Eindhoven City Council announced the launch of its new fully accessible website yesterday.
The council states that the website, Eindhoven.nl, is now accessible to everyone. Several new accessibility features mean the site can now also be navigated by people with hearing and visual impairments. Because of this, the website receives a so-called barrier-free (‘drempelvrij’) certificate from the Dutch Accessibility Foundation.
Digitaal Toegankelijk, a web-based organisation that assesses the accessibility of websites, recently conducted a study on 926 government websites. It found that 71% do not meet legal requirements to have a fully accessible website.
Around a quarter of Dutch people experience difficulties when using the internet. Despite this, Eindhoven.nl is part of the mere 7% of Dutch government agency websites that meet the national accessibility requirements. These requirements were announced on 23 September 2020.
New features on the website include improved colour contrasts, to cater to people with colour blindness. In addition, the website can be navigated using only a keyboard, for people who cannot use a mouse. Alt texts have also been added to all images and links for people who use screen readers.
In addition to the Eindhoven.nl website, Eindhoven City Council also runs other websites for particular interests or industries in the region, such as Eindhoven Sport. The accessibility of these websites will also soon be improved.
Source: Eindhoven City Council press release
Translation: Rachael Vickerman
