility to break down barriers

There are many other examples of inventions for digital accessibility: voice recognition, automatic generation of subtitles... All inventions that benefit everyone.

"Integrating accessibility means breaking down architectural, digital and social barriers to innovation.

Pullin Graham, Design Meets Disability, MIT Press, 2011

The RGAA: what you need to know about accessibility

To support public institutions in their accessibility initiatives, Dinum (the interministerial digital department) created the General accessibility guidelines for public authorities (RGAA).

Continually improved (currently version 4.1.2), it is an indispensable tool for publishers of Internet, intranet and extranet sites, software packages and mobile applications. The RGAA is a reference for all stakeholdersIt is used to determine whether the product for which you are responsible is not, partially or fully compliant with international standards. It can be used to determine whether the product for which you are responsible does not, partially or fully comply with international standards.

What does it contain?

The RGAA comprises two sections, one administrative and the other technical. It includes :

• a reminder of legal obligations
• the list of criteria to be applied, taken from the WCAG standards (initiated by W3C) and the European directive EN 301 549, according to which a web application must be perceptible, usable, comprehensible and robust
• a methodology for assessing these criteria, including several tools
• how the results of the audit and the accessibility policy will be published

And so, digital accessibility is no longer the exclusive preserve of public institutions and administrations. The RGAA provides companies with everything they need to know to take action against discrimination against people with disabilities.

Digital accessibility: a major challenge for the public and private sectors

Accessibility is part of an inclusive approach that encompasses three major challenges for companies.

1. Access to informationation

2. Audience

3. Legal

The first echoes the fundamental right of access to information: companies must ensure that their content can be perceived, used and understood by everyone.

The second is linked to the audience, in the commercial or communication sense. Accessibility increases performance. Firstly, by targeting a wider audience. Secondly, by improving the user experience, the robustness of the code (compatibility with different media) and indirectly natural referencing (visibility in search engines) thanks in particular to alternative text content.

Finally, there is the legal aspect: since the Law for a Digital Republic of 2016, the obligation of accessibility concerns many entities, and no longer just public institutions. Private sector structures with a public service delegation agreement, private not-for-profit legal entities, companies reaching a certain turnover threshold (currently set at €250 million a year), all must now work towards accessibility or face administrative and financial penalties.

For years, only certain websites were liable to sanctions. These were websites that failed to display their level of compliance on their home page. In 2023, an ordinance tightened these obligations for public sites.. This order :

• reaffirms the obligation for public websites to be accessible
• provides for a penalty of up to €50,000
• designates an "accessibility police", including the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (Arcom)

Combating preconceived ideas about digital accessibility

Although there is more and more official information on digital accessibility for digital products, a number of preconceived ideas are still circulating.

"My digital product doesn't appeal to people with disabilities." FALSE

On the contrary, digital is essential for this audience. Disability is not a characteristic linked to a person, but the result of a lack of accessibility of the product or service they wish to use. Creating products that take into account the specific needs of each person and the different contexts in which they are used means that everyone can benefit from the advantages of digital technology.

That said, including any user context increases your customer loyalty and usage rates. Users will thank you by coming back again and again for a quality experience.

"Designing an accessible site limits creativity". FALSE

Adapting does not mean degrading. The aim is to design and develop sites in an inclusive way, anticipating different uses and graphics. This is precisely the aim of the RGAA: to help publishers adapt their products without altering them. Some accessibility measures are useful for all human beings, with or without specific needs: help with typing, contrasts that are less tiring for the eyes, a more robust site, etc.

Finally, all design processes need constraints. Would it be reasonable to embark on this process without knowing the specific characteristics of users, or the technical and budgetary constraints? Accessibility standards are part of this, to enable all users to handle digital products.

"Accessibility is a technical subject and too complicated." FALSE

There too, the repository simplifies work by making it accessible to everyone. To ensure that the digital product sees the light of day, everyone involved in the project works on its design. From the scoping phase through to deployment, including user research, interface design and editorial input, accessibility constraints are made explicit and taken into account at every stage of the project. Each job is made aware of these constraints, so that they can be gradually integrated into the team in a cross-functional manner. Accessibility is everyone's business.

Admittedly, this approach requires an initial investment (training, organisation, checking, etc.). But once it has been implemented collectively, the effort is reduced and offset by improved performance.

Responsibilities and editorial obligations

You will have seen the collective effort put into designing accessible sites throughout the project. Adding accessible content to the site remains a major challenge, and is the responsibility of the editorial contributors.

In this context, the RGAA accompanies accessibility policy by proposing criteria for the editorial content to achieve the same compliance objective. It is recommended that certain systems be put in place:

• an editorial and graphic charter shared by all employees, which serves as an internal reference point
• training the people involved in the project, each at their own level and in their own speciality, to contribute to the final accessibility of the product

Integrating accessibility criteria into editorial content

There are several stages involved in creating web content:

• firstly, the framework (what objectives, what actions, what graphic and editorial charter, what technical and functional specifications, etc.)
• then, the preparation of content (compliance with the charter, introduction of accessible alternatives, etc.)
• finally, publication (deployment and quality control)

The editorial team's main responsibility is to prepare the content for which it is responsible. guarantor of good accessibility practices. If the site is an independently developed product, the technical aspects are handled by the developers. If it is based on a CMS (content management system), it must comply with the W3C ATAG guidelines and produce code that is compatible with accessibility.

Cryptic content

Certain RGAA criteria specifically target editorial content. In particular, the standards refer to the accessibility of "cryptic content". What does this mean? Cryptic content is content that has a hidden meaning, whether behind a form (emoticons, ASCII art, etc.) or a particular turn of phrase (misinterpretation, sarcasm, etc.) that assistive technologies transcribe literally, and therefore incorrectly.

The cryptic content is as follows inaccessible to people with visual or intellectual impairments, and more generally to anyone using a screen reader. To remedy this, the repository requires the addition of a textual alternative enabling the cryptic content to be decoded in a relevant way, either in the code with a "title" attribute, or in an adjacent definition.

Specific editorial features

The rules on accessibility in the editorial field also apply to writing and presentation methods. Here are three tips to bear in mind.

Focus on clarity

Avoid double meanings and ambiguous figures of speechunless they are clearly explained in an alternative version. Colours and contrasts must be sufficient to facilitate reading, with the RGAA defining the threshold values to be respected. Information should not be communicated by colour alone. Frames and tables should be used sparingly, making them easy to explore using the screen reader.

Provide an alternative for the visual content (illustration, symbol, computer graphics, etc.)

First and foremost, you need to distinguish between images that convey information and those that are decorative. The former must include an alternative, unlike the latter.

The alternative content of information-carrying images can be conveyed by the "alt" attribute (simple images) or a description (complex images), both of which are vocalised instead of the image by the screen reader. The screen reader vocalizes everything you put in the alternative. As a result, if the textual content of the page duplicates what is in the visual, it is advisable to fill in the alternative only with the missing information.

Structuring your content

It is essential to prioritise your texts with several levels of headings. The order and relevance of headings are essential. Make sure the text is left-aligned and not "justified" to make it easier to read. Also use the CMS editor functions or code tags to identify quotations, lists, line breaks, etc., so that the structure is preserved whatever the consultation mode.

The editorial charter is a generic document that reminds all contributors, including external service providers, of these rules. This is to ensure that accessibility is maintained over the long term, as publications continue to appear.

Specific multimedia features

In the RGAA, multimedia content includes video content, audio content and animated elements such as advertisements or interactive maps where information can be navigated or displayed dynamically. They require specific measures:

Provide alternatives for sound and visuals

A textual transcription (summary associated with multimedia content) allows you to access the information content independently of the audio/video streams. For videos, dialogues need to be dubbed with quality subtitles. In addition, audio description (a secondary audio track providing additional explanations) can also be useful for people with visual or intellectual impairments.

Offer user controls

Pause, show or hide subtitles, adjust sound volume... users must be able to adapt the multimedia stream to their needs.

With the screen reader, the user accesses the textual content which is vocalised. If the sound of multimedia is triggered automatically, it is difficult for the user to access textual content and interactive elements on the same page.

Limiting distracting visual effects

Stroboscopic effects, continuous movements like a carousel or an animated image in the background... These effects can make reading and browsing very difficult. They can even cause epileptic or vestibular disorders.

So it's best to avoid them. If this is not possible, the presence of a 'Play/Pause' button and the launch of effects only when the button is pressed are the minimum required to give control back to the user.

The accessibility approach therefore contributes to inclusion and the fight against discrimination. It can also improve brand perception, increase market share and minimise legal risk. Several business benefits of digital accessibility are listed by W3C.

Whatever the approach to compliance and the regulatory framework used, a number of questions remain:

• Who will use this content?
• For what purpose?
• What's the right balance between accessibility, natural referencing and eco-design?

These three areas have some good practices in common and others in contradiction.

These are strategic questions, and the answer will be different for each project. This will extend the compliance process, for a truly optimal user experience.