Accessibility
Accessibility statement
Accow Effective Applications wants everyone to be able to use accow.nl, whatever device, browser or assistive technology they rely on. This statement describes how the site is built, what has been checked and how to report anything that gets in your way.
Standard and status
This website aims to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 (opens in a new tab) at level AA, the level referred to by the European standard EN 301 549 and by Dutch government guidance.
Status: partially compliant. The site was designed and built with these guidelines in mind and checked by its developer, but it has not yet been audited by an independent party. Where we know of a shortcoming, it is listed below under “Known limitations”.
What has been done
Structure & navigation
- A “Skip to main content” link as the first focusable element
- Semantic HTML landmarks: header, navigation, main and footer
- One logical heading hierarchy per page
- Real lists, description lists and links instead of styled boxes
- The language of the page is declared (English)
- Content is pre-rendered, so it is readable without JavaScript
Keyboard & focus
- Everything works with a keyboard alone
- A clearly visible focus indicator on all interactive elements
- The mobile menu is a real button that reports its open or closed state and closes with Escape
- The menu marks the section you are reading, also for screen readers (as the current item)
- Section anchors leave room for the sticky header, so focused content is never hidden behind it
Visual design
- Text and interface colours meet WCAG AA contrast ratios
- Colour is never the only way information is conveyed
- Sizes use relative units, so the layout survives 400% zoom and custom text sizes
- A responsive layout that reflows to a single column without horizontal scrolling
- Support for Windows high-contrast (forced colours) mode
- A theme switcher with four colour schemes, including a dark one, each checked for AA contrast; found in the footer
- A print stylesheet that shows link destinations
Images, motion & links
- Meaningful drawings have descriptive text alternatives; decorative ones are hidden
- Icons are decorative and always paired with visible text
- Animations are subtle and switched off when “reduce motion” is enabled, including the logo’s continuous tracking of the mouse pointer
- Links that open a new tab announce this to screen reader users
- Fonts are self-hosted: no third-party font requests or tracking
Known limitations
- The pen drawings are raster images. Informative drawings, such as the portrait and The Hague skyline, have text alternatives; purely decorative drawings are hidden from assistive technology.
- External websites linked from this site, such as LinkedIn and former clients, are outside our control and may not meet the same standard.
- Skill levels are a personal self-assessment. They are shown as bars and also given as a number for screen reader users.
How this site was tested
Both pages were checked with the automated axe-core engine against the WCAG 2.2 A and AA rules, with no violations found. They were also reviewed using keyboard-only navigation, at a 320 pixel wide viewport (equivalent to 400% zoom) without horizontal scrolling, and with the reduced-motion and forced-colours (high contrast) settings enabled. Automated tools cannot catch everything, so feedback from real users is very welcome.
Feedback and contact
Did you run into a barrier on this website, or do you need information in a different format? Please let me know via LinkedIn (opens in a new tab). I aim to respond within five working days and to fix reported issues as soon as reasonably possible.