We want everyone to be able to use our website. That the website is user-friendly and easily accessible for our target groups. To achieve this, we improve our website based on the requirements for digital accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA)
The Temporary Digital Accessibility Decree stipulates that government websites must comply with accessibility requirements as set out in EN 301 549/WCAG 2.1.
Accessibility Statement
The website of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, largely complies with accessibility requirements. The Accessibility Statement VU.nl (to follow) outlines the points on which our website VU.nl (general and public sections) does not yet fully comply and the timeframe within which we expect to resolve the bottlenecks.
How are we working on accessibility?
We are continuously working on improvements within the scope of content developments and technical optimisations.
For our editors, we proactively make information available for content adjustments on our websites. Guidelines have been drawn up for this, which are described in WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).
In addition, we increasingly make technical improvements to our websites. We do this based on the guidelines from WCAG 2.1.
In August 2022, we commissioned an independent study for the general and public part of our website VU.nl by an external specialised testing agency. The results from this review guided improvements.
Since this report, efforts have been made to build knowledge with the help of external specialised trainers and consultants, among others. In addition, various initiatives have been developed within VU Amsterdam with the aim of increasing internal support and guiding and securing the importance of the accessibility of our (online) resources.
This has - besides creating and promoting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - resulted in technical adjustments to our website such as:
- adding a default outline during (keyboard) focus;
- revising the H-tags (de-duplication, correct hierarchy);
- making all elements keyboard-accessible.
We secure continuous improvement in accessibility by:
- Content: always reminding our editors of our Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, these are guiding all decisions regarding content on VU.nl (general and public section).
- Technology: our IT department checks VU.nl for digital accessibility, this is guiding all decisions regarding functional and technical solutions. All optimisations and new features on VU.nl must comply with accessibility guidelines. This is a secured part of the testing process. Resources have been made available for knowledge development and training of the technical team.
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has a large number of websites and pages that are managed autonomously and decentrally by the various departments, faculties, employees and external relations. These do not or hardly meet accessibility requirements. For these administrators, the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) are available. In addition, a WCAG 2.1 checklist has been compiled for the decentralised externally built and hosted websites that in any way fall under the domain or brand of VU Amsterdam. This includes licensed software such as a SaaS solution. We aim to rationalise and harmonise the amount of websites and pages not under central management in the future.