What are digital assets?
Covered Digital Assets
The EAA specifies several key digital assets that must comply with accessibility standards:
- Websites and Mobile Applications: All consumer-facing websites and apps must be navigable and usable by individuals with various disabilities.
- E-commerce Platforms: Online shopping sites must ensure that users can browse, select, and purchase products without accessibility barriers.
- Banking Services: Digital banking platforms, including online banking and mobile apps, must be accessible to all users.
- E-books and E-readers: Digital publications must be compatible with assistive technologies, allowing for adjustable text sizes, screen reader compatibility, and other accessibility features.OpenText Blogs
- Audiovisual Media Services: Streaming services and digital TV platforms must provide accessible content, including subtitles, audio descriptions, and easy-to-navigate interfaces.
- Self-service Terminals: ATMs, ticketing machines, and check-in kiosks must be operable by individuals with disabilities, featuring tactile, auditory, and visual accessibility features.
Digital Documents
Beyond interactive platforms, the EAA also covers digital documents such as PDFs, Word documents, and spreadsheets. These documents must be:
- Perceivable: Content should be presented in ways that users can perceive, including text alternatives for non-text content.
- Operable: Users should be able to navigate documents using various input methods, including keyboard-only navigation.
- Understandable: Information and operation of the user interface must be understandable.
- Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
Navigating Compliance
To ensure compliance with the EAA, organizations should:
- Conduct Accessibility Audits: Regularly evaluate digital assets to identify and address accessibility issues.
- Implement Accessible Design Principles: Incorporate accessibility from the outset of digital asset development.
- Provide User Feedback Mechanisms: Allow users to report accessibility issues and ensure timely responses.
- Stay Informed on Standards: Keep abreast of updates to accessibility standards such as EN 301 549 and WCAG guidelines.
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