How can I make my website accessible?

But how do I proceed to make my site accessible?

Step 1 – Accessibility Audit

We recommend starting with an accessibility audit, which is a comprehensive analysis to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent users from fully utilizing your digital content.

We start by looking at the main functions (user interaction points) of your site and its main pages and test them for accessibility. We pay attention to issues such as color contrast, accessible fonts, keyboard operability of elements, and much more.

At the end of the audit, you will receive a briefing from us with information on the current status and which areas need improvement, neatly listed according to their urgency.

Step 2 – Component inventory

Once the critical areas have been identified and a priority list has been drawn up, we turn our attention to implementation.

Here, we start by listing all components and see which ones need to be adapted, which ones may no longer be needed, and whether new variants are required.

At keytec, we work with design systems for this purpose. These not only facilitate implementation at the start of a project, but also guarantee a good overview and enable accessibility to be achieved and maintained quickly.

If you already have a design system, we will build on this when adapting accessibility. If you do not yet have a comprehensive system in place, we will be happy to create one for you. 

Step 3 Step 3 – Design adjustments and implementation

Once all components have been recorded, a decision is made as to which components need to be adapted and how extensive this adaptation needs to be. Our design experts then adapt the components in accordance with WCAG 2.2 and coordinate them with the page.

After the design has been adapted and coordinated, our developers improve it and also fix any programmatic structural problems in the code. Here, particular attention is paid to ensuring that the page is not only superficially accessible. 

The page is optimized so that screen readers and other support tools can work well with it and you will not have any problems with it in the future.

Step 4 – Customize the page content

Now that the design and technical aspects of the components have been improved, it's time to make the content of the site accessible.

This means that certain images are provided with clear alternative texts, videos are subtitled, and texts and links are adapted. We are happy to help you with this too, especially as creating clear alt texts is not as easy as it sounds.

However, it is doubly worthwhile, as it not only ensures an accessible website, which will help you gain new users/customers, but also improves your SEO (search engine optimization) and GEO (generative engine optimization) ranking. This means that your website will be rated higher in search engines and displayed before the websites of potential competitors.

Final step – Extended testing

Once all adjustments have been completed, another audit is carried out. Here, the website is tested extensively once again to check whether all adjustments are bearing fruit and functioning as desired.

After implementing this 5-step plan, the site is now more accessible, but accessibility is not a process that is then complete. It is something that should always be kept in mind from now on. However, thanks to our work with design systems, this is not a problem. New content, pages, and functions can be easily added and expanded based on the system.

Do you have questions or would you like advice on how to make your website accessible? Then contact us now and discover how your Drupal website can fully benefit from this adjustment.