6 Schritte zu einer barriere­freien Website/App

Step 1: Commission accessibility from the outset

First, carry out a check of your website. You can either do this yourself or commission an external service provider.
If you are creating a new website, accessibility should be part of the specifications. This saves you a lot of time and money, because making an existing website accessible is much more time-consuming!

Click here for details on commissioning accessible digital products. Click here for information on choosing a service provider and what you can expect an accessibility check to cost. Some content is exempt from the legal provisions; a list of these exemptions can be found here on this website.

Step 2: Publish an accessibility statement

Then you publish an accessibility statement for the website or app in an accessible format. You update this statement annually. Ideally, the list of accessibility barriers will gradually shorten by progressively eliminating the known barriers (or having them eliminated) and documenting this in the statement.

You can find everything you need to know about creating and updating an accessibility statement here.

Tip: Commission the agency that conducted the accessibility check to draw up the accessibility statement.

Step 3: Making files and multimedia content accessible

Files such as PDFs or multimedia content that are published on the website or in the app must also be accessible; how this is done is described here:

• Create accessible PDFs from Word documents (this content is only available in German) or accessibility tutorial for Word and PDF (this content is only available in German)
• Barrierefreies PDF aus PowerPoint (this content is only available in German) erstellen
• Barrierefreies Video (this content is only available in German) erstellen

Step 4: Ensuring accessibility in web editing

As a web editor, remember to make new content that you add to your website or app accessible: The most important points are summarised under "Tips for the editorial aspects of accessibility".

Step 5: Removing accessibility barriers

Which barriers should I remove first? Where do I start? The most common accessibility errors in the digital services offered by public-sector bodies are described here (this content is only available in German), along with tips on how you can fix them.

Step 6: Training and further education

Attend training and further education courses on digital accessibility (this content is only available in German) and get tips on implementation!