We build websites for cities, cultural venues and festivals. That raises a question we had not asked ourselves honestly for a long time: Is our own website actually accessible? So we tested it – with the same tools and criteria that public authorities and auditors use. The result was instructive. And it shows quite well why the topic is becoming important for so many clients right now.
Why accessibility belongs on every agenda now
Almost one in ten people in Germany lives with a recognised severe disability, plus people with low vision, motor impairments or simply a small phone screen in bright sunlight. For them, an accessible website is the difference between “I can use this” and “I give up”.
Then there is the legal side: public bodies – cities, municipalities, state authorities – have long been required to make their websites accessible and to publish an accessibility statement. Since 28 June 2025, the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG) also applies to many companies offering digital services to consumers. For services, micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover of no more than two million euros are among those exempt. The benchmark is the same in every case: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, level AA.
What we found on our own website
Our site runs on WordPress, Elementor and a purchased theme – like a great many websites in culture and small business. At first glance, everything looked fine. Still, the audit brought quite a few things to light:
- No visible focus: Anyone navigating with a keyboard instead of a mouse simply could not see where they were. The theme had switched off the focus outline.
- A menu for mouse users only: Our “Services” submenu could not be opened by keyboard at all. That made five pages practically unreachable for keyboard users.
- Text that was too faint: Dark grey type on black looks elegant, but many people can barely read it. Some of our text was well below the required contrast.
- Icons without names: A screen reader read out “name” twenty times for our social media icons – a placeholder from the theme.
- Muddled headings: For screen readers, the main heading just said “Eliah”, with empty and skipped levels in between.
None of this was intentional. These are typical errors built into ready-made themes and page builders – and you do not notice them as long as you use a mouse and a good screen yourself.
What we changed – without touching the design
The good news: almost everything could be fixed without rebuilding the website. A visible focus outline in our brand colour, a “Skip to content” link, lighter text, a clean heading structure, names for all icon links, alternative text for the images and a menu that also opens by keyboard. For visitors using a mouse, the site looks almost exactly as before. For everyone else, it now works.
Finally, we published an Accessibility Statement . It sets out what we have implemented – and, honestly, what is not yet perfect, such as embedded third-party videos without captions.
Five checks you can do yourself today
- Tab key: Click once into your page and then only press the Tab key. Can you always see where you are? Can you reach every menu item?
- Zoom: Zoom the page to 200 percent in your browser. Is everything still readable without scrolling sideways?
- Contrast: Is light text on a light background or grey text on a dark background still easy to read – including outdoors on a phone?
- Images: Do the images in your media library have alternative text that describes what can be seen?
- Headings: Is there exactly one main heading per page, and do the subheadings follow a logical order?
If you get stuck on any of these points, a closer look is worthwhile.
How we support you
Accessibility is now a fixed part of every website project we do. We also audit existing websites, fix issues without rebuilding everything, write the accessibility statement and show your team how to keep the site accessible as new content is added. Find out more on our page Websites & Communication – or write to us directly.
Note: This article provides an overview and is not legal advice. Whether and which obligations apply to you depends on the individual case.
