The accessibility requirements that will come into force from 28 June 2025 require service providers to assess the compliance of their digital environments with the European Union standard EN 301 549 V3.2.1. There are two options for evaluation: relatively resource-intensive manual testing versus attractive free automated testing tools. In this article, we'll explore the difference between automated and manual accessibility testing results.

When something is accessible, it means that as many people as possible – including people with disabilities – are able to use it. Accessibility is part of providing equal opportunities and helps people with disabilities take a more active role in society. In the physical world, accessibility can mean ramps, wide elevator doors, and tactile maps in Braille. In digital environments, accessibility means that all information and functionality are available also to people who are blind, deaf, have motoric or cognitive disabilities.

Accessibility is an increasingly important topic. Public sector websites and mobile applications have had to meet the European Union digital accessibility standard EN 301 549 since 2019. These requirements have not yet been enforced for the private sector. However, the situation is changing, as by 2025 many private sector companies will have to take a critical look at their online environments. Read more in this article.

Last October, the long-awaited version 2.2 of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines became the official W3C recommendation. Today we will give an overview of what’s new and how it will impact us. Although WCAG 3.0 (which is promised to cover more user needs, be more flexible in terms of different technologies, tools and content, as well as easier to understand) is also being developed, it will still take years before it will become an official recommendation.

There are bigger or smaller web forms on almost every website, but a lot can go wrong with them. From the accessibility aspect, the form must be simple, understandable, and navigable with a keyboard (for example, for a person with motor impairment who is unable to use a mouse) as well as various assistive technologies, such as a screen reader (software that reads out everything that happens on the screen to a blind user). Let's see how to do that.

Suppose your website does not yet meet the AA level of the WCAG 2.1 standard. In that case, you have two options: either develop an entirely new website that immediately meets the accessibility criteria or update the existing one (front-end facelift).