Accessible websites: BFSG-compliant, WCAG 2.2 AA, brand-strong
:quality(80)){kind=small}
:quality(80))
An accessible website is designed so that all people can use it without particular difficulty and generally without outside help – regardless of physical, sensory, or cognitive impairments. This covers screen readers, keyboard navigation, contrast, plain language, and captions or transcripts for multimedia.
The technical benchmark is WCAG 2.2 Level AA and, in the EU, EN 301 549. In Germany, the BFSG applies to many private-sector digital services, while BITV 2.0 covers public sector sites.
Since 28 June 2025, Germany’s BFSG implements the European Accessibility Act. It mainly covers companies offering digital consumer services – for example online shops, banks, mobile providers, booking platforms, or e-book services.
Micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees and annual turnover below two million euros are generally exempt, unless they offer particularly relevant digital services. Public bodies remain covered by BITV 2.0 or state law.
In practice this means meeting technical requirements (WCAG via EN 301 549), enabling user feedback, and providing an accessibility statement. Non-compliance can trigger market surveillance actions and fines.
Serious accessible websites need testable criteria. This checklist covers the points that fail most often in audits and BFSG reviews:
Perceivable: Alt text, contrast of at least 4.5:1 for body text, scalable type, captions/transcripts.
Operable: Full keyboard access, visible focus, skip links, no keyboard traps.
Understandable: Clear heading hierarchy, consistent navigation, meaningful form error messages.
Robust: Semantic HTML, ARIA only when needed, compatible with screen readers and modern browsers.
Evidence: Documented audit, prioritized fixes, and an up-to-date accessibility statement.
Important: accessibility overlays do not replace structural design and code work. They typically fail to fix keyboard traps or broken semantics reliably.
Many corporate sites are only partially usable for people with disabilities. The most common issues:
01 Visual barriers: weak contrast, non-scalable text, missing alt text.
02 Poor keyboard access: menus, modals and forms reachable by mouse only.
03 Unstructured content: weak heading order, complex forms without labels.
04 Multimedia without alternatives: videos without captions or transcripts.
05 Missing feedback: unclear error messages and correction hints in forms.
Accessible websites reduce legal risk, expand reach, and improve UX and SEO at the same time. For brands, this is not a side project – it is a quality standard.
:quality(80))
Around 10 million people with disabilities live in Germany, plus older users and people with temporary impairments. Accessible websites make offers usable for all of these groups and expand reachable audiences.
Clear structure, sufficient contrast, plain language and intuitive navigation improve usability for everyone – not only for people with disabilities. Accessibility is therefore a UX lever for conversion and satisfaction.
Clean headings, alt text, semantic HTML and clear answers to user questions improve search indexing and citability in AI answers. Accessible structure is therefore a ranking and visibility factor for SEO and GEO.
Meeting BFSG, BITV 2.0 and EN 301 549 / WCAG reduces the risk of warnings, enforcement action and reputational damage. This is especially relevant for e-commerce, digital consumer services and companies with public contracts.
We help companies make existing websites accessible – from analysis through design and code to testing, documentation and sustainable editorial practice.
Typical deliverables: prioritized WCAG 2.2 AA audit, UX/design updates, technical implementation, manual and automated testing, and the basis for your accessibility statement.
We review your website against WCAG 2.2, EN 301 549 and – where relevant – BITV 2.0. You receive a prioritized action list with clear recommendations and an actionable roadmap.
Based on the audit we develop solutions that combine accessibility and user experience: clear hierarchies, sufficient contrast, readable typography, flexible layouts and accessible navigation – without diluting brand quality.
As a web agency we implement keyboard access, focus management, alt text, semantic structure, accessible forms and interactive components – in the existing stack or as part of a relaunch.
After implementation we test automatically and manually: keyboard, screen readers, contrast and WCAG 2.2 AA criteria. The goal is a verifiable conformance status – not just a tool score.
Accessibility is not a one-off project. New content, features and legal updates require ongoing checks, editorial training and clear ownership – so conformance holds after go-live.
An accessible website meets testable WCAG criteria (usually Level AA in practice) and works with screen readers, keyboards and sufficient contrast. In the EU the reference is EN 301 549; in Germany BFSG or BITV 2.0 also apply.
Since 28 June 2025 mainly providers of digital consumer services such as online shops, banks, telecom, ticketing or e-books. Micro-enterprises under 10 employees and under €2m turnover are generally exempt – with exceptions.
EN 301 549 references WCAG criteria; current best practice is WCAG 2.2 AA. We therefore plan and test against WCAG 2.2 AA so newer success criteria are covered from the start.
No. Overlays may soften some issues but do not replace correct semantics, keyboard access or content alternatives. BFSG/WCAG conformance requires structural fixes in design, content and code.
Conformance status, known limitations, a feedback channel and details on creation/updates. We help document the technical status so the statement is reliable.
Clarify scope, run automated scans and manual tests (keyboard, screen reader, contrast), prioritize findings, deliver a roadmap and optionally implement fixes with retest. You get a verifiable status, not just a tool score.
A focused audit often takes a few days to two weeks. Implementation depends on stack, scope and design debt – from targeted fixes in weeks to an accessible relaunch over several months.
Yes. Clear structure, alt text, semantic HTML and direct answers help classic search engines and generative systems understand and cite content. Accessibility is therefore a visibility factor – not only compliance.
:quality(80))
:quality(80))
Also interesting
:quality(70))
:quality(70))
:quality(70))
:quality(70))