With an accessibility-optimized service, you ensure that more people can access and engage with your content
Accessible digital services
At Itiden, we have extensive experience in creating digital solutions with a focus on accessibility (a11y). We conduct continuous testing and thorough code reviews to ensure that our websites and apps meet the WCAG AA standards. By combining user-friendliness with accessible design, we enable everyone to access our digital services, regardless of their abilities.
What does WCAG mean?
WCAG, which stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, is a set of guidelines for how websites and services should be designed to ensure that as many people as possible can access the content and functionalities.
The guidelines are divided into four principles:
Perceivable
The content must be perceivable by everyone, regardless of their abilities. Examples include providing text alternatives for images and captions for videos.
Operable
The website's functions must be usable and navigable, whether using a keyboard, mouse, or other assistive technologies.
Understandable
The content should be easy to understand, and the interface should be predictable and user-friendly.
Robust
The content should be technically robust and function across different devices and assistive technologies, even with future technologies.
To assess the accessibility of a website or service, there are three different levels, each containing a set of guidelines that must be followed to achieve the desired level.
A
The lowest level, which includes only the basic guidelines for having an accessible service.
AA
The most common level, and according to the new accessibility law that will come into effect in June 2025, all entities, including private organizations, must meet this level.
AAA
The highest and most ambitious level, which ensures that the site/service is accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of disability.
What does the new Accessibility Directive mean?
If you operate a website, webshop, or other digital service, it's important to prepare for the new rules coming into effect in 2025. The new accessibility law, which is based on the European Accessibility Act (EAA), will require private businesses and organizations to make their digital products and services accessible to everyone, not just those within the public sector. This means that websites and apps must meet specific guidelines to be accessible to people with disabilities.
By adapting your website or service according to these guidelines, you can ensure that your company complies with the law while also reaching a wider customer base. You can read more about the new requirements on the Swedish Parliament's website under the Act (2023:254) on the accessibility of certain products and services.
What Does This Mean for You? When Will It Apply? Who Does It Affect?
🗓️ When does the law come into effect?
June 28, 2025
🤷🏻♂️ Who is affected by the law?
All companies with annual revenues exceeding €2 million or more than 10 employees.
🧑🏻💻 Which services are affected?
All digital products and services developed after June 28, 2025, as well as existing services and products that need to comply with the law and be adapted by 2030.
👮🏻♂️ How do I comply with the law?
To comply with the law, your product/service needs to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA. You can read more about this here: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.
🧑🏻⚖️ What happens if I don’t comply with the law?
Failing to comply with the law can be costly. Fines ranging from SEK 10,000 to SEK 10,000,000 may be imposed on businesses that ignore the law. Your product or service may also be removed from the EU market entirely.
Test Your Accessibility
Automated tests can provide a quick overview of how accessible your website or digital service is, but they rarely offer the complete picture. To fully ensure that your website meets accessibility requirements, manual testing is essential. It is important to test tab focus and interactive elements, such as menus, buttons, and forms, by only using the keyboard. This ensures that users who navigate without a mouse can do so smoothly and without barriers.
Additionally, you should test the website with voice assistants and screen readers to ensure that information is accessible to users with visual impairments. Screen readers help identify incorrectly structured code or missing descriptions, while voice assistants highlight how well the website functions for those who use speech to interact with the content.
The following are tools we use when testing:
🌊 Wave provides a great overview of potential issues on a website, either by entering a URL on their page or installing a plugin in your browser. It can be downloaded for free here.
🔦 Google Lighthouse is built into Google's Chrome browser by default and gives your page a score based on how well it meets accessibility, performance, and other metrics. You need to enable developer mode to access Lighthouse, or you can visit web.dev to run a test without using the built-in support.
🧑🏻💻 Itiden a11y audit is our custom-built testing system that audits your website and generates a report. We use pa11y and axe, well-tested tools for automated testing, to assist in the process.
🖥️ NVDA Screen Reader is a free screen reader for Windows that can be used to test how well services function with a screen reader.
🗣️ Voice Assistants: Built-in voice assistants in Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android can be used to test how well a digital service functions.
Exciting, tell me more!
Contact us if you are interested in an accessibility audit, if you need help with accessibility adjustments, or if you want to learn more about accessibility.