Accessibility statement

Note: draft version — these particulars must be confirmed by qualified legal review before the public launch.

We want this news site to be usable by everyone — with a keyboard, with a screen reader, with magnification, with limited colour vision, and without a mouse.

State of conformance

In our assessment this website is largely conformant with the requirements of EN 301 549 and the WCAG 2.1 success criteria at level AA. Testing is continuous: every change runs an automated check with axe-core against the WCAG 2.1 AA rules, supplemented by manual testing with keyboard and screen reader.

What is in place

Keyboard operation: every piece of content and every control can be reached without a mouse. Focus is visible throughout and a skip link leads straight to the content.
Screen readers: pages have a consistent heading structure, landmarks (navigation, main content, footer) and labelled controls. Items loaded on demand are announced through a live region and focus moves to the first new headline.
Contrast: body text and controls meet at least 4.5:1 and large text at least 3:1 — in both the light and the dark appearance.
Magnification and reflow: the page zooms to 400% and works from 320 pixels wide without horizontal scrolling. Font sizes are relative, so a larger system font size is honoured.
Motion: animation is restrained and can be switched off — through the system setting “reduce motion” or under “Display” on this site.
Target size: controls are at least 44 × 44 pixels.
Decorative graphics: the generated cover of an item carries no information that is not also in the text, and is therefore hidden from assistive technology.
Language: every language edition is declared in the page header, so screen readers read it with the right pronunciation.
Without JavaScript: reading, navigating and paging work even when JavaScript does not run.

Adjustable display (reading aids)

Under “Display” in the top right, the site can be adapted to individual needs. Settings apply instantly, persist in the browser and are transmitted to no one — no account required:

Text size in three steps — the whole layout scales with it, nothing is cut off.
Line, letter and word spacing up to the values named in WCAG 1.4.12.
Two reading typefaces: Atkinson Hyperlegible (developed by the Braille Institute for maximum character distinction) and OpenDyslexic. Both are hosted on our own server and are downloaded only once selected.
High contrast in both the light and the dark appearance.
A colour-vision-friendly mode: accent colours move to an axis distinguishable with red-green deficiency, and links are consistently underlined.
Permanently underlined links, animations off, and one click to reset every reading aid.

Known limitations

We deliberately name what is not solved yet:

There is currently no version in plain language or in sign language.
Editorial items in the non-German editions are produced by machine translation. Individual phrasings may therefore be harder to follow than in the German version.
Linked original reports sit on the sites of the respective newsrooms. We have no influence on their accessibility.
Automated tools cover only part of the requirements. Individual barriers may therefore escape us — reports are expressly welcome.

Reporting a barrier

If you have come across a barrier, or content is not accessible to you, write to us. We will reply and fix what can be fixed.

kyky@bitbau.eu · +49 541 18584800

Ivan Adamov, Silberberger Str. 33, 49076 Osnabrück, Deutschland

Enforcement procedure

If our answer does not take you any further, you may contact the German market surveillance authority for the accessibility of products and services (MLBF).