News from LIFE Garachico in Archipelago Canary Islands News 01/12/2024. Speakers: Mariano H. Zapata (Government of the Canary Islands), Carla González (ULL) and Christine Bezic (GRAFCAN)

accessibility statement

We strongly believe that the Internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and we are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. To accomplish this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities. Adhering to those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: people who are blind, people with motor disabilities, visually impaired, cognitively disabled, and more. This website uses various technologies that are intended to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We use an accessibility interface that allows people with specific disabilities to adjust the user interface (user interface) of the website and design it according to their personal needs. In addition, the website uses an application based on artificial intelligence that runs in the background and constantly optimizes its accessibility level. This application corrects the HTML of the website, adapts its functionality and behavior for screen readers used by blind users and for keyboard functions used by people with motor disabilities. If you have detected a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we would be happy to hear from you. You can contact the operators of the website through the following email info@lifegarachico.eu

Screen reader and keyboard navigation

Our website implements the ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attribute technique, along with several different behavior changes, to ensure that blind users who visit with screen readers can read, understand, and enjoy the features of the website. . As soon as a user with a screen reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the screen reader's profile so they can effectively navigate and operate your site. Here's how our website covers some of the most important screen reader requirements, along with console screenshots of code examples: Screen Reader Optimization: we run a background process that learns the website components from top to bottom, to ensure continued compliance even as the website is updated. In this process, we provide screen readers with meaningful data using the ARIA attribute set. For example, we provide accurate form tags; actionable icon descriptions (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; roles of elements such as buttons, menus, modal dialogs (popup windows), and others. In addition, the background process scans all images on the website and provides an accurate and meaningful description based on image object recognition as an ALT (alternative text) tag. for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology. To activate screen reader settings at any time, users just need to press the keyboard combination Alt + 1. Screen reader users also receive automated prompts to activate screen reader mode as soon as they enter the website .These settings are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA. Keyboard navigation optimization: the background process also adjusts the website's HTML and adds various behaviors via JavaScript code to make the website keyboard operable. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift + Tab keys, operate dropdown menus with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, activate buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio items and checkboxes using the arrow keys, and fill them with the space bar or the Enter key. In addition, keyboard users will find quick navigation and content skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt + 1, or as the first site elements while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popup windows by moving keyboard focus to them as soon as they appear, and not allowing focus to drift away from it. Users can also use shortcuts like “M” (menus), “ H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific items.

Disability profiles supported on our website

Visually impaired mode: this mode adjusts the website for the comfort of users with visual impairments such as vision impairment, tunnel vision, cataracts, glaucoma and others. Cognitive Impairment Mode: this mode provides different assistance options to help users with cognitive disabilities such as dyslexia, autism, AVC and others to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily. Screen Reader Compatibility: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it. Keyboard Navigation Profile (with engine issues): This profile allows people with engine issues to operate the website using Tab, Shift+Tab and Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific items.

Additional UI, layout, and readability tweaks

Font Settings: users can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust spacing, alignment, line height, and more. Color settings: users can select various color contrast profiles, such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap title, text, and background color schemes, with more than 7 different color options. Content highlighting: users can choose to emphasize important elements like links and titles. They can also choose to highlight only items that are in focus or hover. Cognitive disorders: We use a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher the meaning of phrases, initials, slang, and others. Additional features: We offer users the option to change the color and size of the cursor, use a print mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other features.

Browser and assistive technology support

Our goal is to support the widest possible variety of browsers and assistive technologies, so our users can choose the tools that work best for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all the major systems that comprise more than 95% of the user market share, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (file readers). screen), both for Windows and for MAC users.

Notes, comments and feedback

Despite our best efforts to allow anyone to adjust the Website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or lack a suitable technological solution to make them accessible. Even so, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All of this is aimed at reaching the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advances. For help, contact info@lifegarachico.eu