Bridgend leads Wales in accessible website design

Bridgend County Borough Council’s website has been named as the most accessible in Wales for disabled people.

Sitemorse, an independent body which analyses government websites, has ranked the council’s site as being the most accessible in the country for the second quarter of 2020.

The council’s website has been designed to meet level ‘AA’ of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 - a worldwide standard for websites which aims to make pages as accessible as possible for disabled people.

Using criteria based on 12 separate guidelines, the standard takes into account issues ranging from code quality to link functionality before awarding a score which determines how accessible a website is.

With innovations in place such as specialist software which reads out webpage text to support blind people or to make text readable for people with dyslexia or ADHD, the council’s website achieved an overall result of 8/10, putting it among just 17 per cent of all UK councils who scored seven or more.

This is an excellent result and I am delighted to note how the council’s efforts to improve accessibility for all of our residents is being officially recognised.

Websites are an integral part of how organisations do business now, and they need to be carefully designed to ensure that people with disabilities can use them too. As an inclusive council which wants to extend this opportunity to all residents, it makes perfect sense to strive for website accessibility.

To support this aim, our website features emoticon buttons at the bottom of every page which visitors can use to leave feedback, and I would encourage people to do so as we can use this to make further improvements.

Deputy Leader Hywel Williams