WACA-certified: IMC website officially barrier-free
Strong signal of our commitment to diversity
It’s especially important to us that the information on our website is available to everyone as far as possible – regardless of technical equipment, security settings and personal disabilities.
A website for all: accessible and barrier-free
And our efforts have paid dividends: the IMC Krems website has been awarded the silver level Web Accessibility Certificate Austria (WACA) by testing and certification agency TÜV Austria.
This means that the site is barrier-free to a significant extent, and accessible to all. IMC Krems is one of only a handful of companies – and one of just two higher education institutions in Austria – that have received the certificate in recognition of the importance they attach to the idea of accessibility.
What areas were not considered?
The independent audit did not take into account linked external services such as webmail, IMC today and the eDesktop, as well as internal areas with the ed.fhkre.ms URL. In addition, we did not submit the university’s online application tool for assessment, as this service has its own website.
IMC Krems’ social media channels as well as online flipbooks such as brochures, which are available in addition to PDF documents, were also not included.
" Particularly in view of our role as a university, it’s very important to us that we focus on accessibility in the digital domain as well. Often, we are unaware of the digital barriers facing people with impairments. So we’re absolutely delighted to have succeeded in removing virtually all of these barriers, which has earned us WACA certification. "
Ulrike Prommer, CEO
Barrier-free web is the future
Why is accessibility so important? Around 1.7m people in Austria live with temporary or permanent disabilities (source: Statistics Austria). This statistic from the WACA website underlines the significance of accessibility.
But web accessibility is not just a key question for social and ethical reasons, but also in business terms: barrier-free design and adaptations designed to enhance accessibility can significantly improve the user experience and user friendliness.
At the end of the day, all users will benefit from our barrier-free website, regardless of whether they have disabilities or not.
What criteria need to be met for the silver level Web Accessibility Certificate Austria?
WACA has defined the following criteria for the silver level certificate:
- Website largely complies with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria
- All content is accessible to all users
- The basic functionality is fully accessible to all users
- Parts of the extended/optional functionality are cumbersome for some users, yet still accessible
We’d love to hear from you!
We’re always looking to improve, expand and update the content on our website. And we place a special emphasis on accessibility and user-friendliness
If you come across any barriers that restrict your use of our website, please write to us at website(at)fh-krems.ac.at.