{"id":10001,"date":"2025-05-01T14:46:35","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T12:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sebastian-klammer.de\/?p=10001"},"modified":"2025-08-31T12:58:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T10:58:00","slug":"create-accessible-web-design-berlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sebastian-klammer.de\/en\/create-accessible-web-design-berlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessible web design"},"content":{"rendered":"
Who is required to have an accessible website? What impact do the legal regulations have on existing websites \u2013 and what does accessible web design mean? Here you’ll learn everything you need to know to make your website accessible to all users.<\/p>\n
Accessibility in web design means that a website is designed in such a way that the information (text, images, and other content) it offers is accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of the users’ individual abilities or limitations. On an appropriately designed website, the content must be easily accessible, with as few restrictions as possible, even for people with visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive impairments.<\/p>\n
The “usability” of a website determines how user-friendly a website is, or how efficiently users can access the information they are looking for. While this also impacts accessibility, it goes far beyond that. A website is accessible when people with disabilities can use it as fully as possible – without any restrictions – and all content is readily accessible to them. In this respect, accessibility is a subset of usability, but goes beyond general user-friendliness and also takes into account the very specific needs of people with disabilities.<\/p>\n
A new regulation for the provision of accessible websites is intended to ensure that people with disabilities also have equal access to online services and can easily access content on the web. The Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) was passed on June 15, 2022, and defines accessibility requirements for products and services placed on the market or provided after June 28, 2025. This includes, among other things, all online commerce, hardware, software, but also passenger transport and banking services.<\/p>\n
The Accessibility Improvement Act (BFSG) applies to manufacturers, distributors, and importers of certain products and service providers. Micro-enterprises that employ fewer than ten people and either generate an annual turnover of no more than \u20ac2 million or whose annual balance sheet total does not exceed \u20ac2 million are partially exempt from the BFSG.<\/p>\n
In Germany, the accessibility requirements for products and services on the web are regulated by the Federal Office for Accessibility (BFSG) Ordinance, which you can read here<\/a>. Specific requirements arise from various norms and standards published by the Federal Office for Accessibility.<\/p>\n Further guidelines for web accessibility and accessible web design are provided by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG). Created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), they offer multi-level guidelines and guidance to help make web design and development as accessible as possible for people with disabilities. The WCAG guidelines were first adopted in May 1999 and have been continuously developed since then, also to incorporate technological advances on the web. The WCAG 2.1 guidelines for accessible web design correspond to the ISO 40500 standard and have been adapted for the EN 301 549 (European standard).<\/p>\n The main types of disabilities addressed in WCAG are:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)<\/h3>\n