PRINCIPLES
With the Law n. 4/2004 (“Legge Stanca”, G.U. n. 13 of 17 January 2004) and the related Implementing Regulation (D.P.R. n.75 / 2005, G.U. n.101 of 3 May 2005) the Italian Republic protects
“… the right of access to the IT and telecommunications services of the public administration and to the utilities services by disabled people, in compliance with the principle of equality pursuant to Article 3 of the Constitution“
defining accessibility as
“The capacity of IT systems, in the forms and limits allowed by technological knowledge, to provide services and provide usable information, without discrimination, even by those who, due to disability, need assistive technologies or special configurations”.
The Stanca law is therefore aimed at allowing all citizens to benefit from services and information provided by the Public Administration in a simple and effective manner, thus breaking down barriers due to visual, auditory and physical disabilities, rather than technological (hardware , software, internet), cultural, linguistic and geographical limitations.
The site was therefore constructed following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0). The most significant points are reported.
SEMANTIC STRUCTURE
The Document Object Model (DOM) represents the semantic structure of the web page. Paying attention to the structure of the DOM is very important because all the automatic tools that interact with the web page do not see the graphic style of the page but only its structure. Univocally identifying the different sections of the page and making them fall into shared categories is important to allow users on the site to browse the site.
The pages of the Veneto Institute of Oncology – IOV were created using the latest standard of the Word Wide Web Consortium (W3C) HTML5.
We do not use proprietary third-party technologies such as Flash or Silverlight that are not easily interpreted by assisted technologies.
HIERARCHY AND OUTLINE OF THE DOCUMENT
The pages are automatically divided into sections organized hierarchically. This hierarchy makes it very easy to navigate within a single page even for people with visual or motor impairments. Each section is appropriately titled to give an idea of its content without having to read the entire content. The division is carried out in different ways to have the highest possible compatibility with the various assisted access solutions. In particular, the pages are marked with HTML5 semantic tags, WAI-ARIA roles, and the classic hierarchical division of the h1-h6 header tags.
SPECIAL CONTENTS
Where sensible, the content is represented by semantic markers. Timetables, dates, abbreviations are marked correctly and are therefore easily accessible by automatic readers and assisted access technologies. The highlighted or emphasized text is identified not only visually but also structurally.
TABLES
The data in tabular form are optimized for automatic reading, replicating the contents of the headers when the site is accessed by automatic readers. Each table also has a caption that summarizes its meaning.
TEXTUAL ALTERNATIVES
The site provides textual alternatives to all non-textual content. Purely decorative contents are excluded. In particular, alternative content is proposed for images and summaries of contents for tables and maps. The text is adaptable and can be presented in different formats without losing information. In particular, it will be possible to increase or decrease the font size, enlarge the browser window, and select an alternative character set without decreasing the information content of the pages.
INFORMATION AND REPORTS
Information, structure and relationships between the elements of the site transmitted through the presentation are also programmatically determined and therefore readable by technologies for assisted access.
SEQUENCING
The sequence of elements and text remains correct even when the site is consulted via assisted access technologies. The order of contents has been designed to be meaningful, so as to present the most important sections first. This order is not only visual, but also structural and consequently appreciable to any mode of use.
SENSORIAL CHARACTERISTICS
To understand and operate the site you do not rely on components such as shape, visual aspects, orientation, sounds.
LEGIBILITY
It is easy to distinguish the content from the background. The graphic of the site has been designed to provide high-contrast characters, in order to increase the general readability and in particular to those with visual impairments and disabilities. A link to an alternative style sheet that allows to load a further increased contrast version which replaces the character with one suitable for reading by users affected by dyslexia is proposed. In case there are images containing text, the character of the text is always at least 14px. There is also no use of justified or centered text and the width of the text columns is always limited. The links are visually distinct.
LANGUAGE
The page language is announced programmatically. Automatic readers and other assistive technologies work best if they know the language of the content.
The site is written in a simple language, with short and concise sentences to increase readability and make it easier to understand.
USE OF COLOR
The use of color is purely decorative and is not used to transmit information. Visual elements distinct from color are always distinguished also from the semantic point of view. The site is tested for various disabilities and visual dysfunctions.
CONTRAST
The level of contrast between text and background is in most cases at least 4.5: 1. The same applies to images containing text. Logos are excluded from this requirement. It will be possible to activate upon request an alternative style with even higher contrast.
TEXT RESIZING
With the exception of captions of images and text in images, all the text of the site can be resized up to 200% without loss of content or functionality.
TEXT IMAGES
Where possible, images containing text are avoided. If necessary (in logos, for example) an alternative text is inserted.
ACCESSIBILITY FROM KEYBOARD
All the functionalities of the site are accessible through the keyboard, without requiring specific timing. In particular, page links can be scrolled using the TAB key. Each selected link is visually highlighted appropriately. Since all links are titled in an appropriate manner, at the time of selection the automatic readers announce the purpose of the link.
TIME FOR READING
The site does not contain timed content that is not even reproposed in text format, so users always have all the time necessary to read the content. Timed content always has a way to pause the animation.
BROWSING
The site provides methods to help navigation, to understand where the user is and to find content.
BLOCK JUMP
There is a link to skip blocks of repeated content (for example to skip the navigation menus and proceed to the main content).
PAGE TITLES
Each page has a title that accurately describes its content.
PURPOSE OF LINKS
The purpose of a link can be understood before visiting it through its title and text.