Web accessibility is mandatory for governments according to the current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 standards. Moreover, a new version, 2.2, will arrive in December 2022. There, the standards are even stricter. All Belgian government websites and applications must also be as accessible as possible. In addition, you want every website visitor to feel welcome on your website and find what they are looking for. It is, therefore, crucial for your website to have an accessible structure and, ideally, web forms. These can be found on every website and are essential for contact requests and notifications.
We, therefore, share five tips that will make your web forms web-accessible.
Indicate which fields are mandatory
Show which fields are mandatory for visitors with an asterisk (*).
Tip: choose a CMS where you can easily create web forms and indicate which fields are mandatory. In doing so, you can also add a message for the visitor, giving a clear notification that the field is mandatory.
Indicate which field the focus is on
Of course, the visitor must be able to navigate flawlessly and see which field is the focus. Therefore, the cursor must move with the input.
Your web forms must be keyboard accessible
Users should also be able to fill in web forms and navigate them without a mouse via your keyboard's tab button.
Add autofill to fields
Add an autofill for each personal information field.
When doing so, follow the default values described by W3C.
Use the correct input field
It is inconvenient and unfriendly if an input type does not match the input field. So it makes sense to choose the right type when adding an element. It helps if you choose a user-friendly CMS where a preview of an element is shown.
An example: would you like to capture an e-mail address from a visitor? Then choose the 'E-mail' element where an '@' character will have to be used.
Want to make every web form easily accessible? Choose a CMS for your website or intranet that takes this into account. Now and in the future.
Paddle CMS is fully optimised for web accessibility. Moreover, we continue to optimise during our included four-weekly updates for improvements and as standards renew.
Want to discover this for yourself? Book a free demo.
Are you using the Paddle CMS today for your website and intranet? We can help you optimise web forms for web accessibility. Contact our support.