Title: Tools for Checking the Accessibility of Digital Tools and Materials
Course: Ensuring Inclusive Access Through the Use of Assistive Technology > Section: Assistive Technology as a Form of Support for Student Learning, Teaching and Assessment

Tools for checking the accessibility of digital tools and materials

Digital accessibility is the practice of adapting websites, mobile applications, and other digital content and services so that all users can access, use, and understand them, regardless of visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive difficulties, whether temporary or permanent (Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation of the Republic of Croatia, n.d.).

Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services entered into force on 28 June 2025. Digital products and services in the public and private sectors must comply with this act, for example:

- electronic communications services, except for transmission services used for the provision of machine-to-machine communications services
- services providing access to audiovisual media services
- websites, services on mobile devices, including mobile applications, electronic maps, and electronic ticketing services, the provision of information about transport services, including real-time travel information for air, bus, rail, and waterborne passenger transport services, and interactive self-service terminals located within the Union
- consumer banking services
- e-books and dedicated software
- e-commerce services.

Some of the following links and documents are available in Croatian only. Participants may use free AI-powered translation tools to access the provided materials.

In the Republic of Croatia, the principles of digital accessibility are incorporated into Zakon o pristupačnosti mrežnih stranica i programskih rješenja za pokretne uređaje tijela javnog sektora (Official Gazette 17/2019).

The steps for achieving digital accessibility are:

- conduct an initial assessment (to determine the extent to which the websites and mobile applications of public sector bodies comply with the prescribed accessibility requirements)
- adapt websites and mobile applications
- publish and regularly update the accessibility statement (the content of the accessibility statement template is prescribed by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1523)
- publish digitally accessible content. (Digital Accessibility)

Examples of tools for checking the accessibility of digital content

Free Accessibility Checker is a tool that analyses website compliance with various accessibility standards. It provides a comprehensive report detailing the main accessibility issues on the page.

Accessibility Checker allows free scanning of website accessibility and compliance with WCAG 2.1.

AEL is a free tool for checking website accessibility.

ReciteMe enables free website accessibility checking. It performs 396 separate compliance scans in accordance with WCAG 2.1 and analyses issues that need to be resolved. Users can make individual or multiple adjustments, including customising font size, adjusting colour contrast to improve readability, using a screen masking tool to isolate parts of the page for easier focus, downloading content as audio files as an alternative to reading, converting page content into over 100 different on-screen languages, reading the page aloud in 65 different languages, adjusting PDF documents and having them read aloud or translated.

AudioEye offers free website accessibility checking, identifies and resolves accessibility problems, integrates solutions, and is transparent.

BlueAtlasMarketing enables website accessibility checking according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), provides advice on improving accessibility and search engine optimisation, and includes a checklist of the 10+ most important items to check during the development of a new or existing website, from descriptive alternative text to the selection of accessible fonts.

Free Website Accessibility Checker is a free tool for checking website accessibility.

WCAG Color Control Checker allows checking the accessibility of text and background colours. After selecting the planned colour combinations, these tools provide feedback on the accessibility of the selected combination.

Examples of numerous tools for checking website and digital content accessibility can be found on the W3 page.

Microsoft 365 contains tools for creating accessible content in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDF.

Content accessibility checking is performed using the Accessibility Checker. For example, the Accessibility Checker in MS Word automatically identifies images without alternative text and offers users the option to add descriptions, warns of inadequate use of heading styles and recommends corrections, warns of insufficient contrast between text and background, and identifies complex tables that might be illegible for screen readers (Brebrić, 2024).

Assistiv Labs enables remote testing of websites and documents with assistive technology, such as NVDA and JAWS, and Windows High Contrast mode, to verify the accessibility of digital content for the intended users.

PAC is a tool for checking the accessibility of PDF documents.

Instructions for creating and checking the accessibility of MS Word and PDF documents are available on the Srce website.

Task

Using one of the available free tools for checking the accessibility of digital content, assess the accessibility of your institution's website.

References

Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation of the Republic of Croatia, Digital Accessibility / Digitalna pristupačnost

Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council / Direktiva (EU) 2019/882 Europskog Parlamenta i Vijeća of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services.

Brebrić, E. (2024). Checking and improving accessibility in MS Office tools / Provjera i unapređenje pristupačnosti u MS Office alatima.